Clausewitzian Friction and Future War by Barry D. Watts

Clausewitzian Friction and Future War by Barry D. Watts attempts to answer the question of whether friction will continue to exist after the revolution in military affairs. Watts answer is not surprisingly that it will still exist. Actually considering the increasing complexity of combat systems I would think more friction would take place. He uses chaos theory and evolutionary theory to discuss the problem of disconnected events taking place in a regulated system. The analysis is interesting. There is a clear discussion of the development of the concept of friction in various writings. I would have preferred a larger discussion of modern examples of friction. He uses some from the first Gulf War particularly the air campaign. This was published in 2004 it has updates from earlier versions.

Highly recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.