The goal is to show that not only does the number of ASMs correspond well with the more typical platform measurements, but, as a high-cost munition, also provides a useful measure of intent.
Sea power is the product of geographical position and of size and quality of the fleet.
An aspiring naval power must have the ability to harness its economy to produce the large ocean-going fleet necessary to contest for control of the sea. Since the dawn of recorded history, states have risen to dominance over their region and then faded into obscurity. Long cycles underlie the rise of the individual nation-states, but like a gaggle of surfers, some nations are in a better position than others to catch the incoming wave. Goldstein refers to long cycles as approximately 50 years in length, and characterized by a pattern of rises and falls in productivity, real income, and prices. At the peak of a cycle, the intensity of wars increase, and then fall off as the surplus wealth created by the burst of productivity earlier is lost.