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Sensor Proliferation Is Changing How We Wage War

Apr 11, 2019 | 05:00 GMT

A U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle returns from a mission to an air base in the Persian Gulf region on Jan. 7, 2016.

A U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle returns from a mission to an air base in the Persian Gulf region on Jan. 7, 2016.  Rapid technological advances across multiple fields have vastly expanded military sensor capabilities in recent years. 

(John Moore/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The proliferation of sensors in warfare, and the ability to combine their output into an unprecedented level of situational awareness, will allow for increased clarity in war.
  • For sensor proliferation to translate into actual situational awareness, incredible challenges in supporting functions such as network bandwidth and artificial intelligence processing will need to be overcome.
  • As the ability to deploy sensors and combine their information increases, so will efforts to disrupt this capability, most likely through the denial of networking and processing capacity by means of electronic warfare and cyber warfare.
  • Increased capabilities from sensor technology will not alter the nature of warfare at its core, but it will further widen the gap between highly technologically advanced military powers and less developed military forces.

When imagining the future of warfare, we often envision newly developed weapons systems and anticipate their impact on the actual conduct of warfare. Not all warfare evolutions, however, can be encapsulated by individual weapon systems. The most radical changes in the conduct of war often result from particularly extensive technological revolutions that apply across multiple weapons systems and alter the very nature of the constraints and imperatives that drive combat decision-making. One such revolution currently underway is the proliferation of sensors. ...

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