Future of war June 27, 2021 In the 18th century, uniformed soldiers fought wars with ‘massed manpower using line and column tactics’. A century later, second generation warfare was fought with ‘rifled muskets and breech-loaders’. Third generation warfare is about bypassing the enemy’s lines and collapsing their forces from the rear using fighter aircraft, tanks and artillery. Third generation warfare is about three things: ‘speed, stealth and surprise’. Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia General Valery Gerasimov conceived the ‘Gerasimov doctrine’. The doctrine rests on five pillars: ‘wars are no longer declared; noncontact or remote engagement; reduced spatial and temporal distances between opponents; use of robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles and weapons based on new physical principles; changes in the nature of conflict require new support systems and new forms and methods for employing the means of struggle’.