Ifri’s Security Studies Center has just published the issue #30 bis of its Focus Stratégique series entitled:

Digital Hoplites. Infantry Combat in the Information Age.

This article was written by Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Chareyron, a senior officer in the French Army,  who worked on detachment as a researcher at Ifri’s Defense Research Laboratory (LRD). He is a graduate of the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, the Cours Supérieur d’Etat-Major and the Ecole de Guerre (War College).

This text was previously published in French in April 2011.

Summary of the article:

FELIN, the world’s first “integrated soldier system”, will enter service in the French Army this year. Throughout history, infantrymen have sought to capitalize on technology while seeking the best compromise between three basic requirements: mobility, firepower and protection of combatants. As Western societies are sensitive to losses, the requirement for protection has become critical. Modern dismounted combat is thus characterized by the return of armor as well as by a greater emphasis on firepower. Furthermore, the emergence of a new generation of equipment allowing information technologies to be exploited at the level of the individual soldier is now making it necessary to address the issue of changes in infantry combat from the perspective of information superiority.

Contents:

Introduction

Innovation in the Infantry

The End of the Light Infantry

The Infantryman of the Future

Conclusion

Your comments are more than welcome!

Ifri’s Security Studies Center has recently published two new Focus stratégique titled:

Focus stratégique no. 32, published on the occasion of the International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, is titled « La guerre des hélicoptères. L’avenir de l’aéromobilité et de l’aérocombat ». This article was co-written by Etienne de Durand, Benoit Michel et Elie Tenenbaum.

Abstract:

Military helicopters have evolved into technologically sophisticated weapon systems. Originally designed to counter Soviet armor, attack helicopters now have to cope with a wide spectrum of threats, some of them bringing choppers back to their counterinsurgency roots. In this new context, direct “over the shoulder” support of ground forces has superseded airmobile maneuvers and autonomous helicopter-borne forces. Nonetheless, helicopters remain essential for their combat and tactical mobility roles. However, the high cost of these sophisticated platforms and reduced defense budgets call into question the ability to provide such tools. Accommodating strong demand in helicopters with present budget constraints requires the adaptation of fleets, since technological advances alone will not provide an answer to this problem. The time of homogenous fleets made up of same-generation, single-use platforms appears to be a thing of the past.

This article is available for download here.

Your comments are more than welcome!

Eurosatory’s Think Tank village organised Wednesday last week its second conference on the future of land warfare. A podcast is already available for you to listen to but first here are the broad lines of what was said in the three presentations.

Is counterinsurgency the Future of Land Warfare ? (Etienne de Durand):

• Warfare is a chameleon and its future evolution remains thus uncertain.
• From a French point of view, COIN (“counter-rebellion”) is but a specific sub-genre of irregular warfare and is mingled with peacekeeping and other tactical modes; therefore the main question decision makers should ask themselves is whether or not irregular operations will represent the future of land warfare.
• Large scale, high-intensity conflicts are unlikely in the present geostrategic context; the few conventional campaigns that are likely to happen will most likely take place at sea or in the air. Therefore, from an Army perspective, it makes sense to prepare mostly for irregular warfare.
• Irregular Warfare is more than just light infantry. It requires tactical mobility, precision fires, protection and more generally a lot of technology, as insurgents themselves also have access to modern technologies.
• At least for European armies, medium forces are likely to become the dominant model in terms of force structures.

A British point of view on hybrid warfare (Olivier Grouille):

• The British MOD and Army are at a strategic crossroad (overstretched financially, in the middle of a strategic defence review, an with new coalition government).
• A common understanding exists that a return to COIN as a mode of operations will have to take place within the British army.
• The UK needs to be prepared for both conventional and irregular warfare.
• Hybrid warfare will represent the future of many operations and state on state warfare itself could become hybrid.
• An adaptation of British troops will be necessary through education and training.
• The UK will not enter major operations alone in the future and cooperation will be necessary.

Insurgencies in tribal, clan societies (Jean-Jacques Patry):

• New wars of various intensities have emerged and have changed the security equation in the twenty-first century.
• Two types insurgencies should be distinguished: one that aims at gaining state power (classic Maoïst model) whilst the other tries to deny the (re)emergence of the state (typical of tribal societies like Afghanistan).
• Without a local state structure it is impossible to launch a successful COIN campaign. In other words, “winning hearts and minds” does not work when facing state-denying insurgencies.
• Powersharing is the solution to stabilise local actors. Once power is shared in a stable way it becomes possible to launch a COIN operation against the remaining insurgents.

If you wish to hear the full length recording of the conference please click below:

Etienne de Durand – Is COIN the Future of Land Warfare?:

Olivier Grouille – A British View on Hybrid Warfare:

Jean-Jacques Patry – Insurgencies in Tribal / Clan Societies: