WordNet
n. capability in terms of personnel and materiel that affect the capacity to fight a war; "we faced an army of great strength"; "politicians have neglected our military posture" [syn: military strength, strength, military posture, posture]
Wikipedia
Military capability is defined by the Australian Defence Force as "the ability to achieve a desired effect in a specific operating environment". It is defined by three interdependent factors: combat readiness, sustainable capability and force structure.
In terms of technologies, weapons and equipment use, it represents assets, that exist to perform specific functions in relation to requirements of the statement about present or future military operations as derived from the national defence policy (strategic). A national Capabilities Development Plan seeks to provide a global understanding of capability needs, capability trends and potential capability shortfalls.
Military capability is often referred to in terms of low, medium and high, although this usually refers to the type, quantity and sophistication of technology being used in combat operations, and the severity of threat to security of the state.
Maintaining military capability requires modernisation of military technology, particularly prevalent in Europe since the Middle Ages due to the arms race that commenced with the introduction of artillery and later firearms into warfare.
In the European Union, capability development is approached by the Capability Directorate focusing on three primary areas:
- IAP: Information Acquisition & Processing - Knowledge
- GEM: Guidance, Energy & Materials - Engagement
- ESM: Environment, Systems & Modelling - Manoeuver
Existing military capability in armed forces will be employed, and only minor enhancements are possible in a short conflict. The context within which the military capabilities are used such as the geography of the area of operations, the culture and demography of the enemy, and the preparedness of the opposing forces, generally can not be altered at the start of the conflict.
It is a major part of military science to find methods of defeating the enemy with available capabilities using existing and new concepts. Successful use of military capability by employing these concepts and methods is reflected in the effects on the enemy ability to continue to resist, subject to Rules of Engagement (ROE) range of political, legal and ethical factors. Military capability is often tested in peacetime by using the scenario methodology to analyse performance, often as a war game. It is
The military's strategic role is to advise civilian leadership on the capability of military forces to execute specific missions.
Future military capability is developed based on the analysis of experimentation and testing of existing capability performance, and future capability decisions are made based on the armed forces being able to meet the challenges of a range of possible future scenarios. This is arguably a difficult task to accomplish due to the lack of predictability about future threats, changes in defence policy, and the range of response options and their effects that a government may want as a matter of future national defence policy.
The difference between expected and deliverable military capabilities is called the military capability gap, although the same term is also sometimes used to compare capabilities of potential future belligerents.
Usage examples of "military capability".
As a result of the Gulf War and the sanctions, Iraq has lost much of the modest military capability it possessed in 1988-90.
With us as distracted by Silesia and the front as we are, they'd almost have to be tempted to use that military capability in an effort to destabilize our annexation of the Cluster.
It is also arguable that the formidable nature and huge technological lead of American military capability could induce an adversary to move to a strategy that attempted to circumvent all this fighting power through other clever or agile means.
But he had concentrated on the Earth surveillance program, managing the information reported to the Thuriens, and secretly building up the Jevlenese military capability.
This breadth should lead to a more comprehensive and integrated interaction among all the specific components and units that produce aggregate military capability and must include training and education, as well as new ways to exploit our technical and industrial capacity.
While we may have deferred adding to the inventory of future systems in development, current systems possess more than enough military capability to get us through this transition period, even if this period were to last for more than a decade.
On the other hand, potential adversaries cannot be expected to ignore this predominant military capability of the United States and fail to try to exploit, bypass, or counter it.
Their understanding was marked by repeated thranx warnings to the effect that if the Pitar should succeed in seriously degrading humankind's military capability, it would not be past the AAnn to take advantage of the situation.
Picker-ing quickly saw that he was very impressed with them-as much for the public's perception of them as for any bona fide military capability.
Pickering quickly saw that he was very impressed with themas much for the publics perception of them as for any bona fide military capability.