From 2013, American policymakers argued that armed UAVs (“drones”), along with Special Operations, could destroy al-Qaeda’s leadership and effectively end the war on terrorism.57

How Lethal Non-state Actors Innovate Those who study how non-state actors such as terrorists and insurgents innovate rarely take a broad strategic perspective about long-term trends or patterns.44 Scholars have tended to conduct in-depth case studies of individual groups, conflicts, or campaigns,45 and there has been little tying together of those

Terrorists leapt ahead of military tacticians in creating sophisticated small explosive devices that used dynamite.20

Following the 1967 Six Day War, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) analyzed the performance of their main battle rifle, the Fusil Automatique Léger (FAL) and found it wanting. It did not perform well in the dusty desert environment in which the IDF primarily fought. Examination and testing of Egyptian and Syrian AK-47s and AKMs recovered by the IDF

IMI began manufacturing the Galil ARM at its factory in Ramat ha-Sharon in 1971, and the IDF began deploying the new rifle to its troops in 1972. IMI subsequently licensed the Galil assault rifle to be produced in South Africa (1982), Columbia and Italy (later in the 1980s), Croatia (1995), Ukraine (2008), and Chile and Vietnam (2014). Several US

Confederate soldiers stretched out sheets of fabric over trenches and earthworks so the Ketchum grenades would have a soft landing, fail to explode, and could then be thrown back even harder.22

That was almost impossible to accomplish, especially in the midst of a battle, so they rarely worked.21 Plus there were easy countermeasures.

Innovation Was Not Driven by the Military

Another limiting factor in analyzing the adoption of technology for political violence is that most terrorism scholars don’t focus on the technologies used. Whereas many of those who study the history of military innovation emphasize the hardware, like tanks and battleships, and neglect the software, like military doctrine and organizational