I think this area of study is interesting, but I wouldn't put much stock into using science fiction for understanding or predicting small wars and its characteristics. The reason being that we have plenty of history available, and despite the the availability of facts, it's still extremely difficult in building a common, applicable understanding for events and their causes. Add the influences/themes/bias of the author and that of the reader, and you can interpret anything however you please. To answer the question in the article, why didn't the rebels in Star Wars fight an unconvetional battle: because George Lucas didn't want them to

Where using fiction can be usable, in my opinion, is explaining or developing themes that are already understood.