On Flexibility: Recovery from Technological and Doctrinal Surprise on the Battlefield

Meir Finkel

Published by Stanford University Press 2011

On Flexibility

Recovery from Technological and Doctrinal Surprise on the Battlefield

Meir Finkel

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804777155

Overview
Contents

About this book

On Flexibility presents a force planning concept that will enable armies to cope with the growing diversity of battlefield requirements, and especially with technological and doctrinal surprises, through applied adaptability and flexibility, minimizing the over dependence on intelligence and prediction involved in this process today.

Author / Editor information

Meir Finkel is the Director of the Israeli Defense Force's Ground Forces Concept Development and Doctrine Department. As a Colonel in the IDF, he commanded armor units up to brigade level.

Reviews

Frank Hoffman:
"This book combines solid history and an innovative analytical structure. It begins to fill in a serious hole in our understanding of flexibility or what could better be called 'adaptation under fire.' It is strongly recommended for senior military leaders and students of military innovation and force planning. In the future, surprise will continue to characterize the character of modern warfare, and the need to be flexible will be at a premium. On Flexibility provides great insights on flexibility and will prove to be an enduring contribution to our understanding of military history and to enhancing our ability to adapt when we hopefully do not get things too terribly wrong."

Parameters:
"[A] thoroughly researched and objective work of events impacting America's military affairs and security policies."

David Betz, Department of War Studies:
"This is an outstanding work. Inculcating adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness to surprise is the chief preoccupation of the major armies of the world. Doctrine writers, practitioners, scholars, and policy-makers concerned with the effectiveness of military force should read this book."

Martin van Creveld:
"A highly original work, dealing with an important and little-explored subject."

A. A. Nofi:
"Originally published in Israel in 2007, this thoughtful work by Col. Finkel (IDF) looks at how modern military forces have coped with surprise in terms of innovative technologies, techniques, or tactics."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Table of contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part one. The challenge of force planning facing future surprises
1. Prediction and intelligence: the dominant approach in force planning and its failure to answer the challenge of technological and doctrinal surprise Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
Part two. Flexibility-based recovery— a theoretical view
2. Conceptual and doctrinal flexibility Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
3. Organizational and technological flexibility Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
4. Cognitive and command and control (c2) flexibility Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
5. The mechanism for lesson learning and rapid dissemination Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
Part three. Recovery from surprise— a historical view
6. The German recovery from the surprise of British chaff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
7. The German recovery from the soviet t-34 tank surprise Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
8. The Israeli recovery from the Egyptian Sagger missile surprise Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
9. The Israeli air force recovery from the Arab anti-aircraft missile surprise Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
10. The slow British recovery from the German armor and anti-tank tactics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
11. The slow soviet recovery from the surprise of low-intensity conflict in Afghanistan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
12. The french failure to recover from the surprise of the German blitzkrieg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Summary and conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Appendixes to chapter 1 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 336
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 2

eBook

Published: February 28, 2011
ISBN: 9780804777155