The Technology Advantage of the U.S. Military Is Eroding Throughout the Cold War and the 1990s, during conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, the U.S. military operated with a significant technology advantage over its adversaries. This superiority was, for example, deployed with devastating effect during the first Gulf War. Coalition losses in terms of tanks destroyed, prisoners captured, and casualties incurred were roughly a thousand to one—a ratio for which there is virtually no historical precedent.