Ron Matthews & Thomas J. Matthews
Introduction
The focus of this paper is on mimicry. It is a concept that has attracted substantial academic enquiry in the biological world, leading to a wealth of scholarship. Examination of the fascinating biomimicry processes provides the taxonomy for this study on the applied subject of military mimicry. There are, we posit, three elements to military mimicry: firstly, concealment – normally reflected through camouflage to conceal military assets; secondly, deception – reflecting the evolution of “dummy” military assets, often to encourage the enemy to attack, reveal their positions, and quickly be destroyed as a consequence; and, thirdly, imitation. The final element in this taxonomy is the most complex, as it can be decomposed into three further subfields of analysis. To begin, there is animal imitation of military tasks, such as WWI pigeons replacing the role of military runners. In reverse, there is also military emulation of animal performance through bioengineering, including the adaption of cockroaches and ants for military purposes. Finally, as armed forces become immersed in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics, there is the unfolding phenomenon of these technologies, including swarms, avatars, neuroscience, and genomics, mimicking military forces and assets in the pursuit of twenty-first Century warfare. These three imitative pathways are illustrated.
Structurally, the paper begins with the identification, explanation, and analysis of the role of mimicry and camouflage in the natural world. The remainder of the paper concentrates on a critical discourse of military mimicry as per concealment, deception, and the three imitative pathways depicted in Figure 1. The third pathway of military mimicry is novel, reflecting the world’s rapid transition to a higher technological stage in what is often termed the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). The principal change driver is AI. Thus, whilst the use of animals in military settings will not disappear, their involvement will diminish, to be replaced by robotics and software-intensive systems that will herald dramatic transformational change in the nature of war. The paper closes by offering conclusions on mimicry’s contribution to the conduct of war. The imperative here is to achieve the elusive trifecta of strategic benefits, namely optimisation of cost-effective military capability, reduction in systems complexity and minimisation of manned-asset attrition and military casualties.b Senior Research Fellow
No comments:
Post a Comment