Superior weaponry does not guarantee success in a counterforce war

Evidence

Furthermore, in a counterforce war in which strategic forces are to be attacked, what is crucial is the match between the numbers and characteristics of the weapons (particularly accuracy) on the one hand and the numbers and characteristics of the targets on the other. This complex matter is not illuminated by comparing the two sides’ weapon systems themselves. One side could have more weapons, warheads, throw-weight, or even hard-target kill capability than the other yet be less able to wage a counterforce war than the adversary because the latter’s forces are more protected than the former’s. To come closer to what we want to know, we need to consider the state’s ability to locate the adversary’s forces and communicate with its own, but here again knowing—or estimating—which side is “ahead” in this regard does not tell us which side’s forces, if either, could complete their required missions. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2603

Categorization

• DEFINE: Effectively defines what a counterforce war is (attacking strategic forces themselves) and why target-matching rather than head-to-head comparison determines its outcome.
• XREF: connects to: the MOC “The Violence That Builds: How Modern Order Is Forged, Not Broken, by Force”