[특집] 동북아에서의 군사혁신과 한국군의 장기발전 계획

Revolution in Military Affairs in Northeast Asia and Prospects for the ROK Military Development

As futurists expected, the twenty-first century will become a information society, in which information will be a major force that can change the society. Great strides in science and technology will promote tremendous changes in human lives, as well as in military affairs. In the information society, knowledge and information will be core elements in military affairs and those who control and dominate knowledge and information will win the war. Developments in information system with advanced command and control system will make a real-time information transmission and sharing possible, and will improve long-range precision attack capabilities. In this regard, small and precision-guided weapon systems will be more important, and battle space will be expanded which includes outer space. As witnessed in the Aghanistan war, the United States used unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) such as “Global Hawk” and “Predator.” In the future war, unmanned combat vehicles and combat robots will become a main warriors. Military organizations will be changing toward small-sized and flexible organizations with effective network systems. A digitized warriors equipped with battle space knowledge and information will appear in the future war. In addition, precise surveillance and control, and precision attack capabilities will assure to win a war with minimum damage in shortest time period. The concept of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) contains: (1) utilizing new engineering technologies; (2) evolve new military systems; (3) operational innovation; (4) organizational adaptation; and (5) maximization of combat effectiveness. The concept of RMA will be caused not by an invention of new technologies, but by complex and organizational utilization of existing technologies. This concept may bring a revolutionary improvements in precision-guided weapon systems, automation of information process, command and control technologies, electronics and defense capabilities. This system will make precision attack on enemy's political and military centers at a great distance, thus, guarantee win a war. In this sense, information system will the most important part in the future war. Revolutionary developments in information collecting equipment, GPS system with radars and satellites, and various sensor systems make enable to collect more precise data. Developments in information networks will expand scope of information sharing. These developments make enable to distributed deployment of units, flexible combat, and integration of various functions. The future war will place importance of small-sized units with effective fire power and speedy maneuver and precision. Developments in micro-technology will improve capabilities of signal process and guided weapons systems, thus increase long-range attack capabilities. RMA will increase battle field visualization and information sharing capabilities. Development in information technology will improve real-time surveillance and monitoring capabilities. Improvements in targeting capability and long-range fire power capability will expands battle space. Developments in surveillance and reconnaissance, command and control networks, precision-guided long-range missiles will create new strategies that can attack enemy's strategic center at a great distance. The future war also place importance of I soft kill,' instead of I hard kill. I The RMA will cause a revolutionary change in military technology, military operation, and military organizations. Developments in information technology, advanced manufacturing technology and bio-technology will promote miniaturization of weapon systems with farther range, faster speed, and precise targeting capabilities. In the area of military operation, changes in concepts of space and time in the battle field by the enhancement of information gathering capabilities and expansion of the scope of information sharing. Also,