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WASHINGTON – The Russian military is looking at what it calls "sixth generation" warfare technology, which in effect is "no-contact warfare," that will form the basis for upcoming Russian military reforms, analysts explain in a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
In the absence of "distant, no-contact warfare," Russian military doctrine had placed great reliance on non-strategic, or tactical, nuclear weapons for regional wars around Russia's periphery.
But now it is looking more at a sixth generation warfare approach that develops advanced conventional systems which approach nuclear effects, thereby blurring the line on nuclear deterrence.
The term "sixth generation warfare" first was coined by the late Major-Gen. Vladimir Slipchenko for the use of precision strike weapons systems that could make the massing of large forces as in a conventional war obsolete.
Back then, Slipchenko realized that having the capacity to conduct distant, no-contact operations demanded major military reforms.
In 2010, the term was used by Mikhail Rastophin to criticize those wanting higher combat readiness when the Russian military wasn't even close to being prepared to conduct modern combat operations.
"The U.S. and NATO forces were armed with the instruments of sixth generation warfare and Russia's were not," according to a report by the Washington think-tank Jamestown Foundation.
Such stand-off warfare first was demonstrated by the "smart" weapons employed by the United States in Desert Storm in January 1991 following Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.
Russian military planners have been persuaded that such an approach in terms of their military reforms may be overdue because of recent U.S. advances in technology which allow the U.S. to engage in warfare half a world away.
The launch of U.S. drones from Afghanistan but guided from halfway around the world has shown a stand-off way of conducting warfare which the U.S. is actively pursuing.
In addition, Russian military experts point to a number of other factors such as missile defense systems the United States and its allies are constructing in Europe, which the Russians see as potentially undermining their own offensive strategic nuclear weapons' delivery systems.
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