In this episode, we discuss the following topics.
*What drew Kendrick to study military innovation
*How he defines military innovation
*What conventional wisdom says about military innovation
*How innovation differs from adaption
*Some recent historical examples of military innovation
*Whether military innovation fails more often than it succeeds
*Popular instances of military innovation in the West
*Kendrick’s essay “Dangerous Changes: When Military Innovation Harms Combat Effectiveness”
*What drives innovation in military organizations
*Warped innovation
*Incremental vs. radical innovation
*What drew Kendrick to studying British armored warfare innovation during the Interwar Period and the British Army’s experiences in North Africa as a case of military innovation
*The US Army’s Pentomic Divisions
*Guarding or hedging against dangerous innovations
*The claim that the character of war is changing rapidly
*Force Design 2030
*Communication strategies in support of military innovation efforts
*The innovator's dilemma as it applies to the military innovator
*Innovation and adaptation in Ukraine
*Recommended books on military innovation and military effectiveness
*Defining and measuring military effectiveness
*The prospect of the US forces fighting another counterinsurgency war or low-intensity conflict
*Kendrick’s upcoming articles
Links
“Dangerous Changes: When Military Innovation Harms Combat Effectiveness,” by Kendrick Kuo, International Security
https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article/47/2/48/113546/Dangerous-Changes-When-Military-Innovation-Harms
“The Future of Military Innovation Studies” by Adam Grissom, Journal of Strategic Studies (paywall)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402390600901067?journalCode=fjss20
“What is a Military Innovation and Why It Matters” by Michael Horowitz and Shira Pindyck, Journal of Strategic Studies (paywall)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402390.2022.2038572
“Aircraft Carriers Versus Battleships in War and Myth” with James R. FitzSimonds, YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD43yEnbfL4
“Future Visions and Planned Obsolescence: Implementing 30-Year Horizons in Defense Planning” by Travis Reese and Dylan Phillips-Levine, CIMSEC
Steve Rosen, Winning the Next War: Innovation and the Modern Military
Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (revised edition) edited by Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett
The Sources of Military Doctrine: France, Britain, and Germany Between the World Wars by Barry Posen
Technological Change and the Future of Warfare by Michael O’Hanlon
The Innovation Delusion: How Our Obsession with the New Has Disrupted the Work That Matters Most by Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell
The Shock Of The Old: Technology and Global History since 1900 by David Edgerton
“Superiority,” a short story by Arthur C. Clarke