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All the Missiles Work: Technological Dislocations and Military Innovation: A Case Study in US Air Force Air-to-Air Armament, Post-World War II through Operation Rolling Thunder

by Lt Col Steven A. Fino

1 cards · Military report

Masters thesis — USAF, Air University (School of Advanced Air and Space Studies), 2015. Full text: https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA618921

Card #c1408SynthesisMilitary report

All the Missiles Work: Technological Dislocations and Military Innovation: A Case Study in US Air Force Air-to-Air Armament, Post-World War II through Operation Rolling Thunder

The USAF's air-to-air armament history reveals "technological dislocations": an unwavering commitment to existing technologies plus fascination with the promise of new ones blinds an institution to a changing strategic environment. The prescriptions: market new tech with a keen marketing strategy to outmaneuver bureaucratic skepticism, prefer innovative systems integration over outright systems acquisition, and rely on credible innovators and courageous commanders willing to act on their subordinates' recommendations.

— In our words · Source: All the Missiles Work: Technological Dislocations and Military Innovation: A Case Study in US Air Force Air-to-Air Armament, Post-World War II through Operation Rolling Thunder (Lt Col Steven A. Fino)

[Use when]

Innovation dies in the middle — incumbents committed to the old plus dreamers chasing the new both miss the environment; integration beats acquisition.

[Why it matters]

A theory of technological dislocation built from the USAF's missile-era failures that reads as a manual for the current drone/AI military-innovation wave — the same bureaucratic dynamics repeat with every new weapon class.

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