The Tension Between Innovation and Standardization in Warfighting

Successful warfare requires both, but the balance is hard to strike. Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. In 1967, the Wolf Pack had a missile problem. The Air Force’s 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, deployed to Udon, Thailand, during the Vietnam War, had jets that fired the wrong missiles. The AIM-4 Falcon was designed for high-altitude, high-speed intercepts of enemy bombers. It didn’t perform well in the close-range dogfights of the Vietnam War. Joseph O. Chapa holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Oxford and is a research fellow at the University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Applied Ethics Center. He writes about technology, ethics, and war. His book, AI For The Rest of Us, is forthcoming with Air University Press. More on Drone Warfare