Targeting: The Challenges of Modern Warfare
Professor Mike Schmitt has published the edited volume “Targeting: The Challenges of Modern Warfare” (Asser/Springer 2016).
His co-editors are Brigadier General Paul Duchiene and Air Commodore Frans Odinga, both of the Dutch Defense Academy. The book, intended for use by the military and government legal advisers in addition to academics, offers the first ever multidisciplinary treatment of targeting. “Targeting: The Challenges of Modern Warfare” begins with an exploration of the context of targeting, its evolution and the current targeting system. An overview of the legal and ethical constraints on targeting follows. The book concludes by surveying contemporary issues in targeting such as the potential advent of autonomous weapon systems, ‘non-kinetic’ targeting, targeting in multinational military operations and leadership decapitation in counter-terrorism operations. It is a unique publication in that its editors all have extensive practical experience in the field of targeting. Schmitt is a former US Air Force targeting officer, Duchiene has provided legal advice to the Dutch armed forces throughout his career and Osinga is an experienced combat pilot and commander. The various contributors likewise were selected for their experience and their practical approach to the understanding how targeting works in contemporary warfare.
Date: 5 January 2016