Joint operations are the basic form of combat in modern warfare. They emphasize the strength of more than two services and arms and other participating forces, and jointly implement operations in multi-domain space under unified command. “Single domain” and “multidomain” interdependence and interaction in joint operations are a pair of important military categories. Grasping the relationship between single domain and multi-domain is the core content and key to solving the “internal interface” problem in the construction and application of joint combat forces. The relationship between the two should be viewed dialectically and correctly handled, and the winning mechanism of joint operations should be continuously enriched to promote joint operations. Really achieve cross-domain integration, energy gathering and efficiency improvement.
“Single domain” is the constituent element and development basis of “multi-domain”
Joint operations emphasize the formation of advantageous multi-domains based on advantageous single domains, and place higher demands on the coupling relationship between each single domain that makes up the multi-domain. The development of a single domain can provide a solid foundation for the development of multiple domains and create prerequisites for achieving cross-domain integration.
In terms of historical process, single domain to multi-domain is the process of domain expansion. Throughout human history, the wars of each era have applied the techniques of their own era, imprinted the imprint of their own era, and developed with the time and space of the war. War in the agricultural era, with cold weapons as the main military equipment, battlefield fighting is mainly limited to land and offshore waters. It is a lower-level “full contact” war, and the combat domain is relatively single, making early operations “loose” Joint characteristics.
Entering the industrial era, with the invention and use of steam engines and internal combustion engines, air combat weapons represented by combat aircraft appeared on the battlefield. The combat space broke through the limitations of land and sea areas, forming a three-dimensional battlefield between land, sea and air. The war turned “semi-contact”, making joint operations take on “cooperative” joint characteristics. Entering the information age, the combat space breaks through the three-dimensional geographical space and forms a multi-domain integration of land, sea, air, space, electricity, network, and cognitive fields, making joint operations present multi-domain “integrated” characteristics. With the development of single domain to multi-domain, single-domain control rights such as land control, sea control, air control, heaven control, and information control have continued to appear, and the subsequent importance of single-domain control has continued to increase, promoting the connotation of multi-domain control. Expanding and changing, the competition for comprehensive control has become the first priority in the confrontation between ourselves and the enemy.
In terms of development form, single domain to multi-domain is a process of clustering into a network. Restricted by technical conditions and other constraints, combat activities before the information age, whether in terms of battlefield time, battlefield space, or the deployment and use of combat forces, have clear sections between single domains and clear levels of action at all levels, showing a strong Sequential and progressive, showing a single-domain chain development form.
Entering the information age, under the full “adhesion” of the network system, the multi-domain force formation develops from “combination” to “convergence”, forming an elastic structure with spatial dispersion and deployment, time coordination, and multi-dimensional energy release. According to the battlefield situation and changes in the situation, combat activities use the network information system as a “link” to connect the “links” of the combat single domain into a “network” shape, forming the focus of similar strong points and complementary advantages, and realizing each single domain “shape and spirit gathering” and “gathering fingers into fists”, The transition from single-domain chain to multi-domain network was achieved.
In terms of performance index, single domain to multi-domain is a process of energy aggregation and efficiency. Both opposing sides in the war tried to exert their overall combat power in order to achieve combat victory. However, due to the clear boundaries and loose connections of each single domain in the past, improving the overall combat power can only be achieved through the linearity “superposition” of each combat domain. With the development of information technology and intelligent technology, especially the widespread application of information systems in the military, the network information system realizes the command and control of each single domain force and can seamlessly link each combat domain. Each combat force maximizes The advantages of spatial multidimensionality and power diversity have been realized, and the strength and strength of each single domain and each level have been realized The high degree of integration, multi-dimensional cohesion, overall linkage and integrated energy release in terms of means and actions has achieved the effect of complementary advantages, synergy and cohesion, which is conducive to achieving a comprehensive advantage or local overwhelming advantage over the enemy.
“Multi-domain” is the direction-dominant and powerful dominance of “single-domain”
The essence of the winning mechanism of joint operations lies in cross-domain integration to achieve excellence and efficiency, which requires that single domain and multi-domain must be functionally “unified in the same direction”. “Multi-domain” stipulates the status and role of each single domain in combat. Each single domain must start from the overall functional needs of joint operations, focus on providing the ultimate contribution rate to the combat system, and achieve synchronous cross-domain maneuvering, cross-domain coordination, and cross-domain strike, to achieve system advantages in overall confrontation. Currently, the multi-domain dominates and dominates the single-domain in the direction of forming a resultant force with the system mainly from the following aspects.
Transition of multidomain operational requirements to hybrid war threats. At present, conventional threats are expanding and unconventional threats are becoming new and present threats, with the boundaries between regular and irregular battlefields tending to be blurred, between combatants and non-combatants and between physical and virtual dimensions. Joint operations are still the basic form of operations, but specific combat styles show a trend towards combining multiple styles. Various threats from traditional or non-traditional, formal or informal, high-intensity or low-intensity exist on land, sea, air, space, electricity, network, cognition and other multi-domains. These threats add a new dimension to the concept of war. Therefore, it is necessary not only to do a good job in the fight against a single threat, but also to develop the ability to integrate into multi-domain operations to deal with hybrid warfare.
The focus of multi-domain operations shifts to the network information system. Several informatization local wars that have broken out in recent years have shown that no war, no alliance, no alliance, no victory, the network information system that condenses various single-domain combat elements has become the focus of operations, and the combat command information system that gathers the combat power of the network information system has become the main basis for military operations “nerve center” and has become the key point for opponents to attack. The degree of integration of command and information systems is getting higher and higher, and the command systems of each single domain must converge and move closer to the overall command system, so as to achieve system integration of various services and combat units and deep coupling of various combat elements. In line with this, the information domain, the cognitive domain, and the electromagnetic domain, as emerging fields of warfare, have increased in their core status and importance, and have increasingly become the core operational domains for opposing sides to compete for control, becoming capable of causing enemy “blind, incapacitated, and mentally retarded” key operational domains. Therefore, each single domain must strengthen its ability to organically integrate into the network information system within the framework of a unified standard system and achieve interconnection and interoperability between each single domain, so as to ensure that it provides basic support in multi-domain precision warfare and thus wins overall advantages.
Transformation of multi-domain combat forces into joint combat units. Integrated joint operations have the characteristics of platform operations, system support and tactical operations, and strategic support. Strategic-level planning, campaign-level command, and tactical-level operations will become the norm in future wars. Large-scale corps operations may become increasingly rare and will be replaced by joint battles more often on multi-domain battlefields. The joint combat unit will bring together various single-domain combat forces and cover various combat elements. The level of the joint is reflected in the tactical level, presenting an independent combat capability that includes early warning and reconnaissance, information support, combat command, multi-domain attack and defense, combat support and other elements. Joint tactical unit form. Each “single-domain combat force” has a closer coupling relationship, and its own characteristics and advantages will become more prominent.
Accelerate the expansion of “single-domain advantages” to “multi-domain advantages”
For the dialectical unity of a single domain and a multi-domain, we must not only see the unity of a multi-domain, but also respect the independence of a single domain; we must neither completely oppose the two, nor erase the connection between them. In view of the actual situation of combat opponents, combat environment, own strength, etc., and taking into account various political, economic, technological, cultural and other factors, we should accelerate the expansion of “single-domain advantage” to “multi-domain advantage”, so as to form an information advantage, decision-making advantage and operational advantage against the enemy.
First, we must consolidate and expand the advantages of single domain.“ Metcalfe’s law ” tells us that increasing a network entity is capable of producing nonlinear exponential convergence of the combat power of the system. Multi-domain operations are deeply integrated system operations. As the basic element of multi-domain existence, the strength of each single domain’s construction will definitely affect the effectiveness of multi-domain integration. The essence of forming a multi-domain advantage is to deeply aggregate the advantages of each single domain. It is necessary to continuously strengthen the construction of single domain capabilities to form a single domain advantage and limit the opponent’s strength advantage to the limit. In fact, consolidating and expanding the advantages of single domains is not only to enhance single domain performance, but also to serve the purpose of multi-domain convergence. Single-domain construction requires strengthening top-level design, formulating standards and specifications, and striving to overcome conflicts caused by different combat construction concepts formed by the unique combat styles and combat culture of different services. At the same time, it is necessary to coordinate all military construction resources and focus on the development of multi-domain combat weapon platforms to meet the overall needs of joint operations, rather than just the needs of each single domain itself.
Second, we must promote the achievement of cross-domain synergy. Cross-domain synergy emphasizes breaking the boundaries between services and arms and integrating combat forces across services, arms and institutions. Based on the network information system, the combat forces in each domain are distributed in a wide area, and the multiple domains are linked as a whole to complement each other’s advantages and increase efficiency, and quickly gather energy step by step, promoting the expansion of single-domain advantages into multi-domain integration advantages and system advantages, and forming a concentrated energy strike against important enemy targets. In “joint operations”, combat forces in various fields must not only have the ability to independently perform a variety of combat missions, but also need to use their own cross-domain perception, target recognition and strike capabilities to support or even directly participate in other combat domain operations.
3. “Flexible mobile combat application is required!”. The winning mechanism of joint operations lies in the rapid and continuous integration of multi-domain combat forces to form multiple advantages and immediate advantages in specific time windows, forcing the enemy into passivity, disadvantage and dilemma. For the use of single-domain and multi-domain forces, such as the use of fingers and fists, whether it is “pointing points with hands” or “clenching fingers into fists”, or even the mutual transformation and use in combat, we must adhere to seeking truth from facts and comprehensively consider the efficiency of combat effects. Scientifically make decisions based on factors such as efficiency and contribution to the victory of war, and effectively use troops according to circumstances, location, and situation. If the single-domain combat force can solve the problem well, it is no longer necessary to use multi-domain combat forces, thereby improving operational effectiveness.
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.
Soldiers are a major event for the country. In the great journey of “building a powerful country and rejuvenating the nation, and against the background of the accelerated evolution of major changes unseen in the world in a century, building and consolidating national defense and a strong people’s army are directly related to the future and destiny of the country and the nation”. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out that “national defense and military modernization are important components of Chinese-style modernization”, which fully reflects the great importance that the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core attaches to national defense and military construction, and provides guidance for national defense and military modernization on the new journey. Modernization points out the direction.
The modernization of the national defense and military is the security guarantee and strategic support for Chinese-style modernization
”If you fall behind, you will be beaten. Only when the army is strong can the country be safe”. Without a strong army, there can be no strong state. After the Opium War in 1840, modern China was repeatedly defeated in its battles with Western powers. The vast country gradually became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, with the country humiliated, the people in trouble, and civilization in dust. History has inspired us that the Chinese nation’s emergence from suffering and the liberation of the Chinese people depend on a heroic people’s army; to comprehensively promote the great cause of building a powerful country and national rejuvenation with Chinese-style modernization, we must place national defense and military modernization as a barrier to national security, plan and deploy in strategic positions based on career development, and accelerate the construction and consolidation of national defense and a strong people’s army.
The modernization of the national defense and military is closely linked and internally unified with Chinese-style modernization. Without the modernization of national defense and the military, there would be no Chinese-style modernization. Comrade Mao Zedong once profoundly pointed out “the original requirements for building socialism were industrial modernization, agricultural modernization, scientific and cultural modernization, and now we must add national defense modernization”; Comrade Deng Xiaoping also emphasized “four modernizations, one of which is national defense modernization”, these all reflect the great importance our party attaches to national defense and military construction.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi has always adhered to the integrated operation of strengthening the country and the military, put national defense and military modernization in the chess game of Chinese-style modernization, and opened up the road to strengthening the military with Chinese characteristics, forming a new strategy for national defense and military modernization by 2027, 2035, and the middle of this century, a new “three-step” strategy for national defense and military modernization that connects near, medium and long-term goals Created a new situation in the cause of strengthening the military. Guided by the party’s goal of strengthening the military in the new era, we will comprehensively implement the strategy of reforming and strengthening the military, promote the reform of the leadership and command system, the reform of scale structure and force organization, and the reform of military policies and systems. Our military’s organizational structure will achieve historic changes, and the force system will achieve revolutionary changes. Reshaping, the basic framework of the socialist military policy system with Chinese characteristics has been constructed and formed. Our military system has been completely new, its structure has been completely new, its pattern has been completely new, and its appearance has been completely new It has laid a solid foundation for the modernization of national defence and the army.
Military means, as a means of guaranteeing the realization of great dreams, can only stop a war if it can be fought. The current and future periods are critical periods for comprehensively promoting the great cause of building a powerful country and rejuvenating the nation through Chinese-style modernization, and will inevitably encounter various risks, challenges and even turbulent waves. We must comprehensively modernize our national defense and military, build the People’s Army into a world-class military, effectively guarantee Chinese-style modernization, and safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
Comprehensive and accurate grasp of the scientific connotation of national defense and military modernization
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi has issued a series of important expositions around “Chinese-style modernization”, summarizing the Chinese characteristics, essential requirements and major principles for the formation of Chinese-style modernization, building a theoretical system for Chinese-style modernization, and promoting the new era and new journey. Chinese-style modernization provides scientific guidance and also carries out strategic design and scientific deployment for national defense and military modernization.
The most fundamental thing about modernizing the national defense and military is to uphold the absolute leadership of the party over the military. The leadership of the Party is the fundamental guarantee of Chinese-style modernization, which determines the fundamental nature of Chinese-style modernization, and it must also determine the fundamental nature of national defense and military modernization. To promote the modernization of national defense and the military on the new journey, we must fully implement a series of fundamental principles and systems for the party to lead the people’s army, comprehensively and thoroughly implement the chairman’s responsibility system of the Military Commission, and effectively unify thoughts and actions into the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and President Xi; Adhere to the party’s management of cadres and talents, and highlight political standards and combat capabilities Ensure that the barrel of the gun is always in the hands of those who are loyal and reliable to the party; improve the comprehensive and strict governance of the party system, enhance the political and organizational functions of party organizations at all levels, and integrate the party’s leadership throughout the entire process of continuing to deepen national defense and military reforms in all aspects.
To modernize national defense and the military is to modernize military doctrine, military organization, military personnel, and weapons and equipment. This reflects the inherent requirements for the construction of military forces resulting from changes in the concept of victory in modern warfare, elements of victory and methods of victory, and clarifies the main signs of the basic realization of national defence and military modernization. To realize the modernization of military theory is to keep pace with the times, innovate war and strategic guidance, and form a military theoretical system that is contemporary, leading, and unique; to realize the modernization of organizational form is to deepen the reform of national defense and the military, and the military force structure layout is scientific and reasonable, strategic deterrence capabilities are consolidated and improved, new areas and new quality combat forces continue to grow, and elite operations, system support, and joint victory have become the basic application models; To realize the modernization of military personnel is to deeply implement the strategy of strengthening the military with talents in the new era, promote the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of military personnel’s capabilities, structural layout, and development management, and forge high-quality, professional new military talents with both ability and political integrity; to realize the modernization of weapons and equipment, It is necessary to focus on strengthening national defense scientific and technological innovation and accelerating the development of strategic, cutting-edge and disruptive technologies Accelerate the upgrading of weapons and equipment and the development of intelligent weapons and equipment.
For the modernization of national defence and the military, we must adhere to the integrated development of mechanization, informatization and intelligence. The military conflicts and local wars that have taken place in recent years have shown that new qualitative combat capabilities generated based on intelligent combat systems are increasingly becoming core military capabilities. Based on mechanization, dominated by informatization, and oriented by intelligence, the three superimpose, penetrate, and support each other, jointly giving rise to new forms of warfare and methods of warfare. Only by accelerating the integrated development of mechanization, informatization and intelligence and keeping up with the new military revolutionary trends in the world can we seize the opportunity and take the initiative in seizing the commanding heights of the military struggle.
The modernization of national defence and the army is a guarantee of security for insisting on the path of peaceful development. Since ancient times, soldiers have not been warlike. Chinese-style modernization is modernization on the path of peaceful development. Building a consolidated national defense and a strong military commensurate with international status and national security and development interests is a strategic task of China’s socialist modernization drive and an insistence on taking the path of peaceful development. Safety guarantee is an inevitable choice for summarizing historical experience. China has always pursued a defensive defence policy and adhered to the strategic idea of active defence, and no matter how far it develops, China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion. To promote the modernization of national defense and the military on the “new journey”, we must faithfully implement the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, resolutely oppose all forms of hegemony and bullying, and contribute China’s strength to building a beautiful world of lasting peace and universal security.
Advancing the modernization of national defence and the military at a new historical starting point
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China included “continuous deepening of national defense and military reforms into the overall plan for further comprehensive deepening of reforms, and made a series of major strategic arrangements for improving the leadership and management system and mechanism of the people’s army, deepening the reform of the joint operations system, and deepening cross-military and civilian reforms”. On the new journey, we must deeply understand and grasp the themes, major principles, major measures, and fundamental guarantees for further comprehensively deepening reforms, resolutely implement the new “three-step” strategy for national defense and military modernization, and accelerate the modernization of military theory, military organizational form, and military personnel. Modernize and modernize weapons and equipment, and lead the modernization of national defense and the military to move forward with better strategies, higher efficiency, and faster speed.
Strengthening the Party’s theoretical and scientific leadership in military guidance. Our party insists on combining the basic principles of Marxism with the practice of building the people’s army, absorbing the essence of China’s excellent traditional military culture, and constantly exploring new realms in the development of contemporary Chinese Marxist military theory and military practice. As an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military has achieved a new leap forward in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist military theory. It is the fundamental guiding ideology of our party building and military governance in the new era. We must unremittingly arm our minds with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, further firmly establish the guiding position of Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military in national defense and military construction, and build and consolidate national defense and a strong people’s army under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military. Take new and greater steps on the road to strengthening the military with Chinese characteristics.
Efforts should be made to make the main responsibility and business of war preparation more solid and effective. The People’s Army is an armed group that performs the party’s political tasks. It must be both politically strong and capable. In the final analysis, this ability can win wars. To accelerate the modernization of national defense and the military, we must firmly grasp the fundamental direction of winning wars, establish the only fundamental standard of combat effectiveness, focus all our energy on fighting wars, and work hard on fighting wars. Conscientiously implement the military strategic policy for the new era, operate war preparation and cessation, deterrence and actual combat, war operations and the use of military forces in peacetime as a whole, innovate strategies, tactics and tactics, effectively shape the situation, manage crises, contain wars, and win wars. Adhere to the principle of “training troops as they fight, and comprehensively improve the actual combat level of military training and the ability to perform missions and tasks”.
Promote high-quality development of national defense and military construction through “reform and innovation”. Reform is a key move that will determine the growth of our army and its future. On the new journey, we must put innovation at the core of the overall military construction and development, transform development concepts, innovate development models, enhance development momentum, and promote the transformation of national defense and military modernization from quantitative growth to qualitative improvement. Focus on integrating national defense and military construction into the national economic and social development system on a wider scale, at a higher level, and to a deeper extent, continuously improve the quality and efficiency of national defense and military modernization, promote the simultaneous improvement of national defense strength and economic strength, and consolidate and improve the integration National strategic system and capabilities, and constantly write a new chapter of strengthening the country and the military.
●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
At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and military revolution is developing rapidly. Disruptive technologies represented by artificial intelligence are accelerating the evolution of war to intelligent warfare. Winning intelligent warfare has gradually become the focus of military competition among powerful countries. As a pre-practice of war, military training should take a new step towards intelligence in a timely manner, realize the transformation to “intelligence”, train soldiers with “intelligence”, continuously improve the scientific and technological level and “intelligence content” of military training, and help accelerate the generation of intelligent combat capabilities.
Keeping up with the changes in the war situation, upgrading the concept of intelligent training
With the acceleration of the intelligent era, high-tech has been widely used in the military field, which is causing major changes in the concept, elements and methods of winning wars. The size of the army and the number of equipment are no longer the key to winning a war. It is imperative to upgrade the war thinking and training concepts. We should follow the development trend of intelligence with a more proactive attitude and a more open vision, and advocate new thinking in intelligent military training.
Grasp the internal mechanism of intelligent victory. The winning mechanism is the manifestation of the internal laws of war. Driven by the intelligent revolution, driven by strategic competition, and guided by war practice, the advantages of information-generated intelligence and intelligence-enabled capabilities are becoming increasingly apparent, reflected in actuarial science, jointness, systems, and other aspects. To a certain extent, it can be said that the higher the “intelligence”, the higher the quality level of combat and training can be. Therefore, an army whose training thinking remains at the mechanized level will never be able to keep up with the pace of intelligent warfare no matter how it is trained. We should have a “brain storm” with the courage of self-revolution, upgrade the concept of intelligent warfare, strengthen the theoretical research of intelligent training, deal with the problems of mechanized, informationized, and intelligent warfare with the thinking of training troops with “intelligence”, organically connect training and fighting, design wars with advanced technology, and rehearse wars with intelligent means, so as to clear up the fog of intelligent warfare.
Establish the goal of “strengthening the strong”. At present, the military of developed countries is implementing a training transformation with an emphasis on intelligence, trying to further widen the gap in combat power with the military of other countries. Once the military gap is widened, it will be difficult to make up. If you can’t keep up, you may be completely controlled by others. Only by keeping a close eye on the opponent can you surpass the opponent. We must highlight the goal of “strengthening the strong” in military training, and improve the level of military intelligence and asymmetric combat capabilities in training.
Strengthen the goal positioning of science and technology empowerment. Science and technology are the core combat power. Driven by science and technology, the combat power form has leaped from mechanical energy type and information energy type to intelligent type. Traditional siege-style large-scale troop operations are gradually withdrawing from the historical stage, and cutting-edge competition in high-tech and emerging fields is becoming increasingly fierce. If military training does not improve its scientific and technological content, it will only be able to linger at a low level and it will be difficult to open the door to intelligent warfare. To this end, we should firmly establish the concept of winning through science and technology, firmly grasp scientific and technological innovation, the “life gate” and “key point” to winning future wars, greatly improve the scientific and technological content of military training, and increase the practical application of new technologies and new means such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data, so as to unveil the mystery of intelligent warfare and control the initiative in future wars.
Keep up with the changes in technological development and strengthen intelligent training conditions
Intelligent training conditions are the basic support for organizing and implementing intelligent military training, and are directly related to the quality and effectiveness of intelligent training. To build an intelligent training environment, we need to keep a close eye on the development of intelligent concepts, intelligent technology, and intelligent warfare, and continue to work hard in building a training environment, innovating training methods, and cultivating new talents.
Construct a realistic battlefield environment. Intelligent warfare has a wider space, a wider range of fields, and more diverse methods. The battlefield environment construction under the conditions of simple mechanization and informatization can no longer support the needs of intelligent training. We should highlight the elite confrontation, rapid confrontation, and joint confrontation under the support of intelligent conditions, fully tap the potential of existing training methods and training venues, strengthen the application of technologies such as big data analysis, smart wearable devices, and machine “deep learning”, and effectively integrate various fields such as land, sea, air, space, electricity, and the Internet. For example, use digital maps, virtual reality and other technologies to simulate and display intuitive three-dimensional terrain, weather and complex combat situations, and construct vivid and realistic intelligent actual combat scenes.
Develop advanced training methods. Advanced training methods are helpful to improve training effectiveness. Intelligent military training should grasp the key factor of intelligent “data-centricity” and transform the latest scientific and technological achievements into training conditions. We should focus on strengthening data linkage and integration, creating a “data pool” covering strategy, campaign, and tactics, and connecting command organizations to end-users; developing data intelligent analysis tools, integrating and mining combat data with the help of advanced technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence; developing intelligent training systems, increasing the construction of simulation training methods such as simulation, war game confrontation, network confrontation, and intelligent decision-making, and overall promoting the transformation and upgrading of military training methods to “technology +” and “intelligence +”.
Cultivate new military talents. No matter how the war situation evolves, people are always the real controllers and final decision-makers of war. The quality of military personnel’s intelligence level determines the quality and effect of intelligent training to a certain extent. To win the information-based local war with intelligent characteristics, we should accurately match future military needs, strengthen the intelligent training of traditional combat force talents, make good use of “technology +”, “maker +”, “think tank +” power resources, promote the integrated development of “commanders”, “combatants” and “scientists” and “technicians”, and forge a new type of professional and intelligent military talent group to achieve intelligent interaction between people and equipment, deep integration between people and systems, and extensive adaptation between people and the environment.
Strengthen support for intelligent equipment. At present, the world’s major military powers attach great importance to the development of intelligent equipment. New equipment such as unmanned “swarms” and unmanned submarines are emerging in an endless stream, supporting intelligent military training while constantly testing and improving them in training practice. To this end, we should make full use of the overall coordination mechanism of war construction, vigorously promote the “+ intelligence” of existing equipment and the “intelligent +” construction of a new generation of equipment, insist on researching, building, using and improving, and improve the intelligence level of weapons and equipment through breakthroughs in training practice. We should work on both ends to achieve a multiplier effect, shorten the timeline of weapons and equipment from “weak intelligence” to “strong intelligence” and then to “super intelligence”, and better support intelligent military training.
Keeping up with the changes in war practices, innovating intelligent training models
The combat style determines the training mode. After years of development, military intelligence has moved from theoretical exploration to battlefield practice. In recent local wars, intelligent warfare has begun to show its edge and has shown the potential to change the “rules of the game” of war. As the combat style changes, the training mode must also change and change proactively. We must keep a close eye on the characteristics of intelligent warfare, innovate intelligent military training models, and fully rehearse the next war in military training.
Highlight high-end warfare research and training. We should focus on cracking the essence of high-end warfare by strengthening the enemy, continue to deepen research on strengthening the enemy, and use the development of new combat concepts and training theories as a starting point to understand the development laws and winning mechanisms of high-end warfare. We should predict future wars and design combat styles from a high-end perspective, and pool wisdom and innovation to research unique, clever, and high-level strategies to defeat the enemy. We must emphasize key actions such as joint missile defense, target strategic campaign and tactical training to force strong organizations to defeat the strong with the weak, target practical training for asymmetric checks and balances to win decisive battles in high-end organizations, target extended training in new domains such as the far sea and far domain for all-domain confrontation organizations, seize high positions in future wars through innovative training, and develop combat capabilities that are “one step ahead in intelligence” and “one step ahead in skills” against powerful enemies.
Emphasize the training of new-type forces. The transformation of war from winning by force and equipment to winning by wisdom has made new-type combat forces a new growth pole of combat power. According to information, the US military plans to achieve intelligentization of 60% of ground combat platforms by 2030, and the Russian military expects that the proportion of intelligent weapons and equipment will exceed 30% by 2025. As the army has more and more new equipment with intelligent attributes, it should move away from the actual combat training path with new-type combat forces as the dominant element, highlight the formation and combat use of new-type combat forces, carry out training methods and tactics that are compatible with the new domain combat concept and winning mechanism, increase new types of training such as unmanned combat, promote the integration of new-type forces into the combat system, and make new-type combat power resources move and come alive.
Emphasize intelligent command training. No matter how the war situation evolves, command capability is always the key to winning the war. As the intelligence level of war continues to increase, planning and command based solely on experience and personal wisdom can no longer adapt to the ever-changing battlefield situation. Artificial intelligence decision-making training has become an inevitable trend to improve the efficiency of combat mission planning, combat planning, and command and control. We should focus on commanders and command organizations, which are the key to the system’s operations, seek breakthroughs in the scientific nature, accuracy, and timeliness of command planning, and rely on new technologies such as “big data” and “AI algorithms” and new methods such as “engineering” and “one network” to promote the upgrading of command planning from “human intelligence” training to “human intelligence + intelligence” training. We should judge the enemy’s situation, formulate plans, and determine actions through actuarial and detailed calculations, so as to achieve the goal of defeating the slow with the fast and getting the upper hand over the enemy.
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”.
Digitalization, networking, and intelligence are the prominent features of the new round of scientific and technological revolution, and are also the core of the new generation of information technology. Digitalization lays the foundation for social informatization, and its development trend is the comprehensive dataization of society. Dataization emphasizes the collection, aggregation, analysis and application of data. Networking provides a physical carrier for information dissemination, and its development trend is the widespread adoption of information-physical systems (CPS). Information-physical systems will not only give birth to new industries, but will even reshape the existing industrial layout. Intelligence reflects the level and level of information application, and its development trend is the new generation of artificial intelligence. At present, the upsurge of the new generation of artificial intelligence has arrived.
In his important speech at the 2018 General Assembly of Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out: “The world is entering a period of economic development dominated by the information industry. We must seize the opportunity of the integrated development of digitalization, networking, and intelligence, and use informatization and intelligence as leverage to cultivate new momentum.” This important statement is an accurate grasp of the dominant role and development trend of information technology in today’s world, and an important deployment for using information technology to promote national innovation and development.
Human society, the physical world, and information space constitute the three elements of today’s world. The connection and interaction between these three worlds determine the characteristics and degree of social informatization. The basic way to perceive human society and the physical world is digitization, the basic way to connect human society and the physical world (through information space) is networking, and the way information space acts on the physical world and human society is intelligence. Digitalization, networking, and intelligence are the prominent features of the new round of scientific and technological revolution, and are also the focus of the new generation of information technology. Digitalization lays the foundation for social informatization, and its development trend is the comprehensive dataization of society; networking provides a physical carrier for information dissemination, and its development trend is the widespread adoption of information-physical systems (CPS); intelligence reflects the level and level of information application, and its development trend is the new generation of artificial intelligence.
Digitalization: From computerization to dataization
Digitalization refers to the technical approach of storing, transmitting, processing, handling and applying information carriers (text, pictures, images, signals, etc.) in digital coding form (usually binary). Digitalization itself refers to the way of representing and processing information, but in essence it emphasizes the computerization and automation of information application. In addition to digitalization, dataization (data is an information carrier in coded form, and all data is digital) emphasizes the collection, aggregation, analysis and application of data, and strengthens the production factors and productivity functions of data. Digitalization is developing from computerization to dataization, which is one of the most important trends in the current social informatization.
The core connotation of dataization is the deep understanding and deep use of big data generated by the integration of information technology revolution and economic and social activities. Big data is a fragmentary record of social economy, real world, management decision-making, etc., containing fragmented information. With the breakthrough of analytical technology and computing technology, it is possible to interpret this fragmented information, which makes big data a new high-tech, a new scientific research paradigm, and a new way of decision-making. Big data has profoundly changed the way people think and live and work, bringing unprecedented opportunities to management innovation, industrial development, scientific discovery and other fields.
The value generation of big data has its inherent laws (obeying the big data principle). Only by deeply understanding and mastering these laws can we improve the awareness and ability to consciously and scientifically use big data (big data thinking). The value of big data is mainly realized through big data technology. Big data technology is an extension and development of statistical methods, computer technology, and artificial intelligence technology. It is a developing technology. The current hot directions include: blockchain technology, interoperability technology, storage and management technology of integrated storage and computing, big data operating system, big data programming language and execution environment, big data foundation and core algorithm, big data machine learning technology, big data intelligent technology, visualization and human-computer interaction analysis technology, authenticity judgment and security technology, etc. The development of big data technology depends on the solution of some major basic problems, including: the statistical basis and computational theoretical basis of big data, the hardware and software basis and computational methods of big data computing, and the authenticity judgment of big data inference.
Implementing the national big data strategy is an important way to promote the digital revolution. Since my country proposed the implementation of the national big data strategy in 2015, the pattern of rapid development of big data in my country has been initially formed, but there are also some problems that need to be solved: data openness and sharing are lagging, and the dividends of data resources have not been fully released; the profit model of enterprises is unstable, and the integrity of the industrial chain is insufficient; core technologies have not yet made major breakthroughs, and the technical level of related applications is not high; there are still loopholes in security management and privacy protection, and the construction of relevant systems is still not perfect; etc. At present, effective measures should be taken to solve the bottleneck problems that restrict the development of big data in my country.
Networking: From the Internet to Cyber-Physical Systems
As an information-based public infrastructure, the Internet has become the main way for people to obtain, exchange and consume information. However, the Internet only focuses on the interconnection between people and the resulting interconnection between services.
The Internet of Things is a natural extension and expansion of the Internet. It connects various objects to the Internet through information technology, helping people obtain relevant information about the objects they need. The Internet of Things uses information collection equipment such as radio frequency identification, sensors, infrared sensors, video surveillance, global positioning systems, laser scanners, etc., and connects objects to the Internet through wireless sensor networks and wireless communication networks, so as to achieve real-time information exchange and communication between objects and between people and objects, so as to achieve the purpose of intelligent identification, positioning, tracking, monitoring and management. The Internet realizes the interconnection between people and services, while the Internet of Things realizes the cross-connection between people, objects and services. The core technologies of the Internet of Things include: sensor technology, wireless transmission technology, massive data analysis and processing technology, upper-level business solutions, security technology, etc. The development of the Internet of Things will go through a relatively long period, but it may take the lead in achieving breakthroughs in applications in specific fields. Internet of Vehicles, Industrial Internet, unmanned systems, smart homes, etc. are all areas where the Internet of Things is currently showing its prowess.
The Internet of Things mainly solves the problem of people’s perception of the physical world, while to solve the problem of manipulating physical objects, it is necessary to further develop the cyber-physical system (CPS). The cyber-physical system is a multi-dimensional complex system that integrates computing, networking and physical environment. It realizes real-time perception, dynamic control and information services of large engineering systems through the organic integration and deep collaboration of 3C (Computer, Communication, Control) technologies. Through the human-computer interaction interface, the cyber-physical system realizes the interaction between the computing process and the physical process, and uses the networked space to control a physical entity in a remote, reliable, real-time, secure and collaborative manner. In essence, the cyber-physical system is a network with control attributes.
Unlike public infrastructure that provides information interaction and application, the focus of the development of cyber-physical systems is on the research and development of networked physical equipment systems that deeply integrate perception, computing, communication and control capabilities. From an industrial perspective, cyber-physical systems cover a range of applications from smart home networks to industrial control systems and even intelligent transportation systems, which are national and even world-class applications. More importantly, this coverage is not just about simply connecting existing devices together, but will give rise to a large number of devices with computing, communication, control, collaboration and autonomous capabilities. The next generation of industry will be built on cyber-physical systems. With the development and popularization of cyber-physical system technology, physical devices that use computers and networks to achieve functional expansion will be ubiquitous, and will promote the upgrading of industrial products and technologies, greatly improving the competitiveness of major industrial fields such as automobiles, aerospace, national defense, industrial automation, health and medical equipment, and major infrastructure. Cyber-physical systems will not only give birth to new industries, but will even reshape the existing industrial layout.
Intelligence: From Expert Systems to Meta-Learning
Intelligence reflects the quality attributes of information products. When we say that an information product is intelligent, we usually mean that the product can accomplish things that only intelligent people can accomplish, or has reached a level that only humans can achieve. Intelligence generally includes perception, memory and thinking, learning and adaptive, behavioral decision-making, etc. Therefore, intelligence can also be generally defined as: enabling an object to have sensitive and accurate perception functions, correct thinking and judgment functions, adaptive learning functions, and effective execution functions.
Intelligence is the eternal pursuit of the development of information technology, and the main way to achieve this pursuit is to develop artificial intelligence technology. In the more than 60 years since the birth of artificial intelligence technology, although it has experienced three ups and two downs, it has still made great achievements. From 1959 to 1976, it was a stage based on artificial representation of knowledge and symbol processing, which produced expert systems with important application value in some fields; from 1976 to 2007, it was a stage based on statistical learning and knowledge self-representation, which produced various neural network systems; in recent years, research based on environmental adaptation, self-game, self-evolution, and self-learning is forming a new stage of artificial intelligence development – meta-learning or methodological learning stage, which constitutes a new generation of artificial intelligence. The new generation of artificial intelligence mainly includes big data intelligence, group intelligence, cross-media intelligence, human-machine hybrid enhanced intelligence, and brain-like intelligence.
Deep learning is an outstanding representative of the new generation of artificial intelligence technology. Due to its performance that surpasses that of humans in many fields such as face recognition, machine translation, and chess competitions, deep learning has almost become synonymous with artificial intelligence today. However, deep learning has major challenges in terms of topological design, effect prediction, and mechanism explanation. There is no solid mathematical theory to support the solution of these three major problems. Solving these problems is the main focus of future research on deep learning. In addition, deep learning is a typical big data intelligence, and its applicability is based on the existence of a large number of training samples. Small sample learning will be the development trend of deep learning.
Meta-learning is expected to become the next breakthrough in the development of artificial intelligence. Recently developed meta-learning methods such as learning to learn, learning to teach, learning to optimize, learning to search, and learning to reason, as well as the outstanding performance of “AlphaGo Zero” in Go, have demonstrated the attractive prospects of such new technologies. However, meta-learning research is only just beginning, and its development still faces a series of challenges.
The new generation of artificial intelligence is already here, and the foreseeable development trend is based on big data, centered on model and algorithm innovation, and supported by powerful computing power. The breakthrough of the new generation of artificial intelligence technology depends on the comprehensive development of other types of information technology, as well as the substantial progress and development of brain science and cognitive science. (Xu Zongben, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of Xi’an Jiaotong University)
The rapid development and widespread application of artificial intelligence technology are profoundly changing human production and lifestyles, bringing huge opportunities to the world while also bringing unpredictable security challenges. It is particularly noteworthy that the military application of artificial intelligence technology may have far-reaching impacts and potential risks in terms of strategic security, governance rules, and moral ethics.
AI security governance is a common issue facing mankind. With the widespread application of AI technology in various fields, all parties are generally concerned about the risks of AI military applications and even weaponization.
Against the backdrop of diverse challenges facing world peace and development, all countries should uphold a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable global security concept and, through dialogue and cooperation, seek consensus on how to regulate the military applications of AI and build an effective governance mechanism to prevent the military applications of AI from causing significant damage or even disasters to humanity.
Strengthening the regulation of the military application of artificial intelligence and preventing and controlling the risks that may arise will help enhance mutual trust among countries, maintain global strategic stability, prevent an arms race, alleviate humanitarian concerns, and help build an inclusive and constructive security partnership and practice the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind in the field of artificial intelligence.
We welcome all parties including governments, international organizations, technology companies, research institutes and universities, non-governmental organizations and individual citizens to work together to promote the safe governance of artificial intelligence based on the principle of extensive consultation, joint construction and sharing.
To this end, we call for:
– In terms of strategic security, all countries, especially major powers, should develop and use artificial intelligence technology in the military field with a prudent and responsible attitude, not seek absolute military advantage, and prevent exacerbating strategic misjudgments, undermining strategic mutual trust, triggering escalation of conflicts, and damaging global strategic balance and stability.
– In terms of military policy, while developing advanced weapons and equipment and improving legitimate national defense capabilities, countries should bear in mind that the military application of artificial intelligence should not become a tool for waging war and pursuing hegemony, and oppose the use of the advantages of artificial intelligence technology to endanger the sovereignty and territorial security of other countries.
– In terms of legal ethics, countries should develop, deploy and use relevant weapon systems in accordance with the common values of mankind, adhere to the people-oriented principle, uphold the principle of “intelligence for good”, and abide by national or regional ethical and moral standards. Countries should ensure that new weapons and their means of warfare comply with international humanitarian law and other applicable international law, strive to reduce collateral casualties, reduce human and property losses, and avoid the misuse of relevant weapon systems and the resulting indiscriminate killing and injury.
– In terms of technical security, countries should continuously improve the security, reliability and controllability of AI technology, enhance the security assessment and control capabilities of AI technology, ensure that relevant weapon systems are always under human control, and ensure that humans can terminate their operation at any time. The security of AI data must be guaranteed, and the militarized use of AI data should be restricted.
– In terms of R&D operations, countries should strengthen self-discipline in AI R&D activities, and implement necessary human-machine interactions throughout the weapon life cycle based on comprehensive consideration of the combat environment and weapon characteristics. Countries should always insist that humans are the ultimate responsible party, establish an AI accountability mechanism, and provide necessary training for operators.
– In terms of risk management, countries should strengthen supervision of the military application of artificial intelligence, especially implement hierarchical and classified management to avoid the use of immature technologies that may have serious negative consequences. Countries should strengthen the research and judgment of the potential risks of artificial intelligence, including taking necessary measures to reduce the risk of proliferation of military applications of artificial intelligence.
——In rule-making, countries should adhere to the principles of multilateralism, openness and inclusiveness. In order to track technological development trends and prevent potential security risks, countries should conduct policy dialogues, strengthen exchanges with international organizations, technology companies, technology communities, non-governmental organizations and other entities, enhance understanding and cooperation, and strive to jointly regulate the military application of artificial intelligence and establish an international mechanism with universal participation, and promote the formation of an artificial intelligence governance framework and standard specifications with broad consensus.
– In international cooperation, developed countries should help developing countries improve their governance level. Taking into account the dual-use nature of artificial intelligence technology, while strengthening supervision and governance, they should avoid drawing lines based on ideology and generalizing the concept of national security, eliminate artificially created technological barriers, and ensure that all countries fully enjoy the right to technological development and peaceful use.
Empowering military theory modernization with technology
■Chen Jihao and Liu Yangyue
At present, with the accelerated evolution of a new round of military revolution and the rapid development of disruptive military science and technology, the modernization of military theory has increasingly become a modernization that closely combines military theory with military science and technology and promotes the continuous innovation of military theory with the empowerment of science and technology. To accelerate the modernization of military theory, it is necessary to correctly recognize the development relationship between military science and technology and military theory, and explore the talent base, research content and innovation methods of the modernization of military theory under the empowerment of science and technology.
Cultivating innovative military theoretical talents led by science and technology
Talents are the main body of military theory innovation, and building a high-level, complex team of theoretical innovation talents is the key to realizing the modernization of military theory. Modern military theory research presents a situation of mutual intersection and deep integration of natural sciences and social sciences. It is necessary to cultivate a large number of military innovation talents with integrated science and technology, create a collaborative and open theoretical innovation organization model, and provide intellectual support for promoting the modernization of military theory.
First, military theory researchers must have a “scientific and technological mind” to enhance their understanding, application and discernment of science and technology. Military theory researchers must keep abreast of the latest developments in science and technology, use multidisciplinary cross-border thinking to understand the full meaning of science and technology, and tap the huge military potential of cutting-edge science and technology; they must focus on introducing scientific research methods into military theory research, borrow methods such as big data analysis to study military theory, combine qualitative research with quantitative research, and overcome the limitations of the original military theory research that is experience-oriented and lacks precision; at the same time, they must be good at identifying those “pseudo-sciences” that claim to be at the forefront of science and technology, and see through the technological “fog” released by competitors. Second, military science and technology researchers must have theoretical thinking. Military science and technology researchers should overcome the narrow-minded thinking of “technological determinism”, realize that natural sciences and social sciences are intertwined rather than diametrically opposed, and actively use scientific theories to guide military research. At the same time, they should focus on learning and studying advanced military theories, strengthen their understanding of the war situation and winning mechanism, and deepen their understanding of the application value and development trend of military technology. Thirdly, establish and improve the exchange and cooperation mechanism between theoretical talents and scientific and technological talents. Based on comprehensive research topics, experts from various fields can be widely drawn to form interdisciplinary joint research groups, give full play to their respective strengths, and ignite theoretical innovation sparks in constant cross-collisions. Different types of research units can also select personnel for cross-appointments, so as to encourage theoretical and scientific talents to learn from each other and grow together, open up disciplinary and innovation chains, and enhance the overall effectiveness of theoretical innovation.
Focus on science and technology-led military theory research content
Although there are some universal principles in military theory, the specific content will continue to change with the evolution of the times and practice. In today’s world, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial revolution is advancing by leaps and bounds. The emergence of a series of high-tech technologies and their extensive application in the military field have triggered profound changes in the mechanisms, elements and methods of winning wars, providing new research objects for military theory research.
First, we need to study powerful enemies. The confrontational nature of war determines that military theory research must keep a close eye on the changes of powerful enemies and compete for the commanding heights of military theory. At present, the world’s major powers are stepping up the development of new operational concepts and tactics in response to cutting-edge technologies. Military theory research must adhere to the principle of “you fight yours, I fight mine”, and use the method of “dissecting sparrows” to clarify the opponent’s operational concepts, methods and capabilities. At the same time, we must keep a close eye on changes in science and technology, strengthen the development of new operational concepts, and achieve a transition from follow-up research to synchronization and then to catching up, so as to form an asymmetric balance of power in military theory. Secondly, we must study intelligent warfare. In today’s world, the development of disruptive cutting-edge technologies has promoted the evolution of war forms towards intelligence, and the temporal and spatial characteristics and offensive and defensive modes of war have undergone profound changes. Military theory research should focus on intelligent warfare, accurately grasp the laws and characteristics of intelligent warfare, actively predict the impact of science and technology on future wars, and realize the transformation from passive adaptation to active design of war. Thirdly, we should study new quality combat power. The development of science and technology has given rise to new quality combat power, changed the combination of people and weapons, and directly contributed to the birth of new quality combat power. For example, in the future battlefield, human-machine integrated joint combat actions will become an important combat mode, and it will be possible for a small number of soldiers to lead a large number of “bee swarms”, “fish swarms” and ” ant swarms” to conduct intelligent cluster combat. Military theory research should focus on new types of combat capabilities, seize opportunities in emerging fields, take the initiative, and proactively explore the generation paths and release patterns of new types of combat capabilities. Advanced theories should be used to guide and drive the construction of new types of combat forces in new domains, providing theoretical support for accelerating the incubation and generation of new types of combat capabilities.
Create a military theory research paradigm supported by science and technology
The intelligent science paradigm is called the “fifth paradigm” of scientific research. It is a cross-domain scientific research paradigm supported by artificial intelligence technology, integrating human values and knowledge, and characterized by human-machine integration. Entering the era of intelligence, big data and artificial intelligence are developing rapidly, requiring the “intelligent factor” to be organically integrated into the practice of military theoretical research in an all-round way, opening up the “fifth paradigm” of military theoretical research.
First, explore data-centric research methods. Artificial intelligence technology can comprehensively collect battlefield intelligence data on a large scale, efficiently screen and integrate multi-source data, and realize nonlinear coupling and complex correlation of cross-domain and cross-scenario data. We must give full play to the powerful functions of artificial intelligence technology in multi-dimensional data collection and multi-dimensional data processing, open up the data links between military theories, technologies, equipment and other elements, and realize data-centric cross-domain synergy and efficiency among various research elements, and connect the “underlying channel” of the integration of theory and technology. Secondly, innovate the research model of human-machine collaboration. With the continuous improvement of the intelligence level of machines, the research model of ” human-host-machine-slave” has gradually changed to “human-machine integration.” The global knowledge and associative prediction capabilities of artificial intelligence are helping researchers break through the limitations of traditional thinking, eliminate traditional field divisions, and open up a ” brainstorm” in military theory research. We need to explore innovative models for deep integration of humans and machines, establish a dynamic feedback mechanism for positive-sum games, combine researchers’ nonlinear abstract thinking with the powerful computing power of machines, and achieve knowledge integration and communication, dynamic simulation and deduction, forward-looking analysis and decision-making, providing the greatest wisdom increment for military theory research. Secondly, create a “pre-practice” platform for military theory. Practice is the “touchstone” for testing the results of military theory. Only by constantly moving from practice to theory and then to practice can we achieve a spiral rise in military theory. On the one hand, we can use advanced scientific and technological means such as virtual reality technology and artificial intelligence technology to build a virtual experimental platform, simulate and simulate combat scenarios and combat power generation processes through deduction, analysis, evaluation and other means, and test the practicality and operability of conceptual design in a realistic experimental environment, so as to continuously improve and develop military theory; we can also use generative artificial intelligence to generate “semi-factual” combat scenarios, directly display the combat process and results in a visual way, inspire the thinking of military theorists, and shorten the new theory generation cycle. On the other hand, comprehensive live-fire training activities are used to conduct comprehensive combat experiments under the preset future battlefield environment and combat conditions, which complement virtual experiments and provide more reliable pre-practice quantitative data to verify and develop military theories in an environment closer to actual combat.
