Introduction

ABSTRACT

This special collection of essays explores how militaries are integrating, adapting and leveraging 4^th Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies and examines the varying strategic and operational implications. Its core themes reflect on the position of the 4IR in the context of previous Revolutions in Military Affairs; a comparison between how large resource-rich states and small resource-limited states are adopting and integrating 4IR technologies; the difference between various 4IR innovation and adaptation models; and the operational implications of such technologies in terms of manpower, operational domains force structure and the application of force.

Acknowledgements

This special issue has evolved from international research collaboration and subsequent workshop (2019) co-organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, and the Institute of Security and Defence Policy at Kiel University. The editorial team would like to express a sincere gratitude to all participants who helped in the project, anonymous reviewers, and editors of the Journal of Strategic Studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Keith Krause, Arms and the state: Patterns of Military Production and Trade (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 19.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Raska

Michael Raska is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Military Transformations Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. His research interests focus on the evolution of military technologies and defence innovation, wars and conflicts in East Asia, and cyber warfare. He is the author of Military Innovation and Small States: Creating Reverse Asymmetry (Routledge, 2016) and co-editor of Security, Strategy, and Military Change in the 21st Century: Cross-regional Perspectives (Routledge, 2015). His publications include articles in journals such as the Strategic Studies Quarterly, PRISM - Journal of Complex Operations, Journal of Indo–Pacific Affairs, and Sirius - Journal of Strategic Analysis.  His academic contributions include chapters in edited volumes in collaboration with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, European Union Institute for Security Studies, Center for New American Security, University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, and Swedish Defence University.

Katarzyna Zysk

Katarzyna Zysk is a Professor of International Relations and Contemporary History at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS), which is part of the Norwegian Defence University College (NDUC) in Oslo. At the IFS, she has served as Deputy Director Head of Security Policy Centre, and Director of Research (2017–20). She was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation(CISAC), Stanford University and at the Changing Character of War Centre, University of Oxford (2016–17). She is a member of the Hoover Institution’s Arctic Security Initiative and was a Research Fellow at the Center for Naval Warfare Studies (Strategic Research Department) at the US Naval War College, where she also cooperated closely with the War Gaming Department. In 2016, she was Acting Dean of the NDUC, where she teaches regularly. Her research has focused on security, defence and strategic studies, in particular Russia’s military strategy, warfare, the Russian Navy, maritime security and geopolitics in the Arctic, military change and defence innovation. Her published research has appeared in SAIS Review of International Affairs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Asia Policy, RUSI Journal, Politique Etrangère, International Relations, Jane’s Navy International, and other journal and books.

Ian Bowers

Ian Bowers is associate professor at the Centre for Joint Operations, Royal Danish Defence College, Copenhagen. His research focuses on seapower, the future operating environment, Asian security and deterrence. His research has been published in the Journal of Strategic Studies, the Naval War College Review and the Korean Journal of Defence Analysis. His latest volume is Grey and White Hulls: An International Analysis of the Navy-Coastguard Nexus, co-edited with Collin Koh.

Richard A. Bitzinger

Richard A. Bitzinger is a Senior Visiting Fellow with the Military Transformations Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, where his work focuses on security and defence issues relating to the Asia-Pacific region, including military modernisation and force transformation, regional defence industries and local armaments production, and weapons proliferation. He previously served as the Coordinator of the RSIS Military Transformations Programme. Formerly with the RAND Corp. and the Defence Budget Project, he has been writing on Asian aerospace and defence issues for more than 20 years. His articles have appeared in such journals as International Security, Orbis, China Quarterly, and Survival. He is the author of Arming Asia: Technonationalism and Its Impact on Local Defence Industries (Routledge, 2017), and Towards a Brave New Arms Industry? (Oxford University Press, 2003).