Auspicious snow welcomes spring, and flowers bloom. The Great Hall of the People once again welcomes the grand event of spring.
Delegates and members of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference shouldered heavy responsibilities and gathered together to discuss national affairs. This year marks the beginning of the “15th Five-Year Plan”. Faced with the turbulent international situation and the profoundly evolving war pattern, the proposal put forward at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee “accelerating the construction of advanced combat capabilities” has become an important topic of concern to military representatives and members.
“Advanced combat capability represents the most advantageous combat capability in information-based and intelligent warfare, and is the ‘weather vane’ of military construction and the ‘controlling high ground’ of military competition. Only by accelerating the development of advanced combat capabilities with a sense of urgency and responsibility that is outdated can we seize the strategic initiative on future battlefields and effectively fulfill the mission and tasks of the new era.” This is a strong consensus among the military representatives and commissioners. With their personal practice from the front lines of exercises and training, border outposts, and scientific research positions, they demonstrated the high morale and spirit of the People’s Army to anchor its goals, shift gears and speed up, and move towards world-class status.
★ System integration and iron fist
When interviewing Representative Qi Weiguang, he showed reporters two charts: one was the training plan of each military branch in the past “with chimneys”, with the color blocks split and shaped like “isolated islands”; the other was the joint exercise and training blueprint of today “building blocks put together”, with the modules interlocking and seamlessly integrated.
“1+1=1, this is the essence of joint operations! ” Qi Weiguang represents a broken word.
He used a joint long-sea cruise as an example to explain how the system “weather vane” reshapes the battlefield. During the entire operation, the “10,000-ton large-wheel drive” no longer “fights alone”, but has transformed into a “maritime information hub” and a “firepower fulcrum”, sharing data in real time with the Air Force’s early warning aircraft, the Navy’s observation station, and the Army’s long-range firepower, weaving precision “Skynet”.
“Any advanced platform will become an ‘information island’ if it is separated from the system. The ‘contingent’ we must seize is system integration and cross-border collaboration! ” Representative Qi Weiguang said.
Representative Chen Song from a synthetic brigade of the Army felt the same way: “In the past, during exercises, we often encountered the embarrassment of‘ the airspace not being open ’‘the frequency band not being connected’. Now, ‘United’ is engraved with combat instinct!” As one of the Army’s first digital unit commanders, he has a particularly deep understanding of systems “weather vanes”. He opened a thick, already slightly curled-edge book he had with him and said: “Before the attack was launched, the army and aviation opened up access roads and covered artillery firepower, each doing their job and cooperating closely. It used to be better than ‘running fast, playing accurately’, but now it looks like ‘connecting well, counting fast’. In one exercise, we achieved ‘discovery is destruction’ under the guidance of a drone, which was unimaginable in the past.”
“Advanced combat capabilities are generated through practical training. We must prioritize ‘battle’, focus on combat, and strive for practical combat! ” Many military representatives and deputies said that the training plans of the troops are no longer divided by “year”, but by “mission cycle”; the assessment standards are no longer “meter-second ring”, but “contribution rate” and “damage value”. When “discovery means destruction” becomes the norm, whoever can move one step faster in system integration will take the initiative on the battlefield.
From “a single military branch” to “a global vision”, from “physical superposition” to “chemical reactions”, the system-integrated “weather vane” is leading the three armies to clench their fingers into a fist and forge advanced combat capabilities that are both strong and sharp.
★ Challenge the extreme and sharpen the blade
The computer screensaver of Representative Wang Wenyi from the Air Force is a photo of a flight jacket armband. This badly worn armband silently tells the story of his blue-sky powerhouse’s pursuit of pushing boundaries and flying into battle.
“Future wars will be decided quickly. The flight scale must be pushed from the ‘pass line’ to the ‘limit value’, in line with actual combat standards! ” Representative Wang Wenyi showed reporters the achievements of the past year: high-intensity cross-day and night confrontation along the coast, with the number of daily flight hours per aircraft reaching new highs; in complex electromagnetic environments, the third generation of aircraft successfully completed the verification of the extreme penetration of new weapons..
“At first, some people questioned: Will it be too risky? My answer is: There is no ‘safe’ on the battlefield.” Representative Wang Wenyi recalled a scene of a dawn attack. That day, clouds were low, visibility was extremely low, and ground guidance was severely limited.“‘ In blind flight’, you must rely on instruments to maintain the formation and resist strong electromagnetic interference. If you only dare to draw a route in ‘10,000 meters of clear sky’ in peacetime, you will be hit in ‘low clouds and thick fog’ in wartime and your head will be bloodied!” Representative Wang Wenyi said firmly.
“‘Liftoff is combat, takeoff is assault’—— This is the iron rule we set. Not only do we need to take our fighter jets to new heights, but we also need to hone our combat effectiveness in extreme environments!” Representative Wang Wenyi’s words expressed the common voice of military representatives and deputies: Only by seamlessly connecting the training ground to the battlefield can we transform “the limit” into “the extreme” and truly seize the winning heights of the future battlefield.
“The countdown has begun to achieve the goals of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army as scheduled. Time is of the essence and the task is arduous, so we must make every effort to overcome it!” When talking about extreme training, Representative Hou Changling from the Rocket Force has a bright eye.
That year, his unit quickly transitioned to “wartime status” as new and old equipment changed.“ Loading, testing, lighting, everything is done as it should be!” Representative Hou Changling still remembers vividly the scene when he encountered a severe sandstorm for decades during his cross-regional training. That time, they overcame environmental factors and operated accurately, setting a record for shooting accuracy in bad weather!
“Missiles must not only ‘hit out’, but also ‘hit accurately, hit hard, and win’. ” Representative Hou Changling’s tone was sonorous. “Please rest assured, Party and people, the ‘Heavenly Sword’ in our hands can be unsheathed at any time!”
“War does not allow us to choose our opponents, and the battlefield does not allow us to choose the weather and environment. ” Representative Luo Yu from the front line of the border defense told reporters that “Snowland Plateau, the temperature sometimes drops to more than -40 degrees Celsius. In the past, there have been cases of playing in the face of severe cold ‘retreating’ and lowering standards; now, we stipulate that all tactical courses must truly set the battlefield as real, the opponent as strong, the environment as dangerous, and the difficulties as sufficient!”
From “training what to take” to “filling in what is missing”, from “wandering at a low level” to “making new strides every year”, extreme training “weather vane” is forging a strong steel team that can win battles.
★ New domain and new quality plan for breakthroughs
Representative Xu Fengcan from the Army has a wonderful video of an ultra-low-altitude penetration saved on his work computer——
Several attack helicopters used terrain cover to launch raids, launching missiles to accurately destroy the “enemy” armor center, and the group immediately approached the ground and hid in the radar blind spot.
“This is not only a breakthrough in equipment capabilities, but also a breakthrough in the concept of breaking through the flat battlefield and forging ‘three-dimensional iron fist’. ” Representative Xu Fengcan introduced that in the past it was “play whatever you want”, and now it is “develop whatever abilities you play”. In recent years, they have paid close attention to cutting-edge technologies such as drone swarm networks, helicopter laser anti-missile, and manned and unmanned coordination, and have continuously deeply integrated new technologies into the force’s combat system. The goal is to achieve combat effectiveness in ultra-low-altitude penetration, promote the transformation of land and aviation forces from support and support to main combat assault, and ensure that they become a “three-dimensional iron fist” that tears apart the defense line on the future battlefield.
“Silent victory is the submariner’s mission! ” Representative Zhang Hongxing from the Navy’s submarine force gave a vivid picture of his understanding of new-quality combat capabilities.
During a drill, “Blue Army” deployed “dragnet” and “Red Army” submarines, using the thermocline as cover, ghostly crossed the anti-submarine network. At a critical moment, saturation attacks severely damaged “enemy” ship formations..
Representative Zhang Hongxing said: “This drill is an innovation in combat concepts, concealment and damage capabilities. It used to be said ‘to be able to go out and come back’, but now it is even more important ‘to be able to hide, play accurately, and run fast’. Our pursuit is to silently demand combat effectiveness to the limit and make the weapons in our hands become the deep sea ‘the magic needle of the sea’!”
“In modern warfare, whoever masters advanced technology masters the ‘life gate’ on the battlefield. ” A committee member from the Information Support Force and a reporter shared a personal story: a new piece of equipment was once “bottlenecked”. At that time, the Party member commando team “challenged and led” fought day and night and finally broke through the barriers, doubling the performance of the equipment.
“To seize ‘the commanding heights’, one must dare to venture ‘no man’s land’ and be willing to sit ‘cold bench’. Over the years, seeing the new equipment bring back combat power, the joy in my heart is unparalleled!” The Commissioner’s pride is palpable.
As a key force in winning future battlefields, new-quality combat effectiveness is related to the direction of war, construction transformation, and combat victory or defeat. Military representatives and deputies said that in order to seize the commanding heights of new territory and new quality and forge sharp swords to defeat the battlefield in the future, the People’s Army is leading the changes in war with changes in science and technology, and seeking opportunities to win battles with new capabilities, laying a solid foundation for winning the future.
Think about change and prepare for construction
■Guo Fengkuan
At the beginning of the Two Sessions, “accelerating the construction of advanced combat capabilities” became a hot topic among military representatives and deputies. Everyone held discussions and exchanges around the themes of “what will be needed on the battlefield in the future, what will be relied upon to win the war, and what will be practiced based on the current situation”. The construction of advanced combat capabilities plays an important role in changing the winning mechanism of war, enriching combat styles and scenarios, and traction of high-tech weapon manufacturing. To continuously improve the strategic ability to defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests, we need to deeply grasp the internal logic of the generation of advanced combat capabilities, systematically sort out the specific methods and paths to accelerate the construction of advanced combat capabilities, and focus on thinking about changes, construction, and preparations for advanced combat capabilities.
In today’s world, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating breakthroughs, and the world’s new military revolution is accelerating. Strategic high-tech technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, and quantum technology are competing to burst forth. The widespread use of science and technology in the military field has caused profound changes in the form of war and combat methods, and is increasingly becoming an important factor in determining the victory or defeat of war.
At present, the evolution of war forms is showing many new trends, and intelligent features are more prominent. Some new technical equipment has formed a dimensionality reduction strike posture against traditional equipment. New-quality combat forces represented by strategic early warning, information control, algorithmic attack and defense, unmanned intelligence, etc. are increasingly becoming an important factor influencing the trend of modern warfare. Under the guidance of military intelligence, new-quality combat forces continue to give birth to combat types with higher efficiency and better quality. Advanced combat capabilities are increasingly becoming a powerful force driving the world’s new military revolution.
Accelerating the construction of advanced combat capabilities is not only an integral part of promoting high-quality national defense and military modernization, but also an important means to achieve the goals of the centenary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army as scheduled. Only by adjusting and optimizing the military force system, accelerating the development of new combat forces, increasing the training of new military talents, and solidly promoting practical military training, and focusing all work on being able to fight and win battles, can the vitality of combat effectiveness elements burst forth and promote the construction of advanced combat effectiveness to a new level.
The combat effectiveness factor is the decisive factor in the rise and fall of the army, and the combat effectiveness standard is the only fundamental standard for army construction. New-quality combat effectiveness is the product of revolutionary breakthroughs, innovative configurations, and creative application of innovation-driven combat effectiveness elements. It represents the development direction of advanced combat effectiveness and is the “sword” and “tip” that wins future wars. We must grasp the characteristics and laws of the generation of new-quality combat effectiveness, adhere to the principle of self-reliance, start from reality, vigorously promote independent innovation and original innovation, create a new-quality combat effectiveness growth pole, and provide strong strategic support for achieving the goals of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army as scheduled and accelerating the construction of the People’s Army into a world-class army.
Emerging fields are fertile ground for incubation
Science and technology are the most dynamic and revolutionary factors in military development. Emerging fields are new strategic spaces and key technology fields that emerge with the advancement of science and technology and the expansion of the scope of human activities. They naturally have extremely strong value attributes such as timeliness, strategy, cutting-edge, and disruption. This also determines that emerging fields have many special advantages that traditional fields do not have. Technology is the core combat power, and new-quality combat power fundamentally comes from the innovation and application of technology. The continued advancement of the materialization and embodiment of key core technologies in emerging fields will have a profound impact on the construction of weapons and equipment, innovation in combat styles, adjustment of organizational systems, and the evolution of war forms. It will achieve innovative configuration and optimized combination of weapons and equipment, combat styles, and personnel, and promote new development and breakthroughs in combat effectiveness construction It provides good conditions and soil for liberating and developing new-quality combat capabilities, becomes an important incubator, accelerator, and multiplier for new-quality combat capabilities, and promotes the evolution of combat capabilities to a new quality state that is higher, more advanced, and has greater comparative advantages. Therefore, we must comprehensively enhance strategic capabilities in emerging fields, coordinate the development of forward-looking strategic emerging industries, place scientific and technological innovation in a more prominent position, open up a direct channel for the transformation of new quality productivity into new quality combat effectiveness, and build a new quality combat effectiveness innovation chain, growth chain, and killing chain that is compatible with the development of emerging fields Create a good ecology that relies on strategic emerging industries to liberate and develop new-quality combat effectiveness, continuously improve the contribution rate of scientific and technological innovation to the development of new-quality combat effectiveness, and achieve efficient integration and two-way promotion of new-quality productivity and new-quality combat effectiveness.
Military innovation is kernel driven
“Those who fly far away should replace their feathers.” To focus on innovation is to focus on development, and to seek innovation is to seek the future. Innovation is the primary driving force leading development and an accelerator for generating and improving combat effectiveness. For an army, only by daring to change and reshape itself, and bravely fighting against the current and chasing the tide can it win the future battlefield. World-class armies need to achieve material and technological casting and reshaping in construction and reform, and even more so, they need to achieve ideological sublimation and transformation in the practice of war and preparation for war. Military innovation has become an important strategy for many countries and militaries to seek competitive advantages. It has become a key variable in the success or failure of the game between major powers and the life and death of the military, and a powerful driving force for the liberation and development of new-quality combat capabilities. Therefore, we must promote innovation culture, optimize the innovation environment, create an innovation atmosphere, vigorously promote and encourage the pursuit of excellence, leading trends, and unremitting exploration, promote the innovative spirit that keeps pace with the times, strive to stimulate the innovative potential and innovative vitality of the vast number of officers and soldiers, make military innovation a value orientation, a way of thinking, and a living habit, and build an innovative army. We must resolutely overcome all forms of adherence to the norm, adherence to established ideas, and conservative practices, actively promote innovation in military theory, military technology, military organization, and military management, and vigorously promote all-round innovation from weapons and equipment to combat training, from theoretical research to the application of tactics, from systems and mechanisms to talent training, so that military innovation can be ahead of war and ahead of the adversary Use innovation to drive combat effectiveness from “quantity” value-added to “quality” leap.
Scientific theory is the leader in development
Scientific military theory is combat effectiveness. The generation of new-quality combat capabilities undoubtedly depends on advanced science and technology. However, new quality combat effectiveness is essentially the product of advanced military technology and advanced military theory “marriage”. In future wars, the realization of the potential of new-quality combat effectiveness will depend on whether there are new breakthroughs in the corresponding military theories and whether the corresponding combat theory system can be effectively established. On the one hand, new-quality combat effectiveness has shifted from the past “technology-driven” based solely on scientific and technological progress to a new track that pays more attention to “design-driven” based on the traction of military theoretical innovation. Only in this way can new vitality and vigor be injected into the liberation and development of new-quality combat capabilities. On the other hand, the generation and development of new-quality combat power is the product of the innovative development of material power. To make good use of this product and occupy the commanding heights of future wars, we must rely on ideological leaps to promote innovation in combat methods and elevate the application of new-quality combat power to a higher level. Just as mechanization encounters “blitzkrieg” and its power multiplies, the organic unity of material and ideological forces can constitute the king of victory. Therefore, we must grasp the general trend of world development and military development, proactively respond to national security risks and threats of war, continuously adapt to new situations, respond to new challenges, and solve new problems, boldly explore in practice, dare to break through in theory, give military theory scientific and technological wings, capture the “singularity ”“ inflection point” of cutting-edge strategic technological development, and accelerate the modernization of military theory Form a military theoretical system that is contemporary, leading and unique, and provide scientific theoretical support for the liberation and development of new-quality combat capabilities.
The talent pool is the determining factor
The way to strengthen the army is to gain people. Strong talent leads to strong new-quality combat effectiveness, and prosperous talent leads to prosperous new-quality combat effectiveness. The talent team is a valuable strategic resource for liberating and developing new-quality combat effectiveness. People, weapons and the way people and weapons are combined are the basic forms of the composition of combat effectiveness elements. The factor that determines the victory or defeat of a war is that people are not things. People are the most active and decisive factor in combat effectiveness, and new-quality combat effectiveness places higher demands on the thinking, knowledge and skills of military talents. When the capabilities and qualities of personnel and the overall structure of personnel cannot adapt well to the changes in combat effectiveness connotation and the requirements of the transformation of combat effectiveness generation mode, shortcomings will be formed in the combat effectiveness system and combat effectiveness activity will be reduced. Today, information-based and intelligent talents have become an important resource and determining factor in leading the development of new-quality combat effectiveness. Therefore, we must adapt to the accelerated evolution of modern warfare towards intelligence, face the world’s military frontier, face the major needs of national security, face national defense and military modernization, and face the formation of integrated joint combat capabilities. We must thoroughly implement the strategy of strengthening the military with talents in the new era, firmly establish the concept that talent resources are the first strategic resource, build a new type of military talent system, accelerate the modernization of military personnel, and promote the capabilities, quality, structural layout, We will comprehensively transform and upgrade development and management, forge high-quality, professional new military talents with both moral integrity and talent, build a strong talent team in various aspects such as joint combat command talents, new combat force talents, high-level scientific and technological innovation talents, and high-level strategic management talents, and better play the leading and supporting role of talents in liberating and developing new-quality combat capabilities.
Weapons and equipment are the material basis
“Pistol Battle Victory Sword”, this is the universal law of war. Weapons and equipment are the main symbol of the division of war forms, an important symbol of the modernization of the army, the material and technical basis of combat capabilities, and directly affect the level of combat effectiveness. In modern warfare, the influence of weapons and equipment on the outcome of war is becoming increasingly prominent. When the scientific and technological revolution comes, especially when a large number of scientific and technological innovation results emerge and are widely used in the military field, the emergence of new weapons and equipment based on these scientific and technological innovation results will bring about a revolutionary transformation of the weapons and equipment system. A new quality combat capability based on this new weapons and equipment system will also be generated, leading to the overall transformation and upgrading of combat capability Achieve a leap in combat effectiveness. It can be said that new-quality combat capability is the combat capability generated by the combined effect of various new types of weapons and equipment. Therefore, designing weapons and equipment means designing future wars, and weapons and equipment construction is a systematic project that integrates technology, funding, and management. Therefore, we must deeply understand and grasp the characteristics and laws of modern warfare, deeply grasp the contemporary connotation and characteristics and requirements of weapons and equipment construction, actively adapt to changes in the world, the times, and history, actively adapt to changes in science and technology, war, and adversaries, accurately identify changes, respond scientifically, and actively seek changes, accelerate the modernization of weapons and equipment, accumulate advantages in innovative breakthroughs, and compete with strong enemies in catching up Accelerate the development of new weapons and equipment to provide strong material and technical support for the liberation and development of new-quality combat capabilities.
Structural formation is the key bearing
Structure determines function, and function determines success or failure. The organic combination of war resources is the power source and amplifier for the exercise of power; whoever can combine combat elements into a whole that is more adapted to the new war environment can exert stronger combat effectiveness. Without the advantages of military organization, even with the most advanced technology and weapons, it is difficult to gain an overwhelming winning advantage. Especially driven by the collective explosion of contemporary science and technology, the liberation and development of new-quality combat effectiveness urgently requires profound changes and adjustments in the organizational form of the military, and promotes the integrated design, coordinated development, convenient flow, networked sharing, systematic integration, and efficient utilization of military talents, equipment, theory, technology, data, management and other factors, thereby greatly improving the efficiency of resource allocation. The main form of new-quality combat power is formed through the integration of network information systems. Moreover, the contribution of each combat element is no longer a simple linear superposition relationship. Comprehensive perception is the prerequisite, like a human eye; real-time accusations are the key, like a human head; precision strikes are the center of gravity, like a human fist; and full-dimensional protection is the foundation It is like a person’s self-defense; focusing on protection is the lifeblood, like a person’s energy supplement. Therefore, to promote the modernization of organizational forms and realize the scientificization of combat organization, we must shift from organizing according to the functions of the military services to integrating according to combat functions, and transform the combat system from integrating unit functions to aggregating factor energy. We must get rid of the model of simple superposition and mechanical coordination of combat forces “physical”, and instead pursue organic integration and efficient aggregation “chemical” Thus creating a new combination with new quality combat capabilities.
Education and training are the basic path
Dynamic evolution is the basic law for the generation of new-quality combat effectiveness. Without strict education and training, there will be no new-quality combat effectiveness. Education and training are the basic path for generating and improving combat effectiveness. They are the basic way to transform the potential combat effectiveness formed by personnel quality and weapons and equipment into real combat effectiveness. They are also the central link in liberating and developing new-quality combat effectiveness. When new combat equipment is put into service, people often only have a preliminary understanding of its new functions. Greater use value and stronger combat effectiveness must be discovered and explored in actual combat confrontation exercises. Compared with traditional combat forces, new-domain and new-quality combat forces have more complex combat platforms, more special energy release mechanisms, and more regulatory relationships involved in battlefield operations, requiring the mastery of new control techniques. Only when each position has skilled weapons and equipment control skills can it be skilled and courageous and maximize the effectiveness of the weapon system; only when each command personnel truly masters the method of close connection and smooth coordination of various systems and elements can they command and control with ease. Science and technology provide effective means of education and training, especially contemporary scientific and technological innovation, which promotes the closer integration of the two elements of people and weapons. Therefore, we must strengthen scientific and technological training, explore ways to empower military training methods such as “intelligence+”“network+”, strengthen simulation, combat testing, etc., and explore and understand the widest scope of battlefield application, the best formation and focusing method, and the greatest confrontation ability effect in adapting to the battlefield “game rules” from breaking to reconstruction Shorten the generation cycle of new quality combat power.
Strategic management is an important guarantee
“Hold the position and set your sights on it; hold the foundation and set your sights on it. ” The liberation and development of new-quality combat capabilities is a complex systematic project and an era project “starting with technology and achieving success through management”. Only by strengthening strategic management and grasping its inherent systematicity, correlation and coordination can we advance it as a whole, cultivate “one-finger Zen” into “iron fist”, and achieve twice the result with half the effort. On the one hand, liberating and developing new-quality combat capabilities involves many aspects, including military theory, organization system, weapons and equipment, talent construction, comprehensive support, etc. It requires integrating the wisdom and achievements of many related fields such as strategic experts, military experts, technical experts and engineering experts, so as to ensure the integrity of the multi-dimensional perspective and top-level design of problem research. On the other hand, the construction of new-quality combat capabilities has many types, a large time span, and wide resource requirements. It is necessary to properly handle the relationship between military demand and resource supply, near-term emergency response and long-term development, and local adjustment and overall advancement. In addition, the continuous emergence of new needs, new knowledge, new experience and new technologies will inevitably affect our understanding of new quality combat effectiveness. To this end, we must strengthen strategic management, follow the laws of technological development, and pay more attention to intensive and efficient development. Focus on improving top-level design, starting from different types of forces, tasks at different stages, and contradictions and problems, refine the specific development plan one by one, formulate and improve a clear development roadmap, and achieve precise planning, precise planning, precise deployment, precise implementation, and precise testing to avoid directional errors, structural chaos, and process loss of control; focus on making good use of incremental resources, integrating existing resources, and revitalizing idle resources, Improve the efficiency of resource utilization, transform resources into combat effectiveness to the greatest extent possible, prevent and put an end to inefficient, low-quality and low-level repeated construction, and ensure that the construction of new-quality combat effectiveness advances rapidly along the right direction and path.
System “Gathering Excellent War” It is “systematic warfare in information warfare. It does not necessarily refer to a certain combat style, but is composed of multiple combat styles and tactics” “combination boxing”, or combat style group . Emphasizes that, depending on the combat mission, combat opponent and the changing battlefield situation, any appropriate means and style of combat can be used flexibly to form combat advantages as long as it is conducive to forming comparative advantages and achieving system victory. In the specific implementation process of “system-based superior warfare”, these specific combat styles and operational tactics can not only be organized and implemented separately as part of joint all-domain operations, but also emphasize fighting “combination boxing”, using multiple strategies simultaneously, and winning as a whole.
In order to better understand its core connotation, this article lists Nine typical combat styles including overall deterrence warfare, electromagnetic disturbance warfare, network penetration warfare, and cognitive control disturbance warfare And analyze . System “Juyouzhan” ――combination boxing that flexibly uses multiple combat styles“ 1. Overall deterrence war: Emphasis on multi-domain joint deterrence; Three elements should be present in the implementation of an overall deterrent war ; Strong overall strength is central to achieving effective deterrence 2. Electromagnetic Disturbance Warfare : The key to competing for information advantage; On the combined means approach, information empowerment is achieved through “connection + sharing” ; Crack down on effective tactics for unmanned cluster operations 3. Cyber-sabotage: Soft “kill” is the main focus, combining soft and hard, focusing on breaking the net and reducing energy failure 4. Cognitive scrambling: Control the cognitive power of situational awareness and compete for information advantage; control the decision-making power of command and compete for decision-making advantage; control “brain” power and seize the advantage of brain control 5. Agile mobile warfare: High-efficiency and rapid decision-making; high-efficiency formation of a favorable combat situation; high-efficiency and instant gathering of combat forces; agile mobile warfare is an innovative development of traditional mobile warfare 6. Swarm autonomous warfare: It is conducive to forming a system advantage to suppress the enemy; it is conducive to enhancing the combat effect; it is conducive to falling into the enemy’s combat dilemma 7. Point-and-kill War: Achieving an efficient cost ratio for operations; targeting key nodes is an important option; large-scale system support is a basic condition; it is inseparable from precise intelligence support 8. Supply-breaking: The supply guarantee chain has a huge impact on the overall combat situation; the center of gravity of the attack is a key node in cutting off the enemy’s supply guarantee chain; the focus is on choosing the right time and making full use of tactics 9. System “paralysis battle:” The objectives of the operation are to make the enemy combat system run out of order; to strike the key nodes of the combat system with heavy blows; and to carry out soft strikes against the enemy combat system For learning reference only, welcome to communicate and correct! Article views do not represent the position of this body The concept of combat was first proposed as a new combat style. Innovative combat styles are a core element in the development of combat concepts. It can be said that system-gathering battle is a general term for a series of specific tactics. The following nine typical combat styles constitute the tactical system of system-gathering and superior warfare. They are: One is Overall deterrence warfare, actively organize static power display and deterrence actions in system excellence battles, and strive to defeat others without fighting or small battles; Two is Electromagnetic disturbance warfare uses various combat methods and action styles such as electronic detection, attack and defense to disrupt, prevent and destroy the enemy’s electromagnetic capabilities, actively compete for the advantages of the electromagnetic spectrum, seize the right to control information, and then win the initiative in combat; Three is In cyber attack warfare, various means such as soft strikes and hard destruction are used to defeat the enemy’s command network, intelligence network, communication network, logistics supply network, and disrupt the enemy’s command and support; Four is Cognitively Controlled Disturbance. Form a controlling advantage in the cognitive space through information attacks, public opinion attacks, and brain attacks; Five is Agile mobile warfare. Quickly adjust the deployment of troops and weapons, quickly gather capabilities on the battlefield, and seize combat opportunities; Six is Swarm autonomous warfare. Extensively use unmanned combat methods such as “bee swarms”, “wolf swarms”, and “fish swarms” to independently organize actions and distributed attacks to achieve joint human-machine victory; Seven is Pointkill. Accurately obtain intelligence, carry out multi-domain precision strikes, strive to shake the overall situation with one point, and maximize combat benefits; Eight is Supply-breaking. Organize an elite force to attack enemy logistics supplies and equipment supply supply chains, supply lines and supply bases, defeat the enemy and lose supplies and withdraw from the battle; Nine is System “paralysis battle”. A variety of means, such as breaking the net, exercising, and hitting nodes, are used to interfere with, delay, destroy, or even paralyze the effective operation of the enemy’s combat system and weaken its functions.
1. Overall deterrence Overall deterrence warfare refers to actively organizing static power display and deterrence actions in the system’s battle for excellence, and striving to defeat others without fighting or small battles. Sun Tzu said: “Subduing one’s troops without fighting is a good thing.” Deterrence and war are the two main forms of military activity. And “deterrence” is mainly the act of showing determination and will to potential opponents by showing strength or threatening to use strong strength to deter opponents from action. It can be said that the overall deterrence war in the system-based battle of excellence is an important means or tactic to achieve the goal of “stopping” human troops without fighting. Clausewitz emphasized that the first rule of strategy is to be as strong as possible, first in general, and then in key locations. Modern warfare is system-to-system confrontation. The overall deterrence war under informationized local warfare requires not only traditional deterrence methods and capabilities on land, sea, air and space, but also new deterrence methods and capabilities such as space deterrence, electromagnetic deterrence, and network deterrence. It also requires an overall deterrence that shows the overall strength of the country. Especially with the rapid development of advanced technologies such as information technology, the technological revolution, industrial revolution, and military revolution have accelerated their integration, and strategic competitiveness, social productivity, and military combat effectiveness have become more closely coupled. Winning the information war is to a greater extent a contest between the will of the country and the overall strength of the country. To contain the war, we must first act as a deterrent to our opponents in terms of overall strength.
1.1 Emphasis on multi-domain joint deterrence Means of deterrence typically include both nuclear and conventional deterrence. In the “system-based battle for excellence”, the overall deterrence war is implemented, aiming to comprehensively use conventional deterrence methods across the land, sea, air and space power grids to achieve the purpose of deterrence. Especially with the application of information network technology and space and directed energy technology in the military, space, networks, electromagnetic weapons, etc. have become new means of deterrence. Space deterrence, It mainly uses equipment such as rapid response electromagnetic orbit weapons, space-to-ground networked anti-navigation and positioning service systems, large elliptical orbit laser weapons, and high-power microwave weapons to threaten and attack the opponent’s space targets and form a deterrent against enemy space information “interference blocking”. Cyber deterrence mainly uses cyberspace situational awareness and attack equipment to threaten and attack the opponent’s military network and other critical information infrastructure to achieve deterrence against the enemy. Electromagnetic deterrence mainly uses electromagnetic spectrum combat systems to threaten and attack enemy detection, navigation, communications and other information weapons and equipment systems to achieve deafening and blinding deterrence against the enemy.
1.2 The implementation of overall deterrence should have three major elements Implementing an overall deterrent war and achieving the desired effect of deterrence usually requires three main elements: One is strength. The deterrent must have the reliable ability or strength to frighten and fear the opponent; the second is determination and will. The deterrent party must dare to use this capability when necessary; third, to transmit information clearly. The deterring party must make the ability to act and the determination clearly known to the other party accurately and effectively.
Historically, the criteria for judging deterrent strength have varied in three main ways: First, the active military force; second, the combined national strength or war potential; and third, the total number of main battle weapons and equipment. For quite a long period of history, the number of troops was deterrence, and the strength of military strength depended directly on the size of the active military, the amount of vital weapons and equipment, and non-material factors such as the morale of the army’s training organization. After the twentieth century, with the expansion of the scale of warfare, deterrence power has become less limited to the strength of the military and the quantity of vital weapons and equipment, but is determined by the nation’s war potential, which includes economic power, scientific and technological power, energy resources, and even population size, among others. The overall deterrence war in the system’s “gathering and excellence war”, the formation of its deterrence strength is mainly based on the network information system, as well as the joint global deterrence capability formed under the integration of the system.
1.3 Strong overall strength is the core of achieving effective deterrence The development of information technology and its widespread penetration and application in the military sector provide favourable conditions for building overall strength and achieving overall deterrence. System “Juyouzhan” is supported by the network information system, making full use of the permeability and connectivity of information technology, not only integrating various combat forces, combat elements, and combat units into an organic whole, realizing the military system combat advantages, but also integrating Various fields related to war and national mobilization, such as national politics, economy, diplomacy, finance, transportation, and energy, are connected and integrated into the national war mobilization system Gather all forces and resources to form an overall synergy, realize the emergence effect of system capabilities, show the overall strength advantage, and form a powerful invisible deterrent of united efforts and sharing the same hatred Create a situation that makes the enemy “powerful but unable to act ”“able to act but ineffective”, and play a role in containing and winning the war. In the “overall deterrence war”, the scope of national war mobilization will be wider, not limited to a certain direction or region, but throughout the country and even the relevant regions of the world; mobilization time will be faster, and using networks and information systems, mobilization and action information can be quickly transmitted to everyone and every node at the first time; action coordination and synergy will be more consistent, and all forces distributed in various regions can be based on the same situation Under the same order, the operation is unified at almost the same time, which greatly improves the efficiency of operational synergy; resources are more fully utilized, and various war resources based on the Internet can quickly realize the conversion between peacetime and wartime, military-civilian conversion, and achieve integrated front and rear guarantees and precise guarantees.
2. Electromagnetic Disturbance Warfare Electromagnetic disturbance warfare refers to the flexible use of electronic detection, attack and defense and other combat methods and action styles to disrupt, prevent and destroy the enemy’s electromagnetic capabilities, actively compete for the advantages of the electromagnetic spectrum, seize information control rights, and then win operational initiative.
2.1 The key to competing for information advantage Informatization local warfare is highly dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum, the Control and counter-control of electromagnetic space have become the focus of competition for information rights. Organize and carry out electromagnetic obstruction warfare, mainly to destroy the enemy’s electromagnetic spectrum and protect one’s own side from destruction. The electromagnetic spectrum is the main carrier for transmitting information. The use of electromagnetic means to disrupt the enemy’s electromagnetic spectrum will effectively reduce the enemy’s information combat capabilities and enable our own side to ensure the rapid and effective flow of information in the scenario of ownership of information rights, driving command flow, action flow, and material flow through information flow, energy flow, and then have the dominance and initiative in combat.
2.2 The basic focus is to implement electromagnetic disturbance warfare in the battle to deactivate the enemy’s combat system. It is mainly aimed at the enemy’s dependence on electromagnetic space. At the same time, in order to ensure its own effective use of electromagnetic space, it organizes various electronic reconnaissance and interference, attack, defense and support forces to attack enemy communication networks, radar networks, computer networks and command centers, communication hubs, radar stations, etc Computer network nodes, global navigation and positioning systems, space link systems such as the “Heaven and Earth Integrated Internet”, and various other frequency-using weapons and equipment carry out interference and attacks, block and destroy their communication and data transmission, and destroy the enemy’s combat system. “Connection” and “sharing” structural center of gravity provide support for seizing information control and electromagnetic control from the root, thereby weakening the enemy’s command and control capabilities Deactivating and disabling the enemy’s entire combat system.
2.3 Crack effective tactics for unmanned cluster operations “Unmanned autonomous group operations such as swarms ”“wolves ”“fishes” are important features of information-based local warfare with intelligent characteristics. The various unmanned autonomous clusters are large in number, diverse in type, and complex in characteristics, and each individual can complement each other and play a role in replacing each other. It will be very difficult to intercept and damage the entire unmanned cluster. However, from a technical point of view, for unmanned combat clusters to achieve effective synergy, each individual must share and interact with each other. Once the communication coordination between unmanned clusters is interfered with, it will be impossible to share battlefield posture and information, and will not be able to coordinate actions with each other, making it difficult to achieve the combat effectiveness it deserves. This gives the other party an opportunity to implement interception of communications and electromagnetic interference. Therefore, the implementation of electromagnetic spectrum warfare, interference and attacks on the information and communication networks of unmanned clusters, and the destruction of their information sharing and interaction will make it impossible for each individual in the unmanned cluster to achieve effective synergy and thus lose its operational capabilities.
3. Cyber-sabotage Cyber-blowout, It refers to military confrontation operations that comprehensively use technologies such as networks and computers and other effective means to control information and information networks. It is a major combat style of cyberspace operations and competition for network control. Its main combat operations are both soft-kill and hard-destroy, focusing on soft and combining soft and hard. Among them, soft kill is mainly a cyber attack, that is, it comprehensively uses blocking attacks, virus attacks and other means to block and attack enemy information networks, command systems, weapon platforms, etc., making it difficult for enemy networks, command information systems, etc. to operate effectively or even paralyze; hard destruction mainly uses precision fire strikes, high-energy microwaves, electromagnetic pulses, and anti-radiation attacks to paralyze and destroy enemy information network physical facilities Destroy enemy combat and weapons and equipment entities. The important thing is to “break the net and reduce energy failure”. Organizing a cyber attack in a “system-based battle of excellence” is to target the weaknesses of the combat opponent’s military information network, use the advantages of the system to organize various cyber attack forces, and conduct combat command networks, reconnaissance intelligence networks, communication networks and even logistics throughout the entire operation. Supply networks, etc., continue to carry out soft killing and hard destruction operations to destroy the enemy’s network system The overall function of the enemy’s combat system is reduced or even disabled. It mainly targets core targets such as the enemy’s basic information network, intelligence network, command network, and support network, and implements a series of combat operations such as network-to-electronics coordinated attacks, deception and confusion, link blocking, and takeover control, so that the enemy’s intelligent combat network system becomes incapacitated and ineffective, achieving a critical victory that paralyzes the enemy system.
4. Cognitively Controlled Disturbance Warfare Cognitive interference control war refers to interfering with, destroying or controlling the enemy’s thinking and cognition through information attacks, public opinion attacks, and brain attacks in the system optimization war, so that the enemy cannot make correct judgments and decisions, thereby controlling the enemy in cognitive space. form a controlling advantage. Cognitive domains, That is, “human thinking space and consciousness space are areas that have a critical impact on combat decision-making and judgment”. The development of information technology, especially artificial intelligence technology, and its widespread application in the military field have expanded the battle of war from physical space and information space to cognitive space, making cognitive space a completely new combat domain. With the development of information and intelligent technology and its widespread and in-depth application in the military field, the Human-machine intelligence tends to converge This has made the status of cognition in intelligent warfare more prominent, and the cognitive field has gradually become an important battlefield. The right to control cognition has become a key element of future battlefield control. Fighting for cognitive control has become an important combat style for winning information-based local warfare operations with intelligent characteristics.
4.1 Control the cognitive rights of situational awareness and compete for information advantages In the system’s “excellence battle”, information flow drives the flow of matter and energy, and information advantage determines decision-making advantage. Rapid and accurate knowledge of intelligence information and battlefield situations has an important impact on seizing command and decision-making advantages. Therefore, when organizing and implementing system-based battle gathering, we must make full use of intelligent technology and big data technology to conduct comprehensive analysis and judgment on massive intelligence information data, mine and extract the required intelligence information, and achieve more accurate and faster understanding of battlefield situations and combat environments. Cognition ensures that the enemy is discovered first and the enemy is recognized first from the source. While removing one’s own side “the fog of war”, create “the fog” for the opponent. Therefore, in order to compete for cognitive rights, we must not only control and process information before the enemy, but also take measures such as online public opinion attacks and high virtual reality chaos to actively create and spread false information, disrupt and disrupt the perception and cognition of hostile battlefield situations, maximize confusion and increase uncertainty, interfere with the opponent’s combat decisions, and delay its combat operations.
4.2 Control and command decision-making power and compete for decision-making advantages Decision strengths determine action strengths. Quick decision-making by the commander is the key to shortening “the command cycle” and achieving quick wins. The organizational system focuses on excellent combat, and the success or failure of combat operations depends largely on the speed of the commander’s decision-making. It is necessary to “use intelligent auxiliary decision-making systems, select the best combat plans, scientifically and rationally allocate combat resources, and maximize combat effectiveness; use ubiquitous intelligent networks to access required combat nodes and combat platforms at any time to build and form an integrated combat system.” Achieve decentralized deployment of power, information, and capabilities, cross-domain linkage, form advantages at locations and times required for operations, gather energy to release energy, and gather advantages to win; Implementation “core attack”, Errors or deviations in the enemy’s command decisions are caused by hacking into the other party “chip”, tampering with its programs, and command and decision system algorithms.
4.3 Control “brain” power and seize the advantage of brain control Cognitive interference control warfare in the system’s “gathering excellence war” emphasizes “attacking the heart and seizing the will”, that is, using network warfare, electromagnetic warfare and other methods to control the enemy’s human brain and consciousness cognition as well as the control system of the unmanned autonomous platform “attacking the heart Cognitive control warfare to control the brain and seize ambitions” Replace “destroy” with “control”, To achieve the goal of stopping and winning the war at the minimum cost. Attacking the heart and controlling the brain is different from traditional strategic deterrence. It places more emphasis on active attack. It is an active attack operation that mainly uses advanced information combat technology, brain control technology, etc. to attack the enemy’s decision-making leader, as well as intelligent unmanned autonomous combat platforms, auxiliary decision-making systems, etc., carry out controlled “brain” attacks, directly control and disrupt the opponent “brain”, influence and control the enemy’s decision-making, or disable it Enable stealth control of enemy combat operations. For example, “Targeting human cognitive thinking, using brain reading and brain control technology, and using mental guidance and control methods to directly carry out “inject ”“invasive” attacks on the brains of enemy personnel, interfering with, controlling or destroying the cognitive system of enemy commanders.”, deeply control it from the perspective of consciousness, thinking and psychology, seize “control intellectual power”, disrupt the enemy’s decision-making, destroy the enemy’s morale, and force the enemy to disarm.
5. Agile Mobile Warfare Agile mobile warfare refers to the efficient decision-making, efficient adjustment of troop deployment and high-efficiency real-time gathering of combat forces in systematic battle, efficient gathering of capabilities on the existing battlefield, and seizing combat opportunities. Agility is the ability to respond quickly and timely to changes in the battlefield environment. It has the characteristics of responsiveness, robustness, flexibility, elasticity, innovation and adaptability.
Table 1 Connotation of the concept of agile warfare
5.1 Efficient and fast decision-making To implement agile and mobile warfare, we must first make efficient and rapid decisions to win operational opportunities. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively use various means of reconnaissance, detection, perception and surveillance to obtain battlefield posture and target information in a timely manner, especially characteristic information, activity trajectories and real-time position information of time-sensitive targets, so as to ensure precise intelligence support for rapid decision-making. Efficient decision-making is also reflected in the speed of intelligence processing. It takes less time to screen effective intelligence information, formulate action plans at a faster speed according to changes in circumstances, and seize the initiative and seize the opportunity with one step ahead. High-efficiency decision-making focuses on shortening the decision-making cycle, taking the target time window as the central point, and integrating decision-making command with combat units and weapon platforms, rapid response, and overall linkage to improve combat efficiency.
5.2 High efficiency forms a favorable combat situation It is necessary to “keep abreast of changes in the battlefield situation at any time, rely on the support of information networks, and achieve dynamic reorganization of combat forces and integration during movement through cross-domain, cross-dimensional, and diversified three-dimensional maneuvers. Combat resources flow efficiently throughout the region and gather during movement to achieve mobility and excellence.”, forming a favorable battlefield situation. Agile mobile warfare relies on data fusion processing, intelligent assisted decision-making and other means to quickly form combat plans, quickly project combat forces at a high frequency according to the case, organize troops to quickly form favorable combat deployments, and realize enemy discovery, enemy decision-making, and enemy fire, first enemy assessment, change the balance of power in the shortest time and fastest speed, form combat advantages, and improve the efficiency of combat operations.
5.3 Efficient and instant gathering of combat power To organize agile mobile warfare, the key is to select the right combat force within a limited time, coordinate the entire battle situation, and form an overall synergy to ensure a fatal blow. Therefore, in response to changes in battlefield posture, especially target situations, it is necessary to draw up groups to form a joint mobile combat system formed by multi-domain combat forces, gather combat forces in real time, deploy quickly and mobilely to a favorable battlefield, and carry out real-time strikes against the enemy. For deep space, deep sea, etc. to become a new combat space, an intelligent unmanned autonomous combat platform can be organized Rapid mobility is deployed to lurk near key targets or important passages that are difficult for humans to reach due to physiological limitations, and ambush operations are carried out on standby, creating new cross-domain checks and balances.
5.4 Agile mobile warfare is an innovative development of traditional mobile warfare In the history of both ancient and modern warfare at home and abroad, there have been numerous examples of successful battles that relied on rapid covert maneuvers to achieve combat objectives. However, the combat process of information-based local warfare has been greatly compressed, the combat rhythm has accelerated rapidly, and fighter aircraft are fleeting. It has put forward higher requirements for fast mobile capture fighters. It is difficult to meet the requirements of joint operations and all-area operations under information conditions alone “fast pace, high speed”. requirements, so agile mobility must be implemented.
6. Unmanned cluster autonomous warfare Unmanned cluster autonomous warfare refers to the widespread use of unmanned combat methods such as “bees”“ wolves ”“fishes” in system optimization warfare to independently organize actions and distributed attacks to achieve joint human-machine victory. With unmanned autonomous equipment becoming the main combat force on the battlefield, defeating the enemy with unmanned autonomous equipment clusters and numerical superiority has become an important combat style in information warfare.
6.1 It is conducive to forming a system advantage to suppress the enemy Unmanned cluster independent warfare gives full play to the special advantages of unmanned combat weapons such as all-weather, unlimited, difficult to defend, and low consumption, and builds and forms large-scale unmanned combat clusters or formations such as unmanned “bee swarms”“ wolves ”“fish swarms”, and organizes independently, mutual coordination, can implement close-range and full-coverage reconnaissance, or act as bait to interfere or deceive, or cooperate with main battle weapons to implement distributed coordinated attacks Enable overall mobility and joint control of the enemy.
6.2 Conducive to enhancing combat effectiveness In “unmanned cluster autonomous operations”, different combat units within the unmanned cluster organization are responsible for different functions and different tasks, including those responsible for reconnaissance, those carrying out electromagnetic interference and fire strikes, and those playing “decoy” roles. Clusters transmit and share battlefield information through inter-group networks, perform their respective duties according to the division of labor, and collaborate in real-time, independently, and dynamically according to battlefield changes. They not only give full play to their advantages in quantity and scale, but also use information networks and intelligent integration technology to achieve integration effects, using cluster advantages to consume enemy defense detection, tracking and interception capabilities, rapidly saturating and paralyzing the enemy’s defense system.
6.3 Conducive to getting into enemy combat difficulties Unmanned cluster autonomous warfare uses a large number of autonomous unmanned combat platforms with different functions to form an unmanned combat cluster integrating reconnaissance and detection, electronic interference, cyber attacks, and fire strikes. It can carry out multi-directional and multi-directional operations against the same target or target group. Multiple, continuous attacks will make it difficult for the enemy to make effective counterattacks.
7. Pointkill Battle “Precise point-killing warfare” refers to accurately obtaining intelligence in system-based battles, implementing multi-domain precision strikes, striving to shake the overall situation with one point, and maximizing combat benefits. Informationized local warfare is an overall confrontation between systems. Implementing precise point-killing warfare and precise strikes on important nodes and key links of the enemy’s combat system will destroy the enemy’s combat system and reduce enemy combat capabilities, which will achieve twice the result with half the effort. Combat effect.
7.1 Achieve efficient combat cost ratio Achieving maximum combat effectiveness at the minimum cost is a goal pursued by both sides of the war. With the widespread application of information technology in the military field and the advent of information warfare, precision-guided weapons, intelligent kinetic energy weapons, integrated surveillance and attack drones, and laser weapons are widely equipped with troops; through the use of big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies, it has become possible to accurately calculate the required troops and weapons. These all provide material and technical conditions for achieving precision point kill warfare, achieving operational objectives at a lesser cost, and achieving operationally efficient fee ratios.
7.2 Targeting key nodes is an important option The key to precise point-killing battles is to hit the key points and nodes. If you don’t hit, it will be enough. If you hit, it will be painful. If you hit, you will win. If you hit a point, you will break the enemy’s system and shake the overall situation. The target of the strike is not limited to the enemy’s dispersed deployment of ships and aircraft, but should also be targeted at local, dynamic, time-sensitive targets or independent targets such as enemy command centers, important hubs, and even major generals and commanders, in pursuit of deterrence, shock and enemy-breaking system effects. It will also be an effective countermeasure to use precision strike fire to carry out “point-kill” strikes in response to the distributed tactic of decomposing expensive large-scale equipment functions into a large number of small platforms and implementing decentralized deployment of forces.
7.3 Large-scale system support is the basic condition The implementation of precise point-kill warfare cannot be separated from the support of a large-scale system. Focusing on achieving combat goals, the required troops and weapons are transferred from each operational domain that is dispersed and deployed. With the support of the network information system, they are dynamically integrated to form a precision strike system to achieve overall linkage and system energy gathering. Through reasonable and sufficient firepower, the target is concentrated. Strike to achieve precise use of troops and precise release of energy. To implement precise point-and-kill operations to be precise, all links within the entire combat system need to be closely connected without any mistakes. The U.S. military’s killing of bin Laden in 2011 can be said to be a typical strategic precision killing operation supported by the strategic system.
7.4 It is inseparable from precise intelligence support In precision point kill warfare, precise intelligence support is always the key to achieving operational goals. Therefore, before the war, various means should be used to collect various enemy intelligence information, especially accurate analysis and judgment of enemy targets. During combat operations, various sensors and intelligence reconnaissance methods should be used to accurately grasp enemy target changes and dynamic target situations in a timely manner, so as to provide powerful and effective intelligence support for the implementation of precise point-kill warfare. The U.S. military’s targeted killing operation against Soleimani was a typical precise point-killing battle supported by an efficient intelligence system.
8. Supply-breaking Supply chain-breaking warfare refers to organizing elite forces in a system-gathering battle to attack the enemy’s logistics supplies and equipment supply supply chain, supply lines and supply bases, defeat the enemy and lose supplies and withdraw from the battle. In response to weaknesses such as the enemy’s long logistics supply line and large equipment support stalls, the organization of elite forces to build “chain-breaking warfare” combat systems, and to carry out sustained, precise and devastating strikes against enemy logistics supplies and equipment supply chains, supply lines and supply bases, will make it unsustainable due to the loss of supplies and will have to withdraw from the battle.
8.1 The supply guarantee chain has a huge impact on the overall combat situation Logistics equipment support is an important basis for operations. The constant supply of logistical supplies and weapons and equipment ultimately determines the size of an army’s combat troops, whether they can fight, in what season, where they can fight, how far they can leave their rear bases, how long they can fight, how fast they can maneuver, and so on. In information warfare, the consumption of battlefield materials has increased exponentially. Not only has the dependence on logistics equipment support for operations not decreased, but it has become larger and larger. Moreover, the requirements for the specialization of support have also become higher and higher In particular, modern combat equipment is available in a wide variety of models and specifications, with huge volumes of mixed transport, more dispersed troop deployment and very high requirements for transport capacity, which makes bases, communication lines and transport more important than ever. The stable and efficient operation of the supply guarantee chain and continuous and uninterrupted supply guarantee are the key to operational victory and have a huge impact on the overall operational situation.
8.2 The center of gravity of the attack is a key node in cutting off the enemy’s supply guarantee chain The operational center of gravity of supply chain-breaking warfare is a key link in attacking the enemy’s supply support chain, and its continuous support capability is lost through chain-breaking. Therefore, the organization of supply chain-breaking warfare should mainly target enemy ground railway and road transport lines, maritime supply convoys, military requisitioned merchant ships and combat support ships, large and medium-sized air transport aircraft, and rear supply bases. For example, striking the enemy’s maritime supply support chain and cutting off the enemy’s fuel, ammunition, fresh water, and food supplies will make the enemy aircraft carrier battle group lose its ability to continue fighting, which in turn will even affect the outcome of a battle.
8.3 The key is to choose the right time and make full use of tactics It is crucial to organize the implementation of supply chain-breaking warfare and to choose a favorable time to strike. The timing of strikes in supply chain-breaking warfare should be organized and implemented when the enemy’s supply maneuvers are selected, so as to surprise and attack unprepared concealed tactics, carry out sudden strikes on enemy supply vehicles, ships and transport aircraft, and terminate their supply operations. Specific tactics usually include covert ambush warfare, organizing capable forces to ambush the routes and routes that enemy transportation must pass through, waiting for opportunities to carry out covert surprise attacks; stealth surprise warfare, using submarines, stealth fighters, etc. to covertly move forward to carry out attacks on enemy transportation targets, and win by surprise; long-range precision warfare, using long-range conventional surface-to-surface missile forces to attack enemy supply bases and airports Long-range precision strikes are carried out at the departure points of supplies such as docks.
9. System “paralysis battle” System destruction and paralysis war refers to the comprehensive use of various means such as breaking the network, breaking the chain, and defeating nodes in the system optimization war to interfere with, delay, destroy, or even paralyze the effective operation of the enemy’s combat system and weaken the functions of the enemy’s combat system. The essence of system destruction and paralysis warfare is to weaken the correlation and structural power between the elements of the enemy’s combat system, degrade the functions of the system, and fail to play a role in doubling capabilities.
9.1 The combat goal is to disorderly operate the enemy’s combat system In information warfare, the combat systems of both warring parties have their own internal order, and this order is the key to maintaining and supporting the operation of the combat system. The side that can maintain and navigate the internal order of the combat system will gain an advantage and, conversely, a disadvantage. Therefore, the goal of “disrupting the enemy’s winning mechanism and causing the enemy’s combat system to become disordered” should be established in system destruction and paralysis warfare. This requires that the system be fully utilized in the battle of paralysis Information technology in particular intelligent algorithms The “powerful enabling effect” can quickly adjust and reconstruct one’s own combat system, quickly generate and release powerful combat power, and implement agile and precise strikes on the enemy’s combat system, causing the enemy’s combat system to lose normal operating order and become disordered. The system functions are destroyed and the overall combat capabilities are significantly reduced.
9.2 A key node in the heavy strike combat system Systematic confrontation is a major feature of information warfare. System is an important foundation and support for system confrontation, and is also the key to effectively exerting combat effectiveness by integrating various combat forces, weapon platforms and weapon systems on the battlefield. Whether the system can be kept robust and run smoothly has a decisive influence on the achievement of war and campaign victories. In the battle to destroy and paralyze the system, the key is to focus on the enemy’s integrated combat system of land, sea, air and space power grids, breaking the network, breaking the chain, and attacking nodes. By attacking key node targets, the operating mechanism of the enemy’s combat system will be out of order, and it may even be severely damaged or destroyed. Paralysis. Therefore, the basic direction of system destruction and paralysis warfare is to select key units, key nodes, and key elements of the enemy’s combat system to carry out strikes, attack one point, destroy one part, and paralyze the whole, so as to achieve the goal of defeating the enemy.
9.3 Implement soft strikes against the enemy’s combat system When organizing and implementing system breaking and hard destruction, it simultaneously organizes soft-kill combat operations such as electronic warfare, cyber warfare, psychological warfare, and public opinion warfare, and carries out soft strikes on the information domain and cognitive domain of the enemy’s combat system. Electronic warfare uses the power of electronic warfare to carry out strong electromagnetic interference against the enemy, causing its information to malfunction and fall into the fog of war; cyber warfare uses the power of cyber attack to attack the enemy’s network information system, causing the enemy’s command and communication system and computer network to be severely damaged, causing its command to malfunction and fall into information islands or even war islands; psychological warfare and public opinion warfare, using psychological warfare and public opinion warfare methods It carries out psychological strikes and public opinion guidance against the enemy, severely damaging his will to fight and inducing his cognitive disorientation. Organizing “people’s livelihood wars” to attack the opponent’s major national economy and people’s livelihood facilities can also play a role in the enemy’s combat system “drawing fuel from the bottom of the cauldron”. In the 1999 Kosovo War, the US military did not attack the Yugoslav army, but attacked its war potential target system, causing the Yugoslav soldiers and civilians to lose their will to fight and lead to defeat.
Since the 1990s, the concepts of multi-dimensional central warfare, such as network-centric warfare, personnel-centric warfare, action-centric warfare, and decision-centric warfare, have been proposed one after another. The evolution of the concept of multi-dimensional central warfare reflects the overall goal of seeking advantages such as platform effectiveness, information empowerment, and decision-making intelligence by relying on military science and technology advantages, and also reflects the contradictory and unified relationship between people and equipment, strategy and skills, and the strange and the normal. Dialectically understanding these contradictory and unified relationships with centralized structured thinking makes it easier to grasp the essential connotation of its tactics and its methodological significance.
Strengthen the integration of the “human” dimension in the combination of people and equipment
The concepts of personnel-centric warfare and platform-centric warfare largely reflect the relationship between people and weapons and equipment. Some have specially formulated human dimension strategies, emphasizing continuous investment in the human dimension of combat effectiveness, which is the most reliable guarantee for dealing with an uncertain future. Since the beginning of the 21st century, with the rapid development of intelligent weapons and equipment, unmanned combat has emerged, and voices questioning the status and role of people have arisen one after another. It is imperative to strengthen the integration of the human dimension and enhance the synergy of the human dimension.
First, we need to enhance spiritual cohesion. Marxism believes that consciousness is the reflection of objective matter in the human mind. Tactics are the expression and summary of combat experience, and they themselves have spiritual or conscious forms. When studying tactics, we naturally need to put spiritual factors first. Some scholars believe that war is still fundamentally a contest of human will. In the information age, people’s spirits are richer and more complex, and enhancing the spiritual cohesion of the human dimension is more challenging and difficult. To enhance people’s spiritual cohesion, we need to coordinate the cultivation of collective spirit and individual spirit, maximize the satisfaction of individual spiritual needs in leading the collective spirit, realize individual spiritual pursuits in shaping the value of collective spirit, and empower people’s spirit with all available and useful information; we need to coordinate the cultivation of critical spirit and innovative spirit, adhere to the tactical epistemology of dialectical materialism, resolutely oppose idealism and mechanism in tactical cognition, and constantly inherit and innovate in criticism; we need to coordinate the cultivation of fighting spirit and scientific spirit, and promote the revolutionary spirit of facing death with courage and winning, and promote the spirit of winning by science and technology.
The second is to enhance the organizational structure. Organizations are the organs of the military, and people are the cells of the organization. The settings of military organizations in different countries have their own characteristics and commonalities. For example, the Ministry of National Defense is generally set up to distinguish between the structure of military branches, hierarchical structures and regional structures, and to distinguish between peacetime and wartime organizations. Although the purpose of construction and war is the same, the requirements for the unity of construction and the flexibility of war are different. To enhance the organizational structure and promote the consistency of war and construction, it is necessary to smooth the vertical command chain, reasonably define the command power and leadership power, command power and control power, so that the government and orders complement each other, and enhance the vertical structural strength of the organization; it is necessary to open up horizontal coordination channels, explore the establishment of normalized cross-domain (organizations, institutions, departments) coordination channels, change the simple task-based coordination model, and enhance the horizontal structural strength of the organization; it is necessary to improve the peace-war conversion mechanism, focus on the organization connection, adjustment and improvement in the change of leadership or command power of the troops, and maintain the stability and reliability of the organizational structure network.
The third is to enhance material support. The spiritual strength of people in combat can be transformed into material strength, but spiritual strength cannot be separated from the support of material strength. To enhance material support and thus realize the organic unity of material and spirit, it is necessary to ensure combat equipment, bedding, food, and medical care, build good learning venues, training facilities, and re-education channels, provide good technical services in combat regulations, physiological medicine, etc., help design diversified and personalized capacity improvement plans and career development plans, and provide strong material and technical support for the development of people’s physical fitness, skills, and intelligence, and thus comprehensively improve people’s adaptability and combat effectiveness in the uncertain battlefield environment of the future.
Deepen the practice of the “skill” dimension in the combination of combat and skills
The combination of combat skills is an important principle of tactical application. The technology includes not only the technology at the practical operation level (such as shooting technology), but also the technology at the theoretical application level (such as information technology). It can be said that tactics, technology, art and procedures together constitute its “combat methodology”. Scientific and technological development and scientific technology are important characteristics of scientific and technological development. To deepen the combination of combat skills, it is necessary to correctly grasp the relationship between technology and tactics, art and procedures, and continuously deepen the practice of the “skill” dimension.
First, promote the tacticalization of advanced technology. Technology determines tactics, which is the basic view of dialectical materialism’s tactical theory. The evolution of the concept of multi-dimensional central warfare is also an example of technology driving the development and change of tactics. Engels once pointed out: “The entire organization and combat methods of the army and the related victory or defeat… depend on the quality and quantity of the population and on technology.” However, technology-driven tactics have a “lag effect”, especially in the absence of actual combat traction. This requires actively promoting the military transformation of advanced civilian technologies and the tactical application of advanced military technologies. On the one hand, we must actively introduce advanced civilian technologies, especially accelerate the introduction and absorption of cutting-edge technologies such as deep neural networks and quantum communication computing; on the other hand, we must strengthen tactical training of advanced technology equipment, closely combine technical training with tactical training, and promote the formation of new tactics and new combat capabilities with new equipment as soon as possible.
Second, promote the technicalization of command art. “Art” is a highly subjective concept. Some Chinese and foreign scholars believe that “the art of command is rooted in the commander’s ability to implement leadership to maximize performance”, while others believe that “the art of command is the way and method for commanders to implement flexible, clever and creative command”. Chinese and foreign scholars generally regard command as an art. The main reason is that although command has objective basis and support such as combat regulations, superior orders and technical support, the more critical factor lies in the commander’s subjective initiative and creativity, which is difficult to quantify by technical means. With the development of disciplines and technologies such as cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, the cognitive structure and mechanism of command will become more explicit, the mysterious veil of “command art” will gradually fade, and the technicalization of command art will become an inevitable trend. This requires continuous strengthening of technical thinking, continuous deepening of the construction of artificial intelligence-assisted command decision-making means, continuous deepening of the application of human brain decision-making mechanisms, practical use of technology to deconstruct art, and continuous promotion of the technicalization of command art.
The third is to promote the regulation of combat technology. Many scholars place technology on a position that is almost as important as tactics. This insistence on the integrated development of tactical regulation and the regulation of specialized military technology and special combat technology is an important way to promote the systematic and standardized construction of combat regulations and further achieve the integration and unification of tactics and technology at the legal level.
Seeking the advantage of the “odd” dimension in combining the odd and the regular
The odd and the even are a basic contradictory structure of tactics, with inherent identity. Without the odd, there is no even, and without the even, there is no odd; either the odd or the even, ever-changing. The choice of the odd and the even is the category of decision-centered warfare, and the application of the odd and the even is the category of action-centered warfare. In the 1990s, the theories of asymmetric warfare, non-contact warfare, and non-linear warfare were proposed. If “symmetric warfare, contact warfare, and linear warfare” are even, then “asymmetric warfare, non-contact warfare, and non-linear warfare” can be called odd. From the perspective of natural science, “symmetry, contact, and linear” are general, and “asymmetry, non-contact, and non-linear” are detailed. It is an inevitable requirement to grasp the dimension of “odd” in the combination of odd, odd, and even, and to seek the advantages of the “three nons”.
First, seek “asymmetric” advantages. “Symmetry” and “asymmetry” originally refer to the morphological characteristics of things or space. Symmetrical warfare is a battle between two troops of the same type, and asymmetric warfare is a battle between two different types of troops. The theory of asymmetric warfare requires the scientific and reasonable organization of troops, combat forces and weapon systems of different military services, deployment in a wide area, and the concentration of superior forces to deal a fatal blow to the enemy at the best combat opportunity, and then quickly redeploy the forces. Due to the limited combat power, the troops have positive asymmetric advantages and negative asymmetric disadvantages. Seeking asymmetric advantages and avoiding asymmetric disadvantages is the common expectation of the warring parties, which will lead to such a situation that the warring parties cycle back and forth between symmetry and asymmetry. Therefore, to seek “asymmetric” advantages, it is necessary to seek asymmetry in combat power, combat capability, combat command and other aspects, adhere to and carry forward “avoid the strong and attack the weak, avoid the real and attack the virtual”, “you fight yours, I fight mine”, and effectively play advantages and avoid disadvantages in asymmetry. For example, when weapons and equipment are symmetrical, strive to gain an asymmetric advantage in personnel capabilities; when forces are symmetrical, strive to gain an asymmetric advantage in command art.
The second is to seek “non-contact” advantages. “Contact” and “non-contact” are a description of the distance between different things. Contact in the military field is usually defined by the projection distance of weapons. The concept of “non-contact combat” originated from World War II and was created during the Cold War. The connotation of contact combat and non-contact combat changes with the change of the striking distance of weapons and equipment. The warring parties always seek to attack each other at a farther distance or in a wider space without being threatened. Since the 1990s, the theory of “non-contact combat” has been used in many local wars. Non-contact combat is a combat action style that implements long-range precision strikes outside the defense zone while being far away from the opponent. Non-contact combat embodies the idea of winning by technology, flexible mobility, and center of gravity strikes. With the rapid development of military science and technology, the armies of major countries in the world will have the ability to perceive and strike globally, and the connotation of “non-contact” will be further compressed to space, cognitive domain and other space fields. To this end, on the one hand, we must base ourselves on the reality of “contact combat”, learn from each other’s strengths and overcome our weaknesses in contact, and continuously accumulate advantages; on the other hand, we must expand the space for “non-contact combat”, seize the initiative and seize the opportunity in non-contact, and continuously expand our advantages.
The third is to seek “nonlinear” advantages. “Linear” and “nonlinear” usually refer to people’s thinking or behavior patterns. The movement of all things in the universe is complex and mostly nonlinear, while human cognition always tends to be simple, abstract, and linear, and has invented concepts such as logic lines, time lines, and linear mathematics. In military science, the transition from linear operations to nonlinear operations reflects the development and progress of military technology theory. Since the second half of the 20th century, nonlinear operations have been on the historical stage. Some scholars have pointed out that in linear operations, each unit mainly acts in a coordinated manner along a clear front line of its own side. The key is to maintain the relative position between its own units to enhance the safety of the units; in nonlinear operations, each unit simultaneously carries out combat operations from multiple selected bases along multiple combat lines. The key is to create specific effects at multiple decision points against the target. Linear operations mainly reflect the action-centered warfare idea, while nonlinear operations mainly reflect the target-centered warfare idea. To this end, on the one hand, we must deepen the use of linear warfare and make full use of its practical value in facilitating command, coordination and support; on the other hand, we must boldly try non-linear warfare and maximize its potential advantages of extensive mobility and full-dimensional jointness. (Yin Tao, Deng Yunsheng, Sun Dongya)
●To understand the laws of intelligent warfare, we must grasp the foundation of intelligence and autonomy, the key of building a war knowledge and action system, and the essence of the changes in the connotation of war power.
●War leaders must examine intelligent warfare dynamically, keenly capture the new elements spawned by intelligent warfare, correctly analyze the changes in the relationship between the new elements, and constantly re-understand intelligent warfare.
President Xi pointed out that we should seriously study the military, war, and how to fight, and grasp the laws of modern warfare and the laws governing war. Today, the intelligent characteristics of war are becoming increasingly prominent, and intelligent warfare has already shown its early form. In order to seize the initiative in future intelligent warfare, we should actively follow the development of modern warfare, keep close to the actual military struggle preparations, proactively understand the laws of intelligent warfare, deeply grasp its guiding laws, focus on answering questions such as “what is it” and “how to do it”, and constantly innovate war and strategic guidance.
Answering the question “What is it?” and understanding the laws of intelligent warfare
Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: “The laws of war are a problem that anyone who directs a war must study and must solve.” Today, as intelligent warfare begins to emerge, we should proactively understand “what” intelligent warfare is. Otherwise, we will not be able to solve “how to do it,” let alone control future wars.
The laws of intelligent warfare are the reconstruction of the war knowledge and action system. The laws of intelligent warfare, like the laws of cold weapon warfare, hot weapon warfare, mechanized warfare, and information warfare, are the inherent and essential connections between the elements of war. The difference is that it has new elements and new modes of composition between elements. It is essentially the reconstruction of the war knowledge and action system caused by the intelligent revolution. Today, to understand the laws of intelligent warfare, we must grasp the foundation of intelligence and autonomy, grasp the key to building a war knowledge and action system, and grasp the essence of the change in the connotation of war power. Mastering these laws can overcome the chaos and uncertainty in future wars and find order and certainty from them. This is the objective requirement for dealing with intelligent warfare.
The laws of intelligent warfare are the basis of the laws of war guidance. In “Problems of Strategy in China’s Revolutionary War”, Mao Zedong first analyzed the characteristics of China’s revolutionary war and revealed the laws of war, and then “derived our strategies and tactics from this”, that is, the laws of war guidance; in “On Protracted War”, he first explained “what it is”, and then turned to the question of “how to do it”, reflecting a logical order of the cognitive process. Today, the study of intelligent warfare should still follow this order, and neither put the cart before the horse, nor reverse the order; nor add, reduce or replace links. On the basis of mastering the fundamental law of intelligent autonomy, we must reveal the laws of war guidance such as autonomous perception, autonomous planning, autonomous implementation, autonomous linkage, and autonomous evaluation.
If you don’t understand the laws of intelligent warfare, you can’t guide the war. “Sun Bin’s Art of War” points out: “Know, win” and “Don’t know, don’t win.” Tao is the law of war. If you master it and act in accordance with it, you can win; otherwise, you will lose. Mao Zedong also emphasized: “If you don’t know the laws of war, you don’t know how to guide the war, and you can’t win the war.” Similarly, mastering the laws of intelligent warfare is the premise for correctly guiding intelligent warfare. Otherwise, it is inevitable to be confused by the superficial phenomena of intelligent warfare. Today, we need to analyze the basic, long-term and subversive impact of intelligent technology groups on war, and study what intelligent warfare looks like? What are the laws? How should it be fought? These are all major issues that must be answered in the guidance of intelligent warfare.
Solve the “how to do it” problem and reveal the guiding principles of intelligent warfare
The guiding laws of intelligent warfare are the medium for guiding practice by using the laws of intelligent warfare, playing the role of “bridge” and “boat”. We should solve the problem of “how to do it” on the basis of answering “what is it” and propose the “swimming skills” of intelligent warfare.
The guiding laws of intelligent warfare are the laws of applying the laws of war. The purpose of understanding the laws of war is to apply them. Marx pointed out: “Philosophers only interpret the world in different ways, but the problem is to change the world.” Similarly, intelligent warfare itself forces commanders to discover the laws. Once discovered, they will combine initiative and use the laws to serve winning the war, which will inevitably lead to the emergence of guiding laws for intelligent warfare. Today, war is the continuation of politics, which is still the law of intelligent warfare. From this, it can be concluded that intelligent warfare must obey the guiding laws that serve politics; soldiers and civilians are the basis of victory, which is still the law of intelligent warfare. From this, it can be concluded that the guiding laws of mobilizing the people in the broadest possible way are derived, and so on. These guiding laws for intelligent warfare are derived from the laws of war and are “swimming skills in the sea of intelligent warfare.”
Give full play to the active role of people in intelligent warfare. Engels said: “It is people, not guns, who win the battle.” The guiding laws of intelligent warfare are the laws of practice and use. It is not a simple “transfer” or “copying” of the laws of intelligent warfare, but it can be transformed into the guiding laws of war with the addition of people’s subjective initiative. Today, military talents who master artificial intelligence are not only the operators of intelligent weapons, but also the creators of artificial intelligence. People still occupy a dominant position in the intelligent human-machine system and are the decisive factor in the victory or defeat of intelligent warfare. Commanders should give full play to their initiative on the basis of mastering the laws of intelligent warfare and adhere to the “technology + strategy” combat theory generation model, so as to change from answering “what is” to solving “how to do”.
The laws governing intelligent warfare are constantly evolving. War is a “chameleon”. Intelligent warfare itself will also go through different stages such as germination, development, and maturity, which will inevitably lead to the development of laws governing intelligent warfare. War leaders must dynamically examine intelligent warfare, keenly capture the new elements of intelligent warfare, correctly analyze the changes in the relationship between the new elements, and constantly re-recognize intelligent warfare. We must keep up with the historical process of the accelerated advancement of war forms towards intelligence, grasp the direction of development of intelligent warfare and the pulse of the times, push the research on the laws governing intelligent warfare to a new level, and seize strategic initiative and opportunities on future battlefields.
Keep a close eye on the “initiative” and continue to innovate intelligent warfare and strategic guidance
As the military is ever-changing, water is ever-changing. As intelligent warfare has already arrived, we must follow the laws and guidance of intelligent warfare, keep close to the actual military struggle preparations, strengthen research on opponents and enemy situations, take the initiative to design “when”, “where” and “who to fight”, innovate war and strategic guidance, and firmly grasp the strategic initiative of future wars.
You fight yours, I fight mine. The highest realm of the art of war guidance is that you fight yours, I fight mine. “Each fights his own” requires commanders to use their own forces independently and autonomously in future intelligent wars, no matter how complex and difficult the environment is. In particular, enemies with high-tech equipment may cause a temporary local situation where the enemy is active and we are passive. At this time, we must use comprehensive means such as politics, economy, and diplomacy to make up for the disadvantages in weapons with an overall favorable situation, quickly reverse this situation, and restore the active position. If you are led by the nose by your strategic opponent, you may suffer a great loss.
Seize the opportunity and use the troops according to the time. The Six Secret Teachings pointed out: “The use depends on the opportunity.” Jomini emphasized: “The whole art of war lies in being good at waiting for the opportunity to act.” On the one hand, if the time is not right, do not force it. Be cautious about the opportunity, and have great patience before the opportunity comes to prevent strategic blind action. On the other hand, the time will not come again, so don’t miss the opportunity. Be good at seizing the opportunity, and once you encounter a favorable opportunity, you must resolutely use it and avoid being timid. It should be pointed out that we should look at the issue of the maturity of the opportunity dialectically. The future intelligent war is changing rapidly, requiring quick decision-making, but in the face of uncertain factors, we must make careful decisions. Sometimes making a decision early may be more effective than making a more perfect decision tomorrow. Therefore, we must dare to take a little risk, otherwise we will sit back and watch the loss of the opportunity for success.
Different domains are different, and operations are based on the local conditions. Clausewitz pointed out: “War is not like a field full of crops, but like a field full of trees. When harvesting crops, you don’t need to consider the shape of each crop, and the quality of the harvest depends on the quality of the sickle; when chopping down trees with an axe, you must pay attention to the shape and direction of each tree.” Different strategic spaces lead to different wars, and war guidance is also different. At present, the battlefield space is constantly expanding from traditional spaces such as land, sea and air to new spaces such as space and the Internet. War leaders should explore new intelligent war laws and guidance laws based on the characteristics of multi-domain, three-dimensional, and networked.
Aim at the opponent and win by taking advantage of the enemy. The Art of War by Sun Tzu states: “Follow the enemy and decide the battle.” Jomini also said: “No matter who you are, if you don’t understand the enemy, how can you know how to act?” Looking to the future, smart strategists should classify combat targets into primary combat targets and general combat targets, actual combat targets and potential combat targets according to their importance and urgency, and comprehensively and objectively understand the strategic intentions, force deployment, combat concepts, etc. of different combat targets, propose new intelligent war guidance laws that can give full play to the advantages of their own combat power, and implement correct war actions.
In short, the laws of intelligent warfare are the laws of the cognitive process, solving the problem of “what”; the guiding laws are the laws of the practical process, solving the problem of “how”. The two are dialectically unified and inseparable, forming a complete chain of understanding and guiding intelligent warfare. “Victory is not repeated, but should be formed in infinity.” Today, war and strategic leaders should, based on objective conditions, deeply explore and flexibly apply the laws of intelligent warfare and the laws of war guidance, and innovate war and strategic guidance in line with the times.
(Author’s unit: Academy of Military Science, Institute of War Studies)
Source: Liberation Army DailyAuthor: Hao Jingdong Niu Yujun Duan FeiyiEditor-in-charge: Wang Feng2021-03-16 10:12
Focus on anti-AI operations in intelligent warfare
■ Kang Ruizhi and Li Shengjie
introduction
The extensive application of science and technology in the military field has caused profound changes in the form and mode of warfare. The military game between major powers is increasingly manifested in technological subversion and counter-subversion, surprise and counter-surprise, offset and counter-offset. To win the future intelligent war, we must not only continue to promote the deep transformation and application of artificial intelligence technology in the military field, but also strengthen dialectical thinking, adhere to asymmetric thinking, innovate and develop anti-artificial intelligence combat theories and tactics, and proactively plan anti-artificial intelligence technology research and weapons and equipment research and development to achieve “breaking intelligence” and win, and strive to seize the initiative in future wars.
Fully understand the inevitability of anti-AI operations
Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in “On Contradiction”: “The law of contradiction of things, that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the most fundamental law of dialectical materialism.” Looking at the history of the development of military technology and its combat application, it has always been full of the dialectical relationship between attack and defense. The phenomenon of mutual game and alternating suppression between the “spear” of technology and the “shield” of corresponding counter-technology is common.
In the era of cold weapons, people not only invented eighteen kinds of weapons such as “knives, guns, swords, and halberds”, but also created corresponding “helmets, armor, and shields”. In the era of hot weapons, the use of gunpowder greatly increased the attack distance and lethality, but also gave rise to technical and tactical innovations represented by defensive fortifications such as “trench” and “bastion”. In the mechanized era, tanks shined in World War II, and people’s development of technical and tactical related to “tank armor” and “anti-tank weapons” continues to this day. In the information age, “electronic attack” and “electronic protection” around information control have set off a new wave of enthusiasm, and electronic countermeasures forces have emerged. In addition, there are countless opposing concepts in the military field such as “missiles” and “anti-missiles”, “unmanned combat” and “anti-unmanned combat”.
It should be noted that “anti-AI warfare”, as the opposing concept of “intelligent warfare”, will also gradually emerge with the extensive and in-depth application of intelligent technology in the military field. Prospective research on the concepts, principles and technical and tactical implementation paths of anti-AI warfare is not only a need of the times for a comprehensive and dialectical understanding of intelligent warfare, but also an inevitable move to seize the high ground of future military competition and implement asymmetric warfare.
Scientific analysis of anti-AI combat methods and paths
At present, artificial intelligence technology is undergoing a leapfrog development stage from weak to strong, and from special to general. From the perspective of its underlying support, data, algorithms, and computing power are still its three key elements. Among them, data is the basic raw material for training and optimizing models, algorithms determine the strategic mechanism of data processing and problem solving, and computing power provides hardware support for complex calculations. Seeking ways to “break intelligence” from the perspective of the three elements of data, algorithms, and computing power is an important method and path for implementing anti-artificial intelligence operations.
Anti-data operations. Data is the raw material for artificial intelligence to achieve learning and reasoning. The quality and diversity of data have an important impact on the accuracy and generalization ability of the model. There are many examples in life where artificial intelligence models fail due to minor data changes. For example, the face recognition model in the mobile phone may not be able to accurately identify the identity of the person because of wearing glasses, changing hairstyle or changes in the brightness of the environment; the autonomous driving model may also misjudge the road conditions due to factors such as road conditions, road signs and weather. The basic principle of implementing anti-data operations is to mislead the training and learning process or judgment process of the military intelligent model by creating “polluted” data or changing the distribution characteristics of the data, and use the “difference” of the data to cause the “error” of the model, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the military intelligent model. Since artificial intelligence models can conduct comprehensive analysis and cross-verification of multi-source data, anti-data operations should pay more attention to packaging false data information from multi-dimensional features to enhance its “authenticity”. In recent years, foreign militaries have conducted relevant experimental verifications in this regard. For example, special materials coating, infrared transmitting device camouflage and other methods are used to simulate the optical and infrared characteristics of real weapon platforms and even the engine vibration effects to deceive intelligent intelligence processing models; in cyberspace, traffic data camouflage is implemented to enhance the silent operation capability of network attacks and reduce the effectiveness of network attack detection models.
Anti-algorithm warfare. The essence of an algorithm is to describe a strategy mechanism for solving a problem in computer language. Since this strategy mechanism has a limited scope of adaptation, it may fail when faced with a wide variety of real-world problems. A typical example is Lee Sedol’s “God’s Move” in the 2016 man-machine Go match. After reviewing and analyzing the game, many professional Go players said that the “God’s Move” was not actually valid, but it worked for AlphaGo. Silva, the developer of AlphaGo, explained that Lee Sedol had hit an unknown loophole in the computer; there are also analyses that it may be that “this move” contradicts the Go logic of AlphaGo or is beyond its strategy learning range, making it unable to cope. The basic principle of implementing anti-algorithm warfare is to conduct logical attacks or logical deceptions against loopholes in the algorithm strategy mechanism and weaknesses in the model architecture to reduce the effectiveness of the algorithm. Anti-algorithm warfare should be combined with specific combat actions to achieve “misleading deception” against the algorithm. For example, drone swarm reconnaissance operations often use reinforcement learning algorithm models to plan reconnaissance routes. To address this situation, irregular or abnormal actions can be created to make the reward mechanism in the reinforcement learning algorithm model less effective or invalid, thereby achieving the goal of reducing its reconnaissance and search efficiency.
Anti-computing power operations. The strength of computing power represents the speed of converting data processing into information advantage and decision-making advantage. Unlike anti-data operations and anti-algorithm operations, which are mainly based on soft confrontation, the confrontation method of anti-computing power operations is a combination of soft and hard. Hard destruction mainly refers to the attack on the enemy’s computing power center, computing network facilities, etc., by cutting off its computing power to make it difficult for its artificial intelligence model to function; soft confrontation focuses on increasing the enemy’s computing power cost, mainly by creating a “fog” of war and data noise. For example, during combat, a large number of meaningless data such as images, audio, video, and electromagnetic are generated to contain and consume the enemy’s computing power resources, reducing the effective effect rate of its computing power. In addition, attacks can also be carried out on weak links in defense such as the support environment and supporting construction of computing power. The computing power center consumes huge amounts of electricity, and attacking and destroying its power support system can also achieve the effect of anti-computing power operations.
Proactively plan the construction of anti-AI combat capabilities
In any war, the right tactics are used to win. In the face of intelligent warfare, while continuing to promote and improve intelligent combat capabilities, it is also necessary to strengthen preparations for anti-AI operations, proactively plan theoretical innovations, supporting technology development, and equipment platform construction related to anti-AI operations, and ensure the establishment of an intelligent combat system that is both offensive and defensive, and integrated with defense and counterattack.
Strengthen the innovation of anti-AI combat theory. Scientific military theory is combat effectiveness. Whether it is military strategic innovation, military scientific and technological innovation, or other military innovations, they are inseparable from theoretical guidance. We must persist in emancipating our minds, broadening our horizons, strengthening dialectical thinking, and using the innovation of anti-AI combat theory as a supplement and breakthrough to build a theoretical system of intelligent combat that supports and serves to win the battle. We must insist on you fight yours and I fight mine, strengthen asymmetric thinking, and provide scientific theoretical support for seizing battlefield control through in-depth research on anti-AI combat concepts, strategies and tactics, and effectively play the leading role of military theory. We must persist in the integration of theory and technology, enhance scientific and technological cognition, innovation, and application, open up the closed loop between anti-AI combat theory and technology, let the two complement and support each other, and achieve deep integration and benign interaction between theory and technology.
Focus on the accumulation of anti-AI military technology. Science and technology are important foundations for generating and improving combat effectiveness. Once some technologies achieve breakthroughs, the impact will be subversive, and may even fundamentally change the traditional war offense and defense pattern. At present, major countries in the world regard artificial intelligence as a subversive technology and have elevated the development of military intelligence to a national strategy. At the same time, some countries are actively conducting research on technologies related to anti-AI operations and exploring methods of AI confrontation, with the intention of reducing the effectiveness of the opponent’s military intelligence system. To this end, we must explore and follow up, strengthen the tracking and research of cutting-edge technologies, actively discover, promote, and stimulate the development of technologies such as intelligent confrontation that have anti-subversive effects, seize the technological advantage at the beginning of anti-AI operations, and prevent enemy technological raids; we must also carefully select, focus on maintaining sufficient scientific rationality and accurate judgment, break through the technical “fog”, and avoid falling into the opponent’s technical trap.
Research and develop weapons and equipment for anti-AI operations. Designing weapons and equipment is designing future wars. What kind of wars will be fought in the future will determine what kind of weapons and equipment will be developed. Anti-AI operations are an important part of intelligent warfare, and anti-AI weapons and equipment will also play an important role on future battlefields. When developing anti-AI weapons and equipment, we must first keep close to battlefield needs. Closely combine combat opponents, combat tasks, and combat environments, strengthen anti-AI combat research, accurately describe anti-AI combat scenarios, and ensure that the demand for anti-AI combat weapons and equipment is scientific, accurate, and reasonable. Secondly, we must establish a cost mindset. The latest local war practices show that combat cost control is an important factor affecting the outcome of future wars. Anti-AI operations focus on interfering with and confusing the enemy’s military intelligence system. Increasing the development of decoy weapon platforms is an effective way to reduce costs and increase efficiency. By using low-cost simulations to show false targets to deceive the enemy’s intelligent reconnaissance system, the “brain-breaking” effect can be extended and amplified, and efforts can be made to consume its high-value strike weapons such as precision-guided missiles. Finally, we must focus on upgrading while building, using, and upgrading. Intelligent technology is developing rapidly and is updated and iterated quickly. We must closely track the opponent’s cutting-edge military intelligent technology applications, understand their intelligent model algorithm architecture, and continuously promote the application and upgrading of the latest anti-artificial intelligence technology in weapon platforms to ensure its efficient use on the battlefield.
National Defense University Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee is a very important meeting held at a critical period of comprehensively promoting the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation with Chinese-style modernization. It focuses on studying and deploying the issues of further comprehensively deepening reform and promoting Chinese-style modernization, and makes strategic deployments for continuously deepening national defense and military reforms, drawing a blueprint for the new journey of relaying reforms to strengthen the military and constantly creating a new situation in national defense and military modernization. All levels of the military should earnestly study and implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, unify their thoughts, wills and actions, and thoroughly implement the strategy of reforming and strengthening the military, so as to provide strong guarantees for achieving the goal of building the army for 100 years as scheduled and basically realizing national defense and military modernization.
Reform is a key move in designing and shaping the future of the military
Reform and opening up are the most prominent features and the most magnificent aura of contemporary China. The military field is the field with the most intense competition and confrontation, and it is also the field with the most innovative vitality and the most need for reform and innovation. Whether a military can possess an unremitting spirit of reform and a pioneering and enterprising spirit of innovation is an important indicator of its ability to win. Deepening the reform of national defense and the military is the only way to strengthen the military. The driving force for strengthening the military lies in reform, the way out lies in reform, and the future also lies in reform.
The strength of the People’s Army comes from reform and innovation, and the victory of the People’s Army comes from reform and innovation. The history of the growth and development of the People’s Army is a history of reform and innovation. From the establishment of a complete set of principles and systems for building the army under the absolute leadership of the Party during the Agrarian Revolution, to the implementation of the policy of streamlining the military during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression; from the establishment of five major field armies during the War of Liberation, to the repeated adjustments to the system and organization after the founding of New China, to the massive reduction of millions of troops in the new era of reform and opening up and socialist modernization… The People’s Army has been fighting and reforming, building and reforming, and has become stronger and stronger. From the “Sixteen-Character Formula” of the Red Army period, to the “Protracted War” of the Anti-Japanese War, from the “Ten Military Principles” of the Liberation War, to the “piecemeal” of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, to the continuous adjustment of military strategic policies after the founding of New China… The People’s Army learned war from war, explored laws from practice, and wrote a vivid chapter of continuous innovation in the art of war leadership in the history of world military. Along the way, reform and innovation have always been an important magic weapon for our army to grow from small to large, from weak to strong, and continuously from victory to victory. Deepening the reform of national defense and the military is the requirement of the times to realize the Chinese Dream and the dream of a strong military, the only way to strengthen the military, and a key move to determine the future of the military. At present, it is a period of hard struggle to achieve the goal of building the army for 100 years. In order to defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests with stronger capabilities and more reliable means, and to provide strategic support for comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization, it is necessary to continue to deepen the reform of national defense and the military.
Only reformers can make progress, and only innovators can become strong. President Xi Jinping stressed that “the new military revolution has provided us with a golden opportunity. We must seize the opportunity and work hard to not only keep up with the trend and the times, but also strive to be at the forefront of the times.” In today’s world, the new military revolution is surging, the intelligent warfare form is gradually showing its true face in the practice of war, and the new military technology and weapons and equipment system are further affecting the rules of war. All these require us to maintain a keen sense of reform and cutting-edge innovative thinking, base ourselves on the actual development of our army, focus on the needs of preparing for war, think deeply about the new force structure and winning logic necessary to win modern wars, rely on reform to continuously optimize the military system, improve the effectiveness of military governance in line with actual combat requirements, and go all out to fight a tough battle to achieve the goal of building the army for the centenary.
Comprehensively deepening reform has achieved great changes in the People’s Army in the new era
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core has, with great political courage and wisdom, pushed forward the theory and practice of reform of socialism with Chinese characteristics to a new breadth and depth. In the new era and new journey, we must insist on deepening reform to gain creativity, cohesion and combat effectiveness, and insist on the unchanged direction, unswerving path and unreduced efforts, and continuously push forward the modernization of national defense and the army with better strategies, higher efficiency and faster speed, and resolutely complete the mission and tasks of the new era entrusted by the Party and the people.
Grasp the overall changes in deepening national defense and military reforms. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the People’s Army has adhered to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implemented Xi Jinping’s Thought on Strengthening the Army, and taken the Party’s goal of strengthening the army in the new era as its guide. It has comprehensively implemented the strategy of reform and strengthening the army, and has thoroughly resolved the institutional obstacles, structural contradictions, and policy issues that have long constrained national defense and army building, promoted the reform of the leadership and command system, the reform of the scale structure and force composition, and the reform of military policies and systems, and achieved historic achievements in deepening the reform of national defense and the army. The People’s Army has achieved an overall revolutionary reshaping; the new system, structure, pattern, and appearance have made our army’s winning advantage more prominent, its innovative vitality continuously released, and its morale more uplifting. Practice has fully proved that as long as we unswervingly continue to deepen the reform of national defense and the military, we will be able to create a new situation in the modernization of national defense and the military.
Adhere to the ideological guidance of deepening the reform of national defense and the military. President Xi’s series of important strategic thoughts on deepening the reform of national defense and the military, which are directional, fundamental, and overall, have profoundly clarified the contemporary significance, essential attributes, fundamental guidance, goals and tasks, core requirements, important directions, strategic measures, and scientific methods of deepening the reform of national defense and the military. To carry out the reform of national defense and the military to the end, we must adhere to Xi Jinping’s Thought on Strengthening the Military as the general guidance and general compliance, and consistently use Xi Jinping’s Thought on Strengthening the Military to arm the minds of officers and soldiers, further unify thoughts, deepen understanding, and use it to guide reform practice, further work on resolving deep-seated contradictions and problems, promote the implementation of reform arrangements, and realize the determination and intentions of the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, and President Xi at a high standard.
Advancing national defense and military modernization requires continued reform
President Xi stressed: “On the road ahead, the People’s Army must be brave in reform and good at innovation, and never become rigid or stagnant at any time or under any circumstances.” The People’s Army is a strong backing for national security. The deeper the reform goes, the more it must take responsibility, move forward steadily and courageously, and there must be no slackness or rest. It is necessary to continue to deepen the reform of national defense and the army to provide security guarantees and strategic support for comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation with Chinese-style modernization.
The cause of strengthening the military is inspiring, and the goal of strengthening the military inspires fighting spirit. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made strategic arrangements for deepening the implementation of the strategy of reform and strengthening the military. This is not only a call to action for continued reform and attack, but also a drumbeat for determination to strengthen the military. We must focus our efforts on implementing the strategy of reform and strengthening the military, and continuously push forward the cause of strengthening the military in the new era. The mission is imminent, and the goal calls. The goal of strengthening the military depicts the goal map, roadmap and development map for strengthening and revitalizing the military. It is the soul and main line that runs through the deepening of national defense and military reform. The promotion of reform must not deviate from the goal of strengthening the military for a moment or a single moment. The goal of strengthening the military must always be used to measure, regulate and correct, providing a strong impetus for advancing the modernization of national defense and the military.
A strong country must have a strong military, and a strong military must reform. National defense and military modernization are important components of China’s modernization. Further deepening reform and promoting China’s modernization will inevitably put forward new and higher requirements for deepening national defense and military reform. On the one hand, with the increase in the breadth and depth of the practice of China’s modernization, the new progress of comprehensively deepening reform requires our military construction to accelerate and build high quality in improving quality and efficiency. We must uphold the core position of innovation in our military construction and promote national defense and military modernization through reform and innovation. On the other hand, with the practice of modern warfare, especially the militarization of artificial intelligence, the profound changes in the internal mechanism of war and the mode of winning, etc., all require national defense and military reform to seize the opportunity and act in response to the times, and make greater efforts to enhance our military’s joint combat capability based on the network information system and the all-domain combat capability. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made major strategic arrangements around the continued deepening of national defense and military reforms, and proposed a number of important reform measures involving the optimization and adjustment of systems, mechanisms, and institutions, which are highly contemporary, forward-looking, and targeted. All levels of the military must earnestly study and implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, focus on improving the leadership and management system and mechanism of the People’s Army, deepen the reform of the joint combat system, deepen cross-military and local reforms, and constantly create a new situation in strengthening and revitalizing the army.
We should follow the general trend of reform and gather strong forces. To thoroughly implement the strategy of reform and strengthening the military, we need unity of purpose and unity of purpose. We should persist in using the Party’s innovative theories to unite our hearts and minds and strengthen our foundations, arm our heads with Xi Jinping’s thoughts on strengthening the military, unify our thoughts and actions with the decisions of the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission and Chairman Xi, and take on the responsibility of thoroughly implementing the strategy of reform and strengthening the military with a high degree of historical consciousness and a strong sense of mission, further consolidate the consensus on reform, strengthen the will to reform, and enhance the confidence in reform. We should focus on summarizing and applying the successful experience of national defense and military reform, deeply grasp the characteristics and laws of reform and strengthening the military, use reform to solve the problems encountered in development, and continuously promote the modernization of national defense and the military to break through obstacles. Party members and cadres in the military, especially leading cadres, must be good promoters and doers of reform, take the lead in tackling tough problems with practical actions, work hard and fast, and make great strides forward in the journey of building a world-class military in an all-round way.
It is easy to break the “fog” of the battlefield, but it is difficult to break the “obsession” in your heart——
Since ancient times, achieving surprise through combat deception has been an important way to win on the battlefield. Entering the era of intelligence, the in-depth application of artificial intelligence technology has not only clearly dispelled the original war “fog”, but also created a large amount of new war “fog”. If we only rely on improving deception techniques and means, and simply superimposing and strengthening the traditional deception paradigm, it will become increasingly difficult to achieve the deception goal. From “smart deception” to “smart victory”, there is an urgent need for an overall transformation of the objects of deception, means of deception, methods of deception, and focus of deception, so as to form a new deception paradigm that meets the requirements of the intelligent era.
The target of deception has shifted from humans to human-machine hybrid agents
Clausewitz believed that three-quarters of the factors on which war is based are more or less surrounded by the “fog” of uncertainty. Combat deception is essentially the use of uncertainty in war. The more “fog” there is in war, the more room there is for maneuvering. Traditional combat deception is carried out around the opponent’s decision-making level, and people are the only target of deception. However, with the increasingly prominent role of intelligent intelligence analysis and auxiliary decision-making systems in command activities, the use of deception to achieve strategic, campaign, and tactical surprises faces major challenges. How to deceive human-machine hybrid intelligent entities composed of humans and intelligent systems has become an important factor that needs to be considered when planning and implementing deception in the intelligent era. The competition surrounding intelligent deception and anti-deception is becoming increasingly fierce.
There is a world of difference between deceiving people and deceiving intelligent systems. In the past, the “calculations” that deceived people may be exposed when facing the “calculations” of intelligent systems. Intelligent systems can efficiently integrate and process massive amounts of sensor data and Internet open source information, making a qualitative leap in the speed, depth, breadth and accuracy of battlefield situation perception, realizing a profound transformation from “sensing” to “knowing”, from “state” to “momentum”, and playing an important role in dispelling the “fog” of war. For example, on the battlefield, although both sides try to hide the truth and cover up their intentions in various ways, they still cannot escape the “eyes” of the intelligent system: the tracks left by carefully disguised tanks and armored vehicles, after being detected by the opponent’s satellites, drones, etc., will also reveal their specific locations under the analysis of the intelligent system.
On the contrary, it is very easy to deceive intelligent systems with methods that target them, but it may not be able to deceive people. A foreign research team found that by changing a few key pixels in a picture of a cat, the intelligent system can identify the cat as a dog, while the human eye will not make any recognition errors due to this change. Similar incidents are common. Some studies have pointed out that sticking a piece of paper with a special pattern on a person’s forehead can deceive the strongest facial recognition system, and this method is highly portable and can deceive other facial recognition algorithms with a slight change.
It can be seen that deceiving people and deceiving intelligent systems are two different “deception methods”. After the deep application of artificial intelligence in the field of intelligence analysis and auxiliary decision-making, from the formulation of strategic deception plans to the design of battlefield camouflage patterns, how to deceive both the human brain and the computer and keep the human-machine hybrid intelligent body “in the dark” will be an important issue that needs to be focused on and solved in order to win the initiative in war.
The fraudulent methods have shifted from being mainly human-based to a combination of human and machine.
The organization and implementation of traditional combat deception is mainly manual, especially large-scale strategic deception, which requires a lot of manpower, material and financial resources. For example, in World War II, the Allies formulated a series of deception plans to ensure the success of the Normandy landing: setting up a fake radio network and a simulated landing fleet, and imagining that the US 1st Army Group with 50 divisions and 1 million people was actively preparing to cross the channel and land in the direction of Calais; using the air force to bomb Calais and Normandy, but the former was bombed more than 1 times more than the latter, etc. The application of artificial intelligence in deception can fundamentally change this situation. With humans as the main guide and intelligent means as the auxiliary, it can quickly generate massive amounts of false information, confusing the real with the fake, and create a thicker war “fog” for the opponent.
The use of intelligent means can improve the quality of deception. On the one hand, intelligent decision-making aids can be used to formulate deception plans, optimize the design of deception forces, deception deployment, deception processes, etc., to achieve systematic deception with the best overall effect; on the other hand, intelligent intelligence analysis systems can be used to pre-test the deception effect, “using one’s own spear to attack one’s own shield”, find out the loopholes and contradictions in the plan, and then improve the deception plan to make it logically self-consistent and seamless.
The use of intelligent means can expand the scale of deception. The increasingly mature deep fake technology can synthesize realistic fake pictures, handwriting, audio, video, etc. in large quantities, and has broad application prospects in strategic, campaign, and tactical deception. For example, in strategic campaign deception, corresponding technical means can be used to confuse opponents by forging fake radio stations and fake commanders, and even to fake an active command post in a certain battle direction; in tactical deception, battlefield camouflage can be used to attach special patterns to high-value equipment to make the opponent’s intelligent system recognize it incorrectly.
The use of intelligent means can reduce the cost of deception. With the support of technologies such as virtual reality and deep fakes, unexpected deception effects can often be achieved with the help of synthetic optics, acoustics and other means, and they are low-cost and low-investment, which is more cost-effective than traditional strategic deception methods. For example, setting up false targets such as bait unmanned combat platforms, using electronic feints and electronic camouflage to send false signals can effectively restrain the opponent’s power, produce high returns at low cost, and thus gain the upper hand.
The use of intelligent means can optimize the accuracy of deception. Traditional combat deception is usually stereotyped, with prominent characteristics of broadcast, extensive, and generalized. For this reason, in the era of intelligence, we should focus on collecting data on opponent decision makers in peacetime and use big data for precise analysis to “know the enemy” more deeply and specifically. On this basis, deep fake technology can be used in wartime to customize the content of deception, realizing precise deception from targeting groups to targeting individuals.
The method of deception has shifted from mainly deceiving to mainly confusing and seducing.
“Playing cards” and “playing chess” are two game modes with completely different battlefield transparency. In the “playing cards” mode, both sides only know the cards that the opponent has played, but do not know the cards in the opponent’s hand, let alone what cards the opponent will play next; while in the “playing chess” mode, the deployment of both sides’ forces on the chessboard is completely transparent, but the opponent’s intentions and the next move are unknown. It is not difficult to see that from cold weapon wars, hot weapon wars, mechanized wars, informationized wars, and then to intelligent wars, the form of war confrontation is increasingly changing from the “playing cards” mode to the “playing chess” mode.
In a war of “playing cards”, blind deception is very useful. Through strict disguise and strict confidentiality, the opponent’s channels of information can be blocked as much as possible, making it impossible for the opponent to detect one’s own intentions and actions, thereby achieving surprise. In the past, when the means of obtaining information were limited and information on the battlefield situation was scarce, there were many examples of wars that used “hiding the truth” and “showing falsehood” to achieve surprise. However, at present, with the help of advanced reconnaissance technology, full-dimensional and full-spectrum reconnaissance has been realized, and the battlefield is becoming more and more transparent. Complete concealment without any revealing features is difficult to achieve. Once the concealment state is switched to the action state, the probability of being discovered by the opponent will be greatly increased. Blind deception can only become an auxiliary deception method.
In the war of “chess”, the following two deception methods are usually used: one is confusing deception, that is, using intelligent means to send a large amount of true and false mixed and difficult to identify information, increasing the ambiguity of information and the difficulty of analysis, making it difficult for the opponent to judge or misjudge. The second is inducement deception, that is, by sending high-definition misleading information, the opponent is led into a preset trap. The combination of these two methods and the cooperation of blinding deception together constitute a hybrid deception that is difficult for the opponent to guard against.
The focus of deception shifts from human perception to human cognition
As the main subject of war, people are important variables that influence the war situation, which implies uncertainty and uncontrollability. From the perspective of psychology, cognitive neurology and other aspects, the “black box” of the mind still cannot be revealed. Deception by deception targets people’s eyes and ears, taking advantage of human sensory weaknesses, while deception by deception and temptation directly targets people’s minds, taking advantage of human weaknesses.
From past cases, even with the most advanced intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance technology and the most intelligent analysis methods, it is impossible to make up for and overcome human weaknesses. In many cases, it is not that the intelligence department failed to recognize the opponent’s deception, but that the decision-makers are unwilling to believe the facts. On the eve of the Soviet-German War in World War II, although more and more evidence showed that Germany was planning to invade the Soviet Union, the Soviet decision-makers believed that the war would not come for the time being. Therefore, when the war broke out, the Soviet army was not well prepared for the response, and the initial defensive actions were very passive.
War practice shows that in the era of intelligence, even if the opponent has obvious military technology advantages and can achieve one-way transparency on the battlefield through advanced intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance technology, the enemy can still take advantage of the cognitive weaknesses of the opponent’s decision-making layer to implement counter-intuitive deception and cover up the true intentions and actions. This also shows that the focus and center of deception in the era of intelligence should not be entirely on how to deliberately cover up the traces of military actions, but should focus more on targeting the opponent’s decision-making layer and inducing it to make decisions and actions that the enemy wants to see.
Yuan Yi Zhao Di
(Author’s unit: Institute of War Studies, Academy of Military Science)
Artificial intelligence technology is an important support for improving strategic capabilities in emerging fields. It has developed rapidly in recent years and is widely used in the military field. It continues to generate new asymmetric advantages and profoundly changes the basic shape, combat methods and winning mechanisms of future wars. We should have a deep understanding of the revolutionary technological power of artificial intelligence, accurately identify changes, respond scientifically, and proactively seek changes, and strive to explore ways to win future wars, and win the initiative in the accelerating intelligent wars.
information mechanism
If you know your enemy and yourself, you can fight a hundred battles without danger. Quickly and effectively mastering all-round information is the primary prerequisite for winning a war. Artificial intelligence can realize intelligent perception of battlefield situation, intelligent analysis of massive data, and intelligent processing of multiple information, and can form a “transparent” advantage on the battlefield.
Autonomous implementation of battlefield awareness. By embedding intelligent modules into wartime reconnaissance systems, various types of reconnaissance node units can achieve random networking, on-the-fly collaboration, and organic integration. They can independently capture battlefield information in all directions and dimensions, and build a relatively “transparent” digital battlefield environment and combat situation. It then clears the “fog” of war and presents combat scenes in a panoramic manner.
Accurate identification of massive data. Relying on intelligent technologies such as precise sensing technology and analysis and recognition technology, it can accurately interpret, analyze, compare and integrate diversified voice, text, pictures, videos and other data to obtain a faster, more complete, more accurate and deeper battlefield situation. The result is far faster and more accurate than human brain processing.
Respond efficiently to key information. Based on intelligent technology groups such as combat cloud, big data, and the Internet of Things, it can quickly excavate large quantities of non-standardized and heterogeneous intelligence data, independently discover symptoms, identify intentions, study trends, find patterns, and respond accurately in real time. Commander’s need for critical information.
Synchronize and share the integration situation. The intelligent control system can optimize and integrate various reconnaissance and surveillance systems distributed in different spaces and frequency domains such as land, sea, air and space power grids, and play an important hub role in sharing information and unified cognition, building a system based on “one picture” and “one picture”. The “open network” and “one chain” situation enables all combat units to synchronously share the required information from different spaces, distances, and frequencies in all areas, all frequencies, and all the time, realizing wisdom sharing.
Decision-making mechanism
If the husband has not fought yet and the temple is considered the winner, he must be considered the winner. Scientific and accurate decision-making is a prerequisite for winning a war. Artificial intelligence can conduct dynamic battlefield simulations, quickly make feasible decisions, significantly shorten the operational planning and decision-making cycle, and form a decision-making advantage.
Intelligent analysis and judgment of strategic situations. The decision-making assistance system integrated with artificial intelligence technology has functions such as information collection, query management, data processing, and correlation analysis. It can effectively break through the limitations of human analysis capabilities, maximize the elimination of falsehoods and preserve truths, correlation verification, and link thinking, and automatically conduct analysis of the enemy’s situation, our situation, and our situation. Big data analysis such as battlefield environment can form comparative data on relevant troops, weapons, etc., which can effectively assist combat command and help commanders quickly make combat decisions.
Intelligent selection of combat plans. Relying on the intelligent combat simulation system, based on the pre-entered combat missions and target information, multiple sets of intuitive plans and plans are automatically generated, comprehensively evaluate their advantages, disadvantages and potential risks, and select the plan that is most conducive to realizing the commander’s intention. for the commander to make the final decision. After receiving combat missions and target requirements from superiors, each combat unit further screens and screens battlefield target information based on the tasks and requirements at this level, and independently formulates the optimal solutions and plans at this level to maximize combat effectiveness.
Intelligent prediction of decision-making effectiveness. The intelligent auxiliary decision-making system relies on intelligent technologies such as big data, high-performance computing, and neural network algorithms to give the command and control system more advanced “brain-like” capabilities. It can think more rationally about unexpected situations on the battlefield and quickly draw relative conclusions. Objective results of the engagement.
power control mechanism
Powerful people control power because of profit. Seizing power is a key factor in gaining a winning edge in war. Artificial intelligence can “transplant” part of human intelligence into weapons, making the integration of humans and weapon systems closer and closer. In-depth human-machine integration has changed the traditional elements of power control and given new power control connotations, which can help to obtain new technologies. control advantage.
Territorial power expanded to high frontiers. In the future, highly intelligent unmanned systems will operate in extreme environments such as extreme heights, extreme distances, extreme depths, extremely low temperatures, extreme darkness, and extreme brightness, even under harsh conditions such as high temperature, extreme cold, high pressure, hypoxia, poison, and radiation. , a variety of combat missions can still be carried out, and the battle for control of the combat field and combat space extends to high frontiers, far frontiers, and deep frontiers.
Expand the right to control information to multiple means. The traditional way of seizing and controlling information power is to control the acquisition, processing, and distribution of information by attacking the enemy’s reconnaissance and early warning system and destroying its command and control system. However, information operations led by artificial intelligence use information itself as “ammunition”. ”, the means to seize the right to control information are more diverse.
Network control rights are expanded to distributed areas. The network information system built based on intelligent technology provides a ubiquitous network “cloud” to aggregate battlefield resources of various terminals and provide services. It can realize modular grouping and automatic reorganization of combat forces. Traditionally, it can achieve network outage and destruction by attacking key nodes. The purpose of the chain will be difficult to achieve, and the “decentralized” battlefield must be dealt with in an intelligent distributed attack mode.
Brain power expands to new dimensions. The gradual militarization of brain-inspired technology and simulation technology has formed a new field of games and confrontations. The focus has shifted from focusing on confrontation in the physical and information domains to more emphasis on influencing and controlling the opponent’s psychology. Technologies such as virtual reality and audio-visual synthesis can confuse fakes with real ones. “Core attack warfare” can quietly change the enemy’s command and control system algorithm, and “brain control warfare” can directly control the enemy’s decision-making. By controlling and influencing the enemy’s psychology, thinking, will, etc., it can achieve control at the minimum cost. The purpose of war and victory.
Mechanism of action
The passion of soldiers is the key to speed, taking advantage of others’ disadvantages. Taking actions that the enemy does not expect is the key to winning a war. Artificial intelligence can improve the intelligence of weapons and equipment, command and control systems, and operational decision-making, making maneuver response capabilities faster and joint strike capabilities more accurate, creating a super operational advantage.
The speed of action is “instantaneous”. The intelligent combat system can see, hear, learn, and think, effectively shortening the “OODA” cycle. Once an “opportunity is found,” it will use intelligently controlled hypersonic weapons, kinetic energy weapons, and lasers. Weapons, etc., can quickly “kill” targets from a long distance.
The action style is “unmanned”. “Unmanned + intelligence” is the future development direction of weapons and equipment. Low-cost unmanned autonomous equipment such as unmanned vehicles, drones, and unmanned underwater vehicles, with the support of the cluster autonomous decision-making system, can plan the task division of each unit according to the combat objectives, and accurately dock and autonomously combine the unmanned aerial vehicles. , covert penetration, and carry out cluster saturation attacks on the enemy.
The space for action “blurs”. In future wars, using interference means to carry out soft attacks on the enemy’s intelligent combat systems and smart weapons, and using smart weapons to delay or affect the decision-making and psychology of enemy personnel will become the key to victory. Most of these actions were completed unknowingly or silently, presenting a “blurred” state in which neither the enemy nor ourselves were visible, the boundaries between the front and the rear were unclear, and the visible and invisible were difficult to distinguish.
The operational layout is “invisible”. Intelligent command systems and weapons and equipment have bionic and stealth properties. As long as they are deployed in possible combat areas in advance during peacetime preparations or training exercises, they are lurking in advance, dormant and ready for battle. Once needed in wartime, they can be activated in a timely manner to launch a sudden attack on the enemy, which will help to quickly grasp the initiative in the war.
System mechanism
Five things and seven strategies to know the outcome. Future wars will be systematic confrontations in all fields, systems, elements, and processes. A stable and efficient combat system is the basic support for winning the war. As the application of artificial intelligence in the military field continues to expand, the combat system is becoming more and more intelligent, and a fully integrated combat system will produce powerful system advantages.
There are more means of “detection”. The intelligent combat cluster relies on the network information system to connect with various large-scale sensors, electronic warfare systems and other human-machine interaction platforms. It uses each combat unit’s own detection and sensing equipment to obtain battlefield data, leverages the self-organizing characteristics of the intelligent group, and strengthens joint operations. The real-time reconnaissance and surveillance support of the system and back-end intelligence analysis can realize full-area reconnaissance and search, joint early warning, and collaborative verification, forming a multi-dimensional integrated, full-area coverage large-area joint reconnaissance intelligence system.
The field of “control” is wider. The use of intelligent unmanned combat platforms can break through the logical limits of human thinking, the physiological limits of the senses, and the physical limits of existence, and replace humans into traditional restricted areas of life such as the deep sea, space, polar regions, and areas with strong radiation, and stay there for a long time. Implement “unconventional operations” to further expand the combat space and have the ability to continue to deter opponents in a wider area.
“Hit” is faster. With the support of the intelligent network information system, the intelligence chain, command chain, and kill chain are seamlessly connected. Information transmission speed, decision-making speed, and action speed are simultaneously accelerated. Intelligent combat units can be flexibly organized, autonomously coordinated, and struck quickly. All these make time utilization extremely efficient and battlefield reaction speed extremely fast.
The accuracy of “evaluation” is more accurate. Using intelligent technologies such as experiential interactive learning and brain-like behavioral systems, the intelligent combat assessment system can independently collect, aggregate and classify multi-means action effect assessment information, accurately perceive battlefield actions based on big data and panoramic views, and dynamically identify Combat process and correct deficiencies, predict complex battlefield changes, comprehensively plan and respond flexibly.
“Guarantee” is more efficient. The widespread application of intelligent comprehensive support systems, represented by equipment maintenance expert systems and intelligent sensing equipment, can efficiently respond to support needs in various domains, intelligently plan support resources, ensure that the “cloud” aggregates various battlefield resources, and effectively enhances the networked battlefield Comprehensive support capabilities.
● Modern artificial intelligence is essentially like a “brain in a vat”. If it is allowed to carry out combat command, it will always face the problem of subjectivity loss, that is, “self” loss. This makes artificial intelligence have natural and fundamental defects. It must be based on human subjectivity and improve the effectiveness and level of combat command through human-machine hybrid.
● In intelligent combat command, the commander is mainly responsible for planning what to do and how to do it, while the intelligent model is responsible for planning how to do it specifically.
“Brain in a vat” is a famous scientific hypothesis. It means that if a person’s brain is taken out and placed in a nutrient solution, the nerve endings are connected to a computer, and the computer simulates various sensory signals. At this time, can the “brain in a vat” realize that “I am a brain in a vat”? The answer is no, because as a closed system, when a person lacks real interactive experience with the outside world, he cannot jump out of himself, observe himself from outside himself, and form self-awareness. Modern artificial intelligence is essentially like a “brain in a vat”. If it is allowed to implement combat command, it will always face the problem of subject loss, that is, “self” loss. This makes artificial intelligence have natural and fundamental defects, and it must be based on human subjectivity and improve the effectiveness and level of combat command through human-machine hybrid.
Based on “free choice”, build a “man-planned” command model
On the battlefield, the commander can choose which target to attack, and can choose to attack from the front, from the flank, from the back, or from the air; he can isolate but not attack, surround but not attack, talk but not attack… This is human autonomy, and he can freely choose what to do and how to do it. But machines can’t do that. The combat plans they give can only be the plans implied in the intelligent model. As far as the specific plan given each time is concerned, it is also the most likely plan in the sense of probability statistics. This makes the plans generated by artificial intelligence tend to be “templated”, which is equivalent to a “replica machine”. It gives similar answers to the same questions and similar combat plans for the same combat scenarios.
Compared with artificial intelligence, different commanders design completely different combat plans for the same combat scenario; the same commander designs different combat plans when facing similar combat scenarios at different times. “Attack when the enemy is unprepared and take them by surprise”, the most effective plan may seem to be the most dangerous and impossible plan. For commanders, facing combat scenarios, there are infinite possibilities in an instant, while for artificial intelligence, there is only the best-looking certainty in an instant, lacking creativity and strategy, and it is easy for the opponent to predict it. Therefore, in intelligent combat command, based on human autonomy, the commander is responsible for planning and calculation, innovating tactics and tactics, and designing basic strategies, and the machine is responsible for converting basic strategies into executable and operational combat plans, forming a “man-planned” command mode. More importantly, autonomy is the unique mark of human existence as human being. This power of free decision-making cannot and is not allowed to be transferred to machines, making people become vassals of machines.
Based on “self-criticism”, build a command model of “people against machine”
Human growth and progress are usually based on the real self, focus on the ideal self, and criticize the historical self in a negation-negation style. Artificial intelligence has no “self” and has lost its self-critical ability. This makes it only able to solve problems within the original cognitive framework. The combat ideas, combat principles, and tactics of the model are given when the training is completed. If you want to update and improve your knowledge and ideas, you must continuously train the model from the outside. Mapped to a specific combat scenario, the intelligent model can only provide the commander with a pre-given problem solution. It is impossible to dynamically adjust and update it continuously during a battle.
People with a self-critical spirit can jump out of the command decision-making thinking process and review, evaluate, and criticize the command decision. In the continuous self-criticism, the combat plan is constantly adjusted, and even the original plan is overturned to form a new plan. In the command organization group, other commanders may also express different opinions on the combat plan. The commander adjusts and improves the original plan on the basis of fully absorbing these opinions, and realizes the dynamic evolution of the combat plan. Therefore, combat command is essentially a dynamic process of continuous forward exploration, not a static process given in advance by the combat plan. When the machine generates a combat plan, the commander cannot accept it blindly without thinking, but should act as an “opponent” or “fault finder”, reflect on and criticize the combat plan, and raise objections. Based on the human’s objections, the machine assists the commander to continuously adjust and optimize the combat plan, forming a command mode of “human opposing and machine correcting”.
Based on “self-awareness and initiative”, we build a command model of “people lead and machines follow”
Comrade Mao Zedong once said that what we call “conscious initiative” is the characteristic that distinguishes humans from objects. Any complex practical activity to transform the world starts with a rough and abstract idea. To transform abstract concepts into concrete actions, it is necessary to overcome various risks and challenges, give full play to conscious initiative, and take the initiative to set goals, make suggestions, and think of ways. Artificial intelligence without conscious initiative, when people ask it questions, it only gives the answers implied in the model, without caring whether the answer can be used, targeted, or practical. In other words, when an abstract and empty question is raised, it gives an abstract and empty answer. This is also why the current popular large model unified operation mode is “people ask questions and machines answer”, rather than “machines ask questions”.
Relying on conscious initiative, even the most abstract and empty problems can be transformed step by step into specific action plans and specific action practices. Therefore, in intelligent combat command, the commander is mainly responsible for planning what to do and what ideas to follow, while the intelligent model is responsible for planning how to do it specifically. If the combat mission is too abstract and general, the commander should first break down the problem into details, and then the intelligent model should solve the detailed problem. Under the guidance of the commander, the problem is gradually solved in stages and fields, and the combat goal is finally achieved, forming a command mode of “people lead and machines follow”. It’s like writing a paper. First you make an outline and then you start writing. People are responsible for making the outline, and the specific writing is done by the machine. If the first-level outline is not specific enough, people can break it down into a second-level or even a third-level outline.
Based on “self-responsibility”, build a command model of “human decision-making and machine calculation”
Modern advanced ship-borne air defense and anti-missile systems usually have four operational modes: manual, semi-automatic, standard automatic, and special automatic. Once the special automatic mode is activated, the system will no longer require human authorization to launch missiles. However, this mode is rarely activated in actual combat or training. The reason is that humans, as the responsible subject, must be responsible for all their actions, while the behavior of machines is the absence of the responsible subject. When it comes to holding people accountable for major mistakes, machines cannot be held accountable. Therefore, life-and-death matters must not be decided by a machine without autonomous responsibility. Moreover, modern artificial intelligence is a “black box”. The intelligent behavior it exhibits is inexplicable, and the reasons for right and wrong are unknown, making it impossible for people to easily hand over important decision-making power to machines.
Because AI lacks “autonomous responsibility”, all problems in its eyes are “domesticated problems”, that is, the consequences of such problems have nothing to do with the respondent, and the success or failure of the problem solving is irrelevant to the respondent. Corresponding to this are “wild problems”, that is, the consequences of such problems are closely related to the respondent, and the respondent must be involved. Therefore, in the eyes of AI without self, there are no “wild problems”, all are “domesticated problems”, and it stays out of any problem. Therefore, in intelligent combat command, machines cannot replace commanders in making judgments and decisions. It can provide commanders with key knowledge, identify battlefield targets, organize battlefield intelligence, analyze battlefield conditions, predict battlefield situations, and even form combat plans, formulate combat plans, and draft combat orders. However, the plans, plans, and orders it gives can only be used as drafts and references. As for whether to adopt them and to what extent, it is up to the commander to decide. In short, both parties make decisions together, with artificial intelligence responsible for prediction and humans responsible for judgment, forming a command mode of “human decision-making and machine calculation”.
