ABSTRACT
Displacing technology, the theme of the last chapter, means, in part, moving from a supply-side account of military history, one that is focused on capability and its impact on warfare. Focusing on tasking or the setting of goals, the subject of this chapter, in turn directs attention to a demand-led account. Such an account does not exclude the consequences of technology, although the emphasis is rather on the bounded efficiency and rationality of arms technologies that depend so much on the exigencies that emerge during the political and social process of armament. Instead, fitness for purpose, a key concept in weaponry, force structure and capability, is the major issue for evaluation, with the purpose for the military set not by the capability but by the task required. The latter, however, attracts only slight attention in popular discussion of warfare, as it appears self-evident that the task is victory, generally defined as total victory, and, therefore, that the bestprepared military wins. This though is an account that is of only limited value, for the very nature of victory is dependent on the purpose of the military and its particular objectives, and, thus, on the process of tasking; while, in more narrow terms, this process helps address the issue of prioritization between conflicting requirements. The selection of
goals is also important to the issue of costs, as the constraints posed by the latter are made more or less serious by the needs that have to be addressed.
