#18--Kendrick Kuo Controversy & Clarity

In this episode, we discuss the following topics.

 

*What drew Kendrick to study military innovation

 

*How he defines military innovation

 

*What conventional wisdom says about military innovation

 

*How innovation differs from adaption

 

*Some recent historical examples of military innovation

 

*Whether military innovation fails more often than it succeeds

 

*Popular instances of military innovation in the West

 

*Kendrick’s essay “Dangerous Changes: When Military Innovation Harms Combat Effectiveness” 

 

*What drives innovation in military organizations

 

*Warped innovation

 

*Incremental vs. radical innovation 

 

*What drew Kendrick to studying British armored warfare innovation during the Interwar Period and the British Army’s experiences in North Africa as a case of military innovation

 

*The US Army’s Pentomic Divisions 

 

*Guarding or hedging against dangerous innovations

 

*The claim that the character of war is changing rapidly

 

*Force Design 2030



*Communication strategies in support of military innovation efforts

 

*The innovator's dilemma as it applies to the military innovator

 

*Innovation and adaptation in Ukraine 

 

*Recommended books on military innovation and military effectiveness

 

*Defining and measuring military effectiveness

 

*The prospect of the US forces fighting another counterinsurgency war or low-intensity conflict 

 

*Kendrick’s upcoming articles



Links

“Dangerous Changes: When Military Innovation Harms Combat Effectiveness,” by Kendrick Kuo, International Security

https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article/47/2/48/113546/Dangerous-Changes-When-Military-Innovation-Harms

 

“The Future of Military Innovation Studies” by Adam Grissom, Journal of Strategic Studies (paywall)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402390600901067?journalCode=fjss20

 

“What is a Military Innovation and Why It Matters” by Michael Horowitz and Shira Pindyck, Journal of Strategic Studies (paywall)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402390.2022.2038572

 

“Aircraft Carriers Versus Battleships in War and Myth” with James R. FitzSimonds, YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD43yEnbfL4

 

“Future Visions and Planned Obsolescence: Implementing 30-Year Horizons in Defense Planning” by Travis Reese and Dylan Phillips-Levine, CIMSEC

https://cimsec.org/future-visions-and-planned-obsolescence-implementing-30-year-horizons-in-defense-planning/

 

Steve Rosen, Winning the Next War: Innovation and the Modern Military

https://a.co/d/88ckH5T

 

Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (revised edition) edited by Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett 

https://a.co/d/1gUNGcc

 

The Sources of Military Doctrine: France, Britain, and Germany Between the World Wars by Barry Posen

https://a.co/d/dEJSypm

 

Technological Change and the Future of Warfare by Michael O’Hanlon

https://a.co/d/5NBsZl6

 

The Innovation Delusion: How Our Obsession with the New Has Disrupted the Work That Matters Most by Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell 

https://a.co/d/gFFzzHH

 

The Shock Of The Old: Technology and Global History since 1900 by David Edgerton

https://a.co/d/6oaUtZk

 

“Superiority,” a short story by Arthur C. Clarke

https://www.baen.com/Chapters/1439133476/1439133476___5.htm


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