The ‘American way of war’ is typically used to describe the United States’ use of exquisite technology combined with limited numbers of highly trained personnel to fight its conflicts, rather than relying, as other countries sometimes do, on relatively low-technology capabilities wielded by large masses of personnel. Does this cultural bias lead SOF into over-relying on technology? What are the advantages and disadvantages of small-quantity, highly trained, and technologically sophisticated SOF? Does technology encourage and enable micromanagement?
As we move into an era of strategic competition, there is risk in assuming that SOF will always have the technological advantage vis-à-vis an adversary. How can SOF be effective in a conflict environment in which the adversary has the technological advantage? Do SOF have other competitive advantages that could make up for technological undermatch? How can SOF best manage the virtual and/or physical signature of personnel, platforms, organizations, operations, facilities, and data when facing an adversary with comparable or better technological capabilities?
- McBride, Maj. Lukhma, "The Chadian Way of War: Implications for Operations in the Sahel," SAASS thesis, 2025, 138 pgs.
- McBride answers this by using the historical case study of the Chad-Libya conflict to demonstrate that forces can overcome severe technological undermatch by leveraging extreme mobility, asymmetric tactics, and an "unconditional will" to fight. He explains that while the Libyan military possessed conventionally superior, high-cost Soviet weapons like T-55 tanks, armored personnel carriers, and attack helicopters, the Chadians achieved decisive victories by outfitting inexpensive, highly agile Toyota pickup trucks with heavy machine guns and anti-tank missiles. By pairing this vehicular mobility with an intimate indigenous knowledge of the harsh Saharan terrain and decentralized, front-line leadership, Chad successfully bypassed Libya's static defenses and destroyed hundreds of armored vehicles, proving that human judgment, audacity, and environmental adaptation can effectively neutralize an adversary's exquisite military technology.