ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the net impact of a new and emerging technologies in the realm of data-processing and sensor technologies to expound on the changes introduced in the traditional kill chain from the first Iraq war in 1991, to the second Iraq war in 2003, to the current times, and how the gradual evolution of technology has impacted the manner in which this chain is operationalized. The most important aspect of this impact is witnessed in the operationalization of cross-domain kill chains that combine to form a kill web, an evolution from the previous generation of technology which could only allow single-domain kill chains to be executed. Much of this evolving trajectory of technology is dependent on the space-based satellites that make space domain an inevitable part of the conventional battlespace. This evolving kill web is significant as in future it may provide states an unprecedented form of situational awareness along with a dense sensor network with automation. This shift from kill chain to kill web makes conventional warfare highly effective, but the cross-domain character of the kill web and conventional operations also allows the risks of inadvertent escalation. Instrumentalized conventional strategy attempts to moderate this kill web and its escalatory prospects and gears it towards a purposeful and controlled form of coercion by conventional forces.
