The United States began a new military revolution in the late 1970s. According to its historical evolution, we can divide the American New Military Revolution into three stages. The first stage, from the late 1970s to the end of the Cold War, is the stage of American military technology revolution and the initial stage of American new military revolution. At this stage, the United States began to gradually increase the investment and application of new military technologies, mainly information technology, thus slowly widening the gap with other countries. The second stage is from the early 1990s to the end of the 20th century. 199 1 The Gulf War became a milestone in the new military revolution in the United States and even in the world, which led to a new wave of military revolution in the United States in the mid-1990s. 1993, the word "military technological revolution" in the Pentagon vocabulary was replaced by a new word with a wider meaning-"new military revolution". At this stage, the United States began to realize the essence of military reform, that is, not only to transform the current US military from the technical aspect, but also to carry out changes in military theory and organizational system. The landmark achievements are "20 10 Common Vision" and "2020 Common Vision" published by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army, the national defense reports of the Ministry of National Defense in each fiscal year, and the corresponding service visions of each service. The third stage 200 1 Since the Bush administration came to power, the United States has entered the stage of military transformation.
The defense evaluation report 1997 issued by the US Department of Defense in May first appeared the formulation of "transforming the US military for the future". The "National Defense Report" of 1998 fiscal year formally put forward the strategic concept of "military transformation" for the first time. However, taking military transformation as the main task of army building began after Donald Rumsfeld became the 2nd1US Secretary of Defense. In May 2002, the U.S. Department of Defense issued the "Guide to National Defense Planning", which put forward plans and ideas for the transformation of the U.S. military. Then, the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Joint Forces Command submitted their respective transition road maps according to the requirements of the National Defense Planning Guide. In April 2003, the U.S. Department of Defense issued the "Guide to Transformation Planning", which clarified what transformation is, why transformation, transformation scope, transformation strategy and its implementation. Military reform is actually the deepening and development of the new military revolution. At this stage, the United States put specific military changes on the agenda.
According to some joint ideas and transformation plans announced by the US military in recent years, the ultimate goal of its military reform should be to realize complete battlefield information rights and a highly integrated army. Specifically, the objectives of the new military reform of the U.S. military can be divided into three items: in terms of weapons and equipment, it is necessary to realize the informationization of the whole army on the basis of digitalization of the three armed forces; In terms of operational theory, it is necessary to develop relevant operational theory and training theory that can effectively guide information warfare; In the organizational system, it is necessary to establish the integration force of real system integration.
From the four wars launched by the United States after the Cold War, we can see the process of the new military reform in the United States. We use the changes in weapons and equipment, operational theory and organizational system in these four wars to analyze (see the table below):
The improvement of the information capability of weapons and equipment is the forerunner of the new military reform of the US military. In terms of operational theory, although the US military has put forward a series of new operational concepts and principles, it is stepping up research and development of new military theories such as information warfare theory and joint operations theory. But on the whole, this kind of research has just started. It is far from the theoretical goal of the new American military revolution. In terms of organizational structure, the adjustment of the US military is even slower. Over the years, the reorganization of the US military has mainly reduced the total number of troops by reducing the combat units of various services and arms, but the contents of each combat unit have not been greatly adjusted. The establishment system of American combat troops is not miniaturized and modularized. This kind of organized power seems to be far from the future "integration" power of the United States.
Therefore, the new military revolution of the US military should still be in the primary stage of the whole new military revolution. Among the three elements of the new military revolution of the US military, the development of weapons and equipment is obviously outstanding. However, at present, the development of US military weapons and equipment has not been completely transformed into combat capability, because in sharp contrast to the rapid development of its military technology and weapons and equipment system, the US military has not created a relatively stable operational theory and preparation system that is fully adapted to it. The operational theory and organizational system of the US military have not fundamentally broken through the original model. This greatly limits the further development of its military technology, and it is difficult to give full play to the potential and effectiveness of the new weapons and equipment system.
But in any case, in the process of the new military revolution, the US military has indeed made remarkable achievements. This is worthy of our serious reference. The first is the informationization of weapons and equipment and the army. The informationization of weapons and equipment is the biggest highlight of the new military revolution in the United States. After the Cold War, the US military has stood out in the global military field in terms of high-end weapons such as information command and control systems, precision guided weapons and stealth weapons. In the military revolution of more than ten years, the US military should not only master the information control right of the enemy, but also vigorously carry out the informatization construction of its own army. In 200 1 year, the U.S. military has built the world's first digital division, and it is planned to realize the digital networking of the army, navy and air force around 20 10. At present, the information equipment of the US Army has accounted for 50%, the information equipment of the Navy and Air Force has accounted for 70%, and the Air Force has reached 90%. The overall informationization level of the US military is close to 70%. It is predicted that by the middle of 2 1 century, the US military will take the lead in realizing the informationization of the whole army on the basis of the digitalization of the three services.
Secondly, joint operations have become the core guiding theory of US military operations. Although the four wars we studied have different operational theories, the theory of joint operations is the core of these theories, and it is also the core theory in every war. After the Gulf War, the US military saw the great value of the theory of joint operations and further accelerated the army building and theoretical research of joint operations. 1In August, 1992, the directors of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command and the Tactical Air Force Command jointly issued the manual "Air-ground Integration Campaign: Development Conception of the Air-ground Integration Campaign of the Strategic Army in the 1990s and Beyond". Three months later, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army published the joint publication "Joint Operations of the US Army", which marked the formation of the theory of joint operations of the US military. Subsequently, the United States frequently issued a series of programmatic documents on joint operations. In 1987- 1992, there are about two such publications every year, while in 1993- 1994, there are as many as 22 publications every year.
Finally, a large number of military talents have been trained. The 20 10 Joint Concept of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff clearly points out: "This concept depends on our most fundamental source of strength-our personnel. Everyone has an army. In the final analysis, whether it is wartime or peacetime, it depends on the men and women in the army to win. Attracting talents with knowledge, practical skills and encouraging achievements in the military is the most important condition for building a strong and professional combat readiness army. " This is also a great success of the new military revolution in the United States. In the Iraq war in 2003, 98% of the US military officers who participated in the war had a college degree or above, 37.7% had a master's degree or above, 30% were scientific and technical personnel of the division and brigade command institutions, and 50% were scientific and technical personnel of the US military strategic command center. It can be said that it is the U.S. military that has not neglected the talent building in the process of military reform that has achieved today's achievements.