Category: Pointer Monthly Essays

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that can benefit the training community by improving not only the competencies of already skilled personnel, but also that of trainees who may lack knowledge and experience. Popularised by Pokémon GO, it is one of the technologies that have been identified t...

The author highlights that many contemporary military strategists and practitioners value the philosophiescontained in Carl Von Clausewitz’s classic On War and its relevance to present day conflict. On the other hand, thereare also speculation and debates over Clausewitz’s relevance to contempora...

In this essay, the authors first examined the imperative of maritime sense-making in Singapore’s context. Despite its importance, maritime sense-making is not a topic that has been discussed robustly before. Therefore, the authors sought to elaborate what maritime sense-making entails, and how it...

According to the author, hybrid entities are state-sponsored groups which possess training, discipline and equipment, like state militaries. Where these groups lack high end equipment (e.g. tanks, aircraft), they compensate with asymmetric tactics of operating in urban environment and exploiting ...

In this essay, the author feels that threat assessments are the foundation of a state's national security policy. To explain how threat assessments become self-fulfilling prophecies, he has organised the essay into five parts. In the first part, the author highlights the features of threat assess...

Military intelligence has always held an aura of secrecy and mystery. The success or failure of operations, and the nature of campaigns, hinges on commanders’ decisions, which are in turn guided by intelligence. For those who work ‘behind the curtain’, it has always been a tremendous challenge to...

According to the author, autonomous technology is increasingly adopted by the various military forces around the world. In fact, there is a wide proliferation of robots which are being used to replace humans for many tasks, even in the battlefield. However, the author feels that the adoption of a...

In this essay, the author first defines deterrence and explains its concept and its key elements. He then explores the application of conventional deterrence strategies, whether it is through denial, or through punishment, and touch on its limitations. He proceeds to examine the existential natur...

In this essay, the author cites Mary Kaldor1, who argues that armed conflicts in the post-Cold War era is fundamentally different from traditional Clausewitzian interstate conflicts. Unlike old wars, which were fought between state-controlled militaries for geopolitical and ideological reasons, '...

In this essay, the author argues that currently, while there are limitations in Artificial Intelligence (AI) decision-making, it is too late to prohibit the use of autonomous technologies for future warfare. This is due to the potential of Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS) as the next Revolution i...