Operating on the South African veldt in 1899, British Commonwealth forces found themselves fighting a different type of war. The Boers they opposed fought what would today be called a 'non-linear' style of warfare. The early attempts by the British using a traditional linear approach, with forces operating with cumbersome conventional formations, lines of supply and communications, met with failure. Recent conflicts, such as that in Ukraine, suggest anticipated future peer or near-peer warfare may also be non-linear, with widely distributed units operating in a fluid and rapidly shifting environment. How, then, can forces be optimised to accommodate this distributed battlefield, or even to operate to capitalise on its very nature, in order to overcome an opponent? A model might be found in the response finally adopted by British forces - the flying column. In fact, advances in technology and in the capabilities of current weapons and equipment facilitate the ability and potential for such an approach, enhancing the speed, reach and applied combat power of the columns. They offer both a response to the dynamics of this new battlefield and a useful tool to effectively disrupt projected Anti Access/Area Denial (A2AD) networks intended to neutralise the airpower advantage of Western militaries.
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