Fifth Generation Warfare

Discussing fifth generation warfare (5GW) makes me think of this quote from the Bible: "I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled."--Jeremiah 4:25. This defines 5GW, non-contact warfare in the present context. Since Sept. 11, 2001 the U.S. has performed more than 500 targeted killings on identified terrorists using armed unmanned aircraft. This handbook attempts to provide systematic answers to these questions in several major sections, each of which is written by many contributors. While this handbook records many different voices of 5GW research, it speaks with one voice on the need to understand 5GW, the fifth gradient of warfare.