How Does a Weapon of War Become a "Game-Changer"?

Sebastien Roblin

Security,

"When harnessed to a larger military machine, when tactics and doctrine on their employment are devised and tested and finally deployed in a relevant context—then history shows the game can change with stunning speed."

In April 2018, Richard Bitzinger, a visiting fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies wrote a piece for the Asia Times criticizing the notion of game-changing military technology, arguing that other factors tend to impact military conflicts more than chasing after the wonder weapon du jour. He cites as an example of tech-obsessed fixation a piece of mine originally published in November 2017 describing the J-16D, a Chinese jet fighter apparently designed to jam enemy radars and suppress air defense systems. (Since its publication, photos of a carrier-based version have also surfaced.)

Bitzinger makes excellent points with which I largely agree—throughout military history, experience, material factors and organizational capacity often matter more than fleeting technological advantages.

However, while Bitzinger takes cares not to caricature my argument, I should clarify that the J-16D is not what I would consider a ‘game changer’—that is a new capability or efficiency, or a non-incremental improvement to an existing one, which significantly ‘disrupts’ the relationship between established combat arms.