Strategic Defense Management: transforming the military environment in face of the new demands in security and defense

Abstract

The dynamics of wars have demanded new challenges from the military. Acting on the whole spectrum of conflicts, in an environment that may not have winners, achieve goals with the lowest number of military and civilian casualties, with minimal material losses, and manage the chaos that comes after the conflicts, the major challenges for states and international organizations. Alongside these challenges, the military structure, in times of peace, needs to be adapted to its strategic environment, that is, to what is imposed on it by governments and the society it must protect. Flexible, specialized, and better equipped military structures have become, not only an operational requirement of the new asymmetric battlefield environment, but a requirement of society. It is understood that the main result of this work will be to present a proposal of how the Armed Forces and Brazilian society need to face these new challenges, ranging from aid to natural catastrophes, support for major events, acting in a police environment, and at the same time, be able to act in an external environment, markedly in UN missions or regional cooperation.