The Automated Battlefield by Barnaby, Frank - 1986

London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1986. First U.K. Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 25 cm. [10], 180, [2] pages. Illustrations. Index. Embossed stamp on t-p. Frank Charles Barnaby is Nuclear Issues Consultant to the Oxford Research Group, a freelance defence analyst, and a prolific author on military technology, based in the UK. Barnaby trained as a nuclear physicist and worked at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston, between 1951 and 1957. He was on the senior scientific staff of the Medical Research Council (UK) when a university lecturer at University College London (1957-67). Barnaby was Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) from 1971-81. In 1981, Barnaby became a founding member of the World Cultural Council. He was a Professor at the VU University Amsterdam 1981-85, and awarded the Harold Stassen Chair of International Relations at the University of Minnesota in 1985. Barnaby contends that future wars may be fought entirely by machines--with little or no direct human involvement. Derived from a Kirkus review: Nuclear physicist Barnaby examines how tanks, aircraft, missiles, and warships are being revolutionized by the new technologies. He argues that besides changing the nature of weapons, these changes alter the logistic needs of the military. Armies can ill afford to lose large numbers of soldiers, since the complicated new weaponry and the skilled operators it requires add greatly to the costs of training. It is not only the brawn of the military that is affected but the brains also. No longer can we look towards the likes of the great military strategists of the past, unless their names include VHSIC (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit). Barnaby calls for a ""conventional non-provocative defensive deterrence."" This is based upon ensuring that the size, structure, weapons, logistics, training, maneuvers, war games, textbooks, etc., demonstrate in their totality a defensive posture, with no possibilities for offense.