Viewpoint: More Science, Less Art: Big Data, The Information Revolution and Decision-Making in the Royal Air Force

Abstract

The information revolution – the exponential increase in volume and detail of data on almost everything1 – is fundamentally re-shaping modern warfare, enabling the measurement of effect in war to be infinitely more empirical than ever before. For professional airmen and women, the rise of big data should be driving greater rigour into how decisions are made in organising for war, planning for war, and fighting wars. We are moving from a world in which decisions were made principally qualitatively, on human judgement and intuition, to one in which data science predominates.