ONE OF the key developments in World War 2 was the development of the Blitzkrieg, a type of decentralized warfare that focused on speed, force and the concentration of ground and air forces.
Blitzkriegs were typically characterized by rapid operations meant to find an enemy’s weaknesses before enveloping it, forcing it to surrender.
When Russia first attacked Ukraine last year, many military analysts and commentators believed that the Russian army will conduct a massive Blitzkrieg that will result in the fall of Kiev in a very short period of time. Obviously, that did not happen, and the reason is that war has changed.
According to some observers of the war in Ukraine, Russia has been slow and deliberate in how it conducts its operation. Attacks are carried out with heavy Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISR) support, and that opportunistic maneuvers are generally not used by both sides.
I can’t confirm any of this, but one thing is undeniable though. The Russia-Ukraine war has had a slow pace. A Blitzkrieg type war would have been less of a grind, but would also be highly dangerous in this day and age.
Drones, jammers, electromagnetic warfare and advanced reconnaissance platforms would endanger attackers, forcing them to only advance when those threats have been removed, which would explain the slow pace.
Further, from what I can tell, these things play a bigger role in the battlefield than conventional weapons, like tanks and rockets.
I don’t know if similar considerations apply to other battlefields, but that is the situation with the Ukraine wsar now. If war should break out in our region of the world, how would belligerents handle ISR? How would they handle drones and other similar technology?
Personally, I think the attacking side will be facing the same challenges as the Russians, and if that’s the case, then the era of the Blitzkrieg, as a tool of conventional warfare, is now effectively over./PN
