Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-12-01


Is secondary TO machine In
"pushbntton warfare" is dealt
Nth here By the Armv's Chief
OF Research and Development.
His comments are condensed
from Western World magazine.
BY 1T. GEN. JAMES M. GAVIN
"Push-button warfare" is here.
But, contrary TO popular belief.
more men rather than less men
will be required to fight success
fully in the push-button era. This
is something that no citizen in the
free world can overlook.
First. II would be well to agree
on what is meant by push-button
warfare. ! suppose there are as
many meanings to the expression
as there are people who use it. Gen.
orally speaking. however, 1t sug-
gests weapons systems with a high
degree OF automation: machines
and electronic devices replacing
men.
Push-button warfare achieved
It's early fame and luster in the
days Of establishment following
World War II. Despite all Of the
promises Of Victory Through Air
Power and blitzkrieg patterns that
would bring war TO a quick and
decisive end, the fact is that World
War II was one OF the most costly
wars. in terms Of manpower. in
human history. Not only we're the
manpower losses very high on both
sides, but the manpower require
ments were very high.
Trend Was Seen
After the war men felt. intui-
lively, that the trends becoming
clear in civilian economy should
find expression in military tech
nology. That is. the use Of ma
chimes in many forms. and the use
OF associated complex electronic
systems. could effect manpower
savings. And this thought sug-
gested that II manpower partici-
patton was brought to a minimum.
manpower battle losses would
likewise diminish significantly
Hence. the allure Of push-button
warfare.
Since that time we have devel-
oped many machines Of war. all
accompanied by a variegated as
sortment of, and an abundance Of.
push buttons Of many shapes and
sizes. The recent Soviet announce
ment OF the achievement Of an
ICBM capability strikingly demon
strates this. Missiles, nuclear
weapons in many forms, highly
complex radars. computers and
data processing systems. all are
achieving an aura of normally in
war and they all are ridden with
complex engineering. mainte-
nance. and operational problems.
Weapons systems" is the COL
lective term applied TO them. and
there probably are as many mis-
understandings about weapons
systems as there are about push
Briefly. weapons systems repre-
sent the complete integration in
the one system Of the means for
finding and identifying q target.
processing this information
through a brain center that eval-
yates it in relationship to re-
quirements. launching the weapon
against the target. and finally,
appraising the results achieved.
II Storts With Man
The simplest weapon system is
man himself. In mortal combat
he must perform all of these func-
lions as an individual; he must
size up his target. move and de-
liver a blow. and based upon the
results, decide what to do next.
His punch. mobility. and central
nervous system make this possible.
Collectively. whether in squad,
a field army. a fighter bomber
group. or naval carrier task
force. the same functions must be
performed. And each of these
entities represents a complete
weapons system.
Clearly, then. the most simple
form of push-button warfare. even
though without the push buttons.
was man himself in hand combat.
When Paleolithic Man first fire.
hardened and sharpened a spear
to add to his combat effectiveness,
he introduced the first completely
IN war. He has continued in his
pattern Of early behavior. grub
bling from the earth every resource
that nature could provide. and
shaping it into weapons systems
that become more complex with
each passing day.
Unfortunately. in our time he
has learned how to recover nuclear
ash, which has been cold for many
millions of years, and by applying
heat and pressure. causing fiSsion
once again. Push-button warfare,
therefore. has not only become IN
creasingly complex. but increas-