A Lesson of Military Tactics Failing To Keep Up With Technological Change: We are in the midst of the Golden Age of Space. Revolutionary technologies are being introduced right now that will change how we communicate, relate, and see the world. And the U.S. government must change its concept of how to use these space capabilities to take advantage of new technologies and stay ahead of potential adversaries.
History provides many examples when military tactics failed to adjust to changing technologies. One comes from 1849, when Claude-Etienne Minie, a French army officer, wanted to make the muzzle loading rifle more reliable. Minie designed an oblong cylindrical bullet with a point at one end and a hollow base that expanded when fired, significantly increasing accuracy and lethality over much longer distances as compared to its round, lead-ball predecessor.
This was a military game-changer. Long held strategies, tactics, and concepts of operations that had been developed for the shorter range and awful accuracy of the muzzle ball no longer applied. But the military strategists of the time did not adapt.
