Military Technology 06/2021

MT 6/2021 · 1 In January 2022 the United Arab Emirates will begin a two-year period as one of the ten non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. In a recent media interview, HE Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, who heads the UAE’s Permanent Mission to the UN, very neatly encapsulated a succinct view of the challenge her nation – and so many others – face in the immediate future. “We don’t have interstate wars in the same way […] We have ethnic, religious and other types of identity conflicts; a massive expansion of terrorist networks around the world; and more complex economic issues. And, of course, pandemics.” Her view is that the scale, nature and fluidity of the complex, multi-faceted issues makes the existence of multi- national – perhaps supranational – organisations like the UN a continuing imperative. Something that “belongs to countries but is also seen as above the geopolitical fray” has become essential – a view shared by many. On the other hand, the way that 21st century realpolitik , such as it is, has evolved, means that a very significant number of individuals, groups and governments see the UN – and similar international bodies – as irrelevant at best and moribund or redundant at worst. That, it has to be said, is a function of the irresponsible, indecisive and largely ineffective nature of many such organisations. Not all, by any means, and not consistently awful within each body. Sufficiently so, however, to have fuelled and excited passionate reactions in the growing community of protesters, ranging from those who marshal logic and statistics in support of their contentions to those who resort to blocking major highways and tunnels or gluing themselves to buildings in (largely counter-productive) protest. Not to mention those who resort to violence. Take, for example, the recent widely- reported COP26 climate change con- ference in Glasgow. Aside from noting that, contrary to popular wisdom, the name of the city does not mean ‘dear green place’ in Gaelic (despite the fre- quent invocation of the city’s ‘ancient’ green credentials during the conference – it actually means ‘green hollow’), there can be little argument that interest in the event was, to put it mildly, high. Arguably, owing to its sheer scale and potentially catastrophic impact if left Looking Forward Editorial think differently – to imagine the unimaginable – has become far more prized than so-called ‘humint’ capabilities. So we will reflect that. In this issue we offer a very brief look at some of the logistics issues that increasingly dominate the defence and security domains, pointing out the dire necessity to improve the handling, transport and distribution of water, food and energy if expe- ditionary warfare, intervention and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief operations are to be success- ful. In the first issue of 2022, we will examine the increasingly important issue of diversity in defence – the effects of gender diversity in the military, for example, and those of neurodiversity on the industrial and intelligence spheres. Inevitably, we will also look at climate change and the way in which the military is addressing the ‘net zero emissions’ conundrum. As these words are written, the journal New Scientists celebrates its 65th birthday. At its inception, its objective was to promote interest in and understanding of “a branch of research which, today, appears as a purely abstract quest for knowledge [that] may turn out tomorrow to have a direct and vital application to the happiness of us all.” That is as good a metaphor as any other for the journey on which we are now embarked – and to which we look forward. Tim Mahon Editor-in-Chief unchecked, climate change is the single greatest long-term security threat facing any government. Yet the internecine squabbling, the jockeying for position and the ruthless search for political advantage (rather than effective answers) that dominated the behind-the-scenes ‘negotiations,’ according to insiders, resulted in little more than a farce. A final communiqué that trumpeted achievements exactly in line with organisational predictions, suggesting the Paris 2015 goal of restricting global warming to 1.5% this century was now in sight: and a vociferous repudiation of such a claim as entirely false by academics, researchers, non-governmental organisations and pressure groups. Leaving the man and woman in the street confused, not to say somewhat disappointed that so much money and so many words can be so easily wasted. The complex, fluid and uncertain future we face as societies and, perhaps, as a planet, are an engaging metaphor for the question of how best to address that future as a magazine. MilTech, alongside its sister magazines, has already changed dramatically in recent years, especially in terms of developing an increasingly busy electronic presence, including the recently re-launched website. That development will become even more starkly obvious as we move through the course of 2022, launching new and innovative elec- tronic services that will focus on niche but significant areas of technology and policy – embedded sys- tems, special operations, communications, cyber and European collaboration among them. The nature of security has changed dramatically since this magazine first launched. Previously clearly- identifiable adversaries are now significant trading partners as well as potential opponents. The focus of security agencies on gathering intelligence has now been massively overtaken by counter-terrorism activi- ties. The ability to clearly identify the genre and locus of threats has all but disappeared and the ability to