Unconventional warfare (UW) is broadly defined as "military and quasi-military operations other than

conventional warfare Conventional warfare is a form of warfare conducted by using conventional weapons and battlefield tactics between two or more states in open confrontation. The forces on each side are well-defined and fight by using weapons that target primari ...

" and may use

covert Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

forces,

subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. Sub ...

, or

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run ...

. This is typically done to avoid escalation into conventional warfare as well as international conventions. Soviet instructors with SWAPO insurgents

Soviet instructors with SWAPO insurgents

Description

Aside from the earlier definition of warfare that is not conventional, unconventional warfare has also been described as:

There is another type of warfare— new in its intensity, ancient in its origin—war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins; war by ambush instead of by combat, by infiltration instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him. It preys on unrest.

Methods and organization

Unconventional warfare targets the civilian population psychologically to

win hearts and minds __NOTOC__ Winning hearts and minds is a concept occasionally expressed in the resolution of war, insurgency, and other conflicts, in which one side seeks to prevail not by the use of superior force, but by making emotional or intellectual appeals ...

, and only targets military and political bodies for that purpose, seeking to render the military proficiency of the enemy irrelevant. Limited conventional warfare tactics can be used unconventionally to demonstrate might and power, rather than to reduce the enemy's ability to fight substantially. In addition to the surgical application of traditional weapons, other armaments that specifically target the military can be used are:

airstrike An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The off ...

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

incendiary device Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, ...

s, or other such weapons.

Special Forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

, inserted deep behind enemy lines, are used unconventionally to train, equip, and advise locals who oppose their government. They can also spread subversion and propaganda, while they aid native resistance fighters, to ultimately cause a hostile government to capitulate. Tactics focus on destroying military targets while avoiding damage to civilian infrastructure and

blockading A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are l ...

military resupply are used to decrease the morale of government forces. The USA Department of Defense defines unconventional warfare as activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt, or overthrow a government or occupying power by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary, and guerrilla force in a denied area. Also called UW.

History

The advent of the

Atomic Age The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear weapon, The Gadget at the '' Trinity'' test in New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, during World War II. Although nuclear chain reac ...

changed forever philosophies of conventional warfare, and the necessity to conceal authorship of actions by hostile states. The age of asymmetric, or unconventional warfare & terrorism had begun. One of the first references is in "Manpower and Atomic War," which Edward Fitzpatrick referred to as "the next kind of war- technological war, machine war, or atomic war." Using soft power methods, to target civilians instead of military units, however had begun earlier, particularly as a strategy for use against Republics. These were developed as a tool of national socialism, or neo-liberalism, and evolved into other doctrines. There is an overlap in the world of Corporate Security & Defense Contracting where these models have extended to the field of

Risk assessment Broadly speaking, a risk assessment is the combined effort of: # identifying and analyzing potential (future) events that may negatively impact individuals, assets, and/or the environment (i.e. hazard analysis); and # making judgments "on the ...

.; One of the first instances of Unconventional Warfare techniques against civilians was documented by the La Follette Committee.

References

External links

Insurgency Research Group
– Multi-expert blog dedicated to the study of insurgency and the development of counter-insurgency policy.
Allied war terminology (File #5a)

goarmy.com/special_forces/unconventional_warfare

Unconventional Warfare: Definitions from 1950 to the Present
{{Dead link, date=July 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=no
Unconventional Warfare: A Better Path to Regime Change in the Twenty First Century

* ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4808342.stm Pentagon plans cyber-insect army Warfare by type

Description

Methods and organization

History

See also

References

External links