By Dr Thomas Bruce. -
I can only describe Future Wars as a Swiss Army knife paperback, with each chapter offering up a unique assortment of assessments and detailed descriptions of modern warfare tools to the reader. Let me explain.
The author already has a large selection of self-published book titles under their belt and comes across as highly intelligent in breadth and depth of the assortment of topics covered. This is demonstrated outright in a strong authoritative introduction for Future Wars, as they break down the transition from fighting in the grey zone, dubbed shadow wars, through to what has since played out in Ukraine. Note that this is definitively an American perspective, with a very precise arc of covering only areas that are of a militarily strategic importance, having excluded the resource-rich continent of Africa, or South America in favour of areas located north of the equator.
Done in a succinct fashion, the multi-dimensional aspects of each key area are broken down in the introduction to the protagonist and antagonist countries, their political and monetary influences and the shifting balance of the situation at that time.
It reads very cleanly, like a report, before undergoing a complete change. It abruptly turns into a glossary of different modern technological weapons. This initial breakdown of armoured vehicles strips away all the previous analysis and replays the manufacturer’s brochures with zero cross analysis or comparison. It gets a bit awkward, indeed may raise doubt to an informed reader, when the author states the AJAX platform has been “in service since 2017”. Albeit the weakest chapter of the book, and perhaps not the author’s strongest area, it does still offer a good run down of information.
With relief, subsequent chapters go back into the throes of expanding on why equipment exists, comparing Western equipment to that of Russia and China. I found the write up on Air Power most fascinating and came away with a much thorough understanding of the difference between 4, 4.5 and fifth generation aviation which, when applied to the situation in Ukraine, explains how the F16 would theoretically perform against the Russian air defence systems.
Future Wars continues with a fantastic breakdown of what have become hot topics over the last 12 months; anti-missile, hypersonic weapons, electronic warfare, drones, space and cyber warfare. Most helpfully, alongside numerous pictures, the author includes at least one striking illustration or table in each section to bring much of the information into perspective for the reader.
In a well-rounded conclusion, the author reflects upon much of the warfare in Ukraine and scales this up as his perception for potentially larger conflicts, while articulating the constraints.
Did I enjoy reading this book? Yes and no. I liked the strong introduction and the assessed current global strategic snapshot (through the eyes of an American) and I enjoyed the measured analysis of the conclusion. The middle 200 pages on the equipment seems out of place. I now know a hypersonic missile travels at 7,212 mph (Mach 10) and how much I need to save up to purchase a RIM-116 Rolling Airframe anti-aircraft missile, but the change in flow and style almost felt like a different author had written this; it will have benefitted from a similar ‘punchy’ start and end.
My recommendation is that Future Wars will serve well those wishing to learn about modern warfighting capabilities and those seeking reference for a thesis. It will be welcome present for a military enthusiast and a contemporary coffee table read in the breakroom.
WO1 (FofS (IS)) Ben Helliwell
Publisher by Independently published, 288 pages,ISBN 979-8356979590