By Anoud Y.
ABU DHABI — The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) held the 18th Future of Warfare in the 21st Century at its convention hall on April 9.
The conference started with welcoming remarks by the center’s director general, Dr. Jamal Sanad Al-Suwaidi, who touched on recent conflicts in the region and the world.
H.E. Michèle Alliot-Marie, former Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs for France, gave the keynote address. The former minister shared many thoughts of hers throughout her career life.
There were various scenarios for the future and how warfare may be affected by technological developments and strategic changes in the coming years. Speakers also discussed the political and civil aspects that may influence the future of warfare.
The conference panels included a broad selection of decision makers, experts, academics and researchers representing wide perspectives of views who took part at the stage to participate and discuss their perspectives.
One of those speakers was Dr. Austin Long, assistant professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, who talked broadly about the asymmetrical warfare and international terrorism.
Dr. Long’s discussion revolved around the asymmetric techniques and international terrorist aspects of the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, with some additional discussion of the diffusion to Libya.
Long also praised the United Arab Emirates for its implementation of a biometric data collection as part of the Emirates ID program.
Another keynote speaker, Dr. Christopher Kinsey, reader in business and international security at King’s College in London, discussed the issue of the rise of contractors in the 21st century warfare. Dr. Kinsey said logistics and other services would be handled by organizations outside the traditional military.
“The core definition of contractors is those other services required to support soldiers in the fields…” Dr. Kinsey said.
Dr. Kinsey emphasized the importance of contractors in warfare and how they play a major role in changing the scenarios in war tactics.
The conference covered two days (April 9-10). Day two included other important issues, such as future trends in civil-military relations, war prevention and peacekeeping, and the private sector’s role in defense. There was also discussion about how the UAE military can help with international peace-keeping missions led by the United Nations.
This story was originally published on May 12, 2013. It was re-uploaded on Nov. 2, 2020. The photo that accompanied this story was lost due to the loss of the domain name.
