Operational planning capability is a key capability of operational command and is also the basic way to transform strategic objectives and campaign tasks into specific combat actions. With an eye on winning future wars, improving operational planning capabilities will help people seize the initiative in war and gain the advantage in winning wars.
Focus on mission science planning
The combat mission stipulates the time and space conditions of the operation, determines the type, number and scale of the participating forces, and is the basic basis for combat planning. In modern warfare, the types of combat missions are more diverse, with more constraints and greater difficulty in completion. In addition, the relationship between different missions is closer, and often one move affects the entire system.
In the process of combat planning, only by accurately understanding combat tasks, scientifically decomposing combat tasks, and reasonably allocating combat tasks can we ensure that combat planning is scientific, accurate, and efficient. Accurately understanding combat tasks emphasizes accurate and comprehensive understanding of the superior’s intentions, ensuring that combat planning is always carried out around the implementation of the superior’s intentions; scientifically decomposing combat tasks emphasizes the analysis of major combat tasks, secondary combat tasks, and implicit combat tasks, ensuring that combat planning is always focused on task completion; reasonably allocating combat tasks emphasizes the reasonable selection of force resources in combination with specific tasks, ensuring that combat planning is always carried out around the optimal allocation of combat resources.
When conducting combat planning, it is necessary to accurately understand the combat intent of superiors, take the efficient completion of combat tasks as the axis, pay close attention to the efficient use of time, space, manpower, firepower, information and other factors to design combat actions, and ensure that the combat plans and programs are detailed and feasible.
Reasonable planning based on ability
Combat capability directly affects the completion time and final effect of the mission, and is an important basis for conducting combat planning. In future integrated joint operations, combat forces will be deployed over a wide area, combat actions will be coordinated across domains, and combat capability will be aggregated across multiple domains. The systemic synergy of various combat capabilities will become the key to determining victory or defeat on the battlefield.
In the process of combat planning, combat objectives should be reasonably determined, combat forces should be scientifically organized, and combat actions should be designed as a whole to ensure that combat planning is close to reality and feasible. Scientifically determine combat objectives, emphasize the reasonable selection of combat objectives based on accurate assessment of the combat capabilities of the troops; scientifically organize combat forces, emphasize focusing on complementary advantages and functional coupling to achieve an organic combination of various combat forces; design combat actions as a whole, emphasize the effective aggregation of various combat capabilities through integrated design, and ensure that combat planning is always carried out around the efficient use of combat forces.
When conducting combat planning, we should base ourselves on existing combat strength and actual combat capabilities, comprehensively analyze various situations and relevant constraints, determine appropriate combat objectives, and use them to guide combat force deployment, combat force organization, and combat action design. We must prevent the objectives from being too high, which will lead to distortion of planning products, and from being too small, which will lead to failure of planning products, and effectively improve the practicality and feasibility of planning plans.
Aim at your opponent and plan accurately
“Know thy enemy and know thyself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat.” Informatized and intelligentized warfare, the characteristics of all-domain confrontation, system confrontation, and full-process confrontation are obvious. To achieve “attack others without being attacked by others”, we must insist on anticipating the enemy and responding to changes in advance.
In the face of the constant changes in the combat system, force deployment, tactics and strategies of powerful enemies, in the process of combat planning, we need to keep a close eye on the “opponent” as the target to study strategies and methods and design combat actions to ensure that combat planning is targeted and has rules to follow. We must thoroughly understand the combat opponent, emphasize accurate assessment of the enemy’s combat intentions, detailed analysis of the enemy’s combat system, and accurate grasp of the enemy’s combat focus. We must design tactics and strategies by targeting the key points in the enemy’s combat system, the weak points in force deployment, and the key points in tactics and strategies to ensure that combat planning is always carried out around defeating the enemy.
When conducting combat planning, we should accurately grasp the enemy’s combat focus, key positions and weak links, focus on selecting attack targets, carefully deploy forces, and highlight the key points, nodes and soft spots that support the enemy’s combat system to carry out force utilization and action design, improve the pertinence and accuracy of various planning results, and support the realization of flexible and autonomous asymmetric operations.
Focus on issues and coordinate planning
In future integrated joint operations, there will be more participating forces, more combat levels, a wider spatial domain, greater coordination conflicts, and various combat issues will become more complex.
In the process of combat planning, we should take the discovery of combat problems as the basis, the analysis of combat problems as the entry point, and the resolution of combat problems as the goal, and continuously enhance the thoroughness, systematicness, and completeness of combat planning. We should keep a close eye on problem-based joint planning, emphasize the support of the network information system, focus on solving the pain points, bottlenecks, and difficult problems in combat, and jointly tackle and pool wisdom among all services, fields, and levels, implement overall joint planning across all time periods, fields, and levels, and ensure that combat planning is always focused on quickly solving combat problems.
When conducting combat planning, we should adhere to the main line of efficiently solving combat problems, always focus on the realization of combat objectives, the use of combat forces, and the use of combat time and space, coordinate the joint planning of various services, levels, fields, and elements, realize the overall use of the combat forces of various services, the integrated design of campaign and tactical actions, and the cross-domain linkage of combat elements in various spatial domains, and improve the integrity of combat planning.
Focus on the situation and make rolling plans
Battlefield situation refers to the overall state and situation of the battlefield. Changes in situation are key variables that must be grasped in combat planning. The battlefield environment of modern warfare is complex and the pace of operations is accelerating. Even if the plans and programs formulated before the war are perfect, they are difficult to adapt to the rapid changes in battlefield situation.
Scientific and reasonable combat planning needs to go through a rolling iterative process, grasp the changes in the situation in a timely manner, and emphasize the real-time perception of the development and changes of the battlefield situation; accurately analyze and judge the situation, emphasize the need to base on the plan, focus on changes, and make quick decisions; continue rolling planning throughout the process, emphasize the need to respond quickly and flexibly, and continuously plan operations and decide on actions. Only in this way can the flexibility and timeliness of combat planning be continuously enhanced.
When conducting combat planning, we should focus on changes in the battlefield situation, scientifically predict the evolution of the situation, focus on repeated iterations of key planning steps such as judging the situation, implementing intentions, formulating plans, and making plans, update planning results in a timely manner, and realize the interlocking of planning and action, and move forward towards the combat objectives in a rolling manner, truly achieving “the enemy changes and I change, and I defeat the enemy first”, being one step ahead of others in planning, seizing the advantage of combat planning, and converting it into combat victory.
With the widespread use of advanced technologies such as big data, neural networks, and cloud computing, artificial intelligence is driving the transformation of decision-making thinking, models, and methods with unprecedented power. Decisions based on intuition and experience in the era of small data will give way to decisions based on full sample data in the era of intelligence, and the latter will become a new paradigm for winning on the battlefield. Accelerating the integration of artificial intelligence into modern command decision-making and better realizing the complementary advantages of human brain thinking and machine computing can promote the overall improvement of the level of military command decision-making.
Clarify the advantages of intelligent integration
The intelligent nature of future wars will continue to increase, and it is necessary to make the best decision quickly according to the changes in the enemy situation, our situation and battlefield environment. Simple human brain decision-making is no longer able to adapt to the rhythm of modern warfare. It is necessary to actively use artificial intelligence to achieve rapid and efficient military command decision-making through human-machine collaboration and complementarity. Data-driven decision-making focuses on big data resources for data mining and comprehensive analysis, discovers data associations and unknown laws, and assists commanders in making decisions based on this. Autonomous decision-making relies on the big data analysis platform, combines perception, cognition and decision support, and accurately generates and optimizes decision-making plans on the basis of ensuring timeliness. Pre-practice decision-making, by using the decision simulation system, experiments, tests, demonstrates and optimizes the combat plan before the combat decision results are converted into combat actions, and extracts the best action plan. From this point of view, artificial intelligence will become the “all-source analyst” of the battlefield. With its powerful data and algorithm advantages, it will expand the commander’s breadth and depth of cognition of the battlefield, and can achieve more accurate situation perception, more reliable battle situation judgment, and faster command and control.
Focus on integrating quasi-intelligent
Algorithms, computing power and data are both the internal driving force and core support for the development of artificial intelligence, and should be integrated into the key links of the entire command and control process. We should enhance situational awareness and provide an intelligence basis for command decision-making. We should network and connect the perception systems in the multi-dimensional battlefield, use data mining, deep learning and other technologies to process and utilize a large number of heterogeneous data streams obtained from multiple sources, extract useful battlefield intelligence, and grasp the changes in battlefield situation, so as to achieve effective transformation from information advantage to decision-making advantage. We should strengthen cognitive decision-making capabilities and provide important support for command decision-making. We should focus on the objective reality that the battlefield situation is changing rapidly and the weight of the time factor is constantly increasing. Based on data information technology and artificial intelligence technology, we should organically combine new technologies, new tactics and experience decisions, so as to combine qualitative and quantitative analysis, improve the single-loop decision-making speed of our own OODA loop, expand the breadth of parallel decision-making, and seize cognitive initiative by using speed to defeat slowness, so as to form an effect similar to dimensionality reduction strike. We should optimize coordination and control capabilities and provide solid guarantees for command decision-making. We should use big data analysis technology to explore and compare anomalies in enemy data, quickly capture opportunities for enemy confusion, errors, weaknesses, etc., change the past command model of determining the next action based on the results of the action, adjust decisions in advance, dynamically deploy troops, simulate and measure the effects of actions, and coordinate and control troops to launch troop maneuvers.
Avoiding the risks and challenges of integrating intelligence
Artificial intelligence is susceptible to defective data input, and there are problems such as “garbage in, garbage out”. At the same time, the black box nature of artificial intelligence makes it difficult for people to understand why and how the machine makes decisions, and it is difficult to identify whether the data is damaged and produces wrong results. Therefore, we must work hard on the input end of artificial intelligence. Focus on the application scenarios of artificial intelligence, identify false, forged, and low-quality data, deeply explore data relationships, and improve the integrity of information required for decision-making. Remove the false and retain the true, and increase the accuracy of training data. We must work hard on the interactive end of human-machine collaboration. The biggest dilemma of human-machine collaborative decision-making lies in the interaction between people and machines. There is uncertainty in human-machine interaction, and poor information communication may produce unpredictable and inexplicable results. It is necessary to accelerate the development of intelligent human-machine communication models. We must work hard on the operation end of machine inference. The current “machine learning”, “supervised learning” and “reinforcement learning” have been realized, but we should continue to seek breakthroughs, fully absorb various technical means, optimize model design, and improve database construction. We must work hard on the distribution end of human-machine decision-making. The human brain and machines each have their own advantages. We should focus on strengthening artificial intelligence with “human participation”, reasonably define the level, scope and degree of integration of artificial intelligence into command decision-making, intervene in human brain judgment at critical times, and control the overall safety and reliability of human-machine collaboration.
Realize efficient and orderly integration of intelligence
At present, military intelligence, with intelligence as the core, informatization as the basis, and networking as the symbol, is developing rapidly. Major countries in the world are actively exploring the advantages of artificial intelligence, hoping to make faster and better military decisions than their opponents, while creating more decision-making dilemmas for their opponents. We must keep up with the world trend, focus on top-level design, fully understand and give play to the auxiliary support role of intelligent technology in command decision-making, explore the human-machine collaborative decision-making model that conforms to the characteristics of our army, and guide the construction of the command capability system. We must adhere to systematic guidance and optimize the structure to design the human-machine collaborative path. According to the decision-making purpose and capacity requirements of strategic, campaign, and tactical combat command, distinguish between command, control, communication and other task areas, take into account the respective advantages and characteristics of “man and unmanned”, fully demonstrate the adaptability of artificial intelligence in the field of military command decision-making and possible problems, and systematically design the fields, methods and integration degree of artificial intelligence integration. We must adhere to the division of labor principles of human-led, machine-assisted, learning from each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and coordinated cooperation, design our respective exploration boundaries, and realize the transformation from auxiliary decision-making to intelligent decision-making.
In today’s era, military intelligence is becoming a powerful driving force for a new round of military reforms after mechanization and informatization, profoundly affecting the future combat victory mechanism, combat rules, and combat methods, and increasingly pushing war into the era of intelligence. The impact of military intelligence on future combat is mainly reflected in four aspects.
First, “intelligence” will become the dominant factor in determining the outcome of future operations. Mechanized warfare can be seen as platform-centric warfare, where energy is the dominant force. Energy is used to achieve the mobility of combat platforms and firepower strikes on targets, to achieve the combat purpose of destroying the enemy, and to pursue the use of objects to carry energy and release energy. Informationized warfare can be seen as network-centric warfare, where information is the dominant force. Information does not replace energy, but through precise positioning of time and space, it multiplies the combat effectiveness of energy, thus becoming the dominant force in war, and pursues the use of networks to gather energy and release energy. Intelligent warfare can be seen as cognitive-centric warfare, in which the dominant force is “intelligence”. The combat space is further extended from the physical domain and information domain to the cognitive domain, social domain, and biological domain. The battlefield situation is more complex. War is a systemic confrontation across domains, and it pursues more empowerment and release of power with intelligence.
Second, intelligent unmanned equipment will become the main combat equipment in future operations. The development of intelligent technology has gradually separated people from weapons and equipment. Unmanned systems have shifted from assisting people in combat to replacing people in combat, completing many high-risk combat operations that are not suitable for people to perform. Intelligent combat has increasingly distinctive characteristics of “unmanned platforms, manned systems, unmanned combat, and manned command”. On the Syrian battlefield, the Russian military remotely controlled 10 combat robots to kill more than 70 Islamic State militants with “zero casualties” and seize the 754.5 high ground, becoming the first ground combat operation in military history with robots as the main force. It is expected that by 2025, the proportion of intelligent unmanned equipment in the Russian military’s weapons and equipment will reach more than 30%. The U.S. military predicts that by 2030, intelligent unmanned equipment will be able to perform tasks autonomously, and 60% of ground combat platforms will achieve unmanned intelligence. A large number of drones, unmanned ships/boats, and unmanned vehicles will become the main equipment for both sides on the intelligent battlefield, carrying out various traditional/untraditional military tasks and implementing self-organized and systematic operations.
Third, human-machine collaborative combat will become the main mode of action in future combat. Human-machine collaborative combat is a mode of combat in which manned and unmanned equipment joint formations implement coordinated attacks in a networked confrontation environment. Among them, human soldiers with battlefield decision-making and tactical control capabilities serve as the “command back end”, and intelligent unmanned equipment carrying guided weapons or various intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance sensors serve as the “weapon front end”. With the support of information networks, human soldiers and intelligent unmanned equipment work closely together to complete actions such as situation perception, tactical decision-making, firepower guidance, weapon launch and damage assessment. According to the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, before 2035, human-machine collaborative combat will mainly take the form of autonomous combat with humans in the loop; before 2050, authorized autonomous or fully autonomous combat with humans outside the loop will be achieved, officially kicking off intelligent warfare dominated by machines.
Fourth, autonomous swarm combat will become an important attack style in future combat. The technical inspiration of swarm combat comes from the bionics research on bees. The division of labor within the bee colony is clear, there is a rich and interesting information exchange language between individuals, and the social behavior is rich, so the cluster is also called a “bee colony.” Swarm combat is an intelligent combat style that relies on artificial intelligence, data chain integration, cloud computing and other technical support, and launches dozens or even hundreds of drones at the same time. They form precise formations and precise division of labor, and perform multiple tasks and multi-target strikes at the same time. Compared with traditional combat, swarm combat has incomparable advantages and is a subversion of traditional combat styles and combat rules. After hundreds of simulation tests, the U.S. Navy found that even an advanced air defense system like the Aegis air defense system has difficulty in allocating firepower when dealing with drone swarm attacks, resulting in some drones being able to avoid interception and successfully launch attacks on ships. Data shows that when a swarm of 8 drones is used to attack ships, an average of 2.8 drones can avoid the Aegis interception system; when the number of drones increases to dozens, the number of drones that successfully avoid the interception system and achieve penetration is greater. These simulation tests fully prove that the effect of drone swarm operations is significant and poses a huge threat to the current defense system. At the same time, it also indicates that swarm-type autonomous operations will inevitably become an important offensive combat style on the future intelligent battlefield.
System-based superior warfare is a system-based warfare in information warfare. It is not limited to a specific combat style, but a “combination punch” or a group of combat styles composed of multiple combat styles and tactics. It emphasizes that according to the changes in combat missions, combat opponents and battlefield situations, as long as it is conducive to forming relative advantages and achieving system victory, any appropriate combat means and styles can be flexibly used to form combat advantages. In the specific implementation of system-based superior warfare, these specific combat styles and action tactics can be organized and implemented separately as part of joint full-domain operations, and more emphasis is placed on “combination punches”, multiple strategies, and overall victory. In order to better understand its core connotation, this article lists nine typical combat styles, including overall deterrence warfare, electromagnetic interference warfare, network attack warfare, cognitive control and interference warfare, and analyzes them.
System concentration warfare – a “combination punch” that flexibly uses a variety of combat styles. Author: Academic Plus Senior Observer Dong Zhou The main content and keywords of this article
Overall deterrence warfare: emphasize multi-domain joint deterrence; the implementation of overall deterrence warfare should have three major elements; strong overall strength is the core of achieving effective deterrence
Electromagnetic interference warfare: the key to competing for information advantage; in terms of combined means and methods, information empowerment is achieved through “connection + sharing”; an effective method to crack unmanned cluster warfare
Network attack warfare: mainly soft killing, combining soft and hard, focusing on breaking the network and reducing energy
Cognitive control and interference warfare: control the cognitive right of situational awareness, compete for information advantage; control the right to command and decision-making, compete for decision-making advantage; control the “brain” right, and seize the brain control advantage
Agile mobile warfare: high-efficiency and rapid decision-making; high-efficiency formation of a favorable combat situation; high-efficiency and instant aggregation of combat forces; agile mobile warfare is an innovative development of traditional mobile warfare
Swarm autonomous warfare: conducive to forming a system advantage to suppress the enemy; conducive to enhancing combat effectiveness; conducive to trapping the enemy in combat difficulties
Precision point killing war: achieve high efficiency and cost-effectiveness in operations; hitting key node targets is an important option; large-scale system support is a basic condition; it is inseparable from accurate intelligence support
Supply chain disruption war: the supply guarantee chain has a huge impact on the overall operation; the focus of attack is the key node of the enemy’s supply guarantee chain; the key is to choose the right time to use tactics
System destruction and paralysis war: the combat goal is to make the enemy’s combat system disordered; hit the key nodes of the combat system with a heavy punch; implement a soft attack on the enemy’s combat system
For learning reference only, welcome to communicate and correct! The views of the article do not represent the position of this organization The concept of operation is first proposed as a new combat style. Innovative combat style is the core content of the development of combat concepts. It can be said that system-based optimization warfare is a general term for a series of specific tactics. The following nine typical combat styles constitute the combat method system of system-based optimization warfare. They are: First, overall deterrence warfare, actively organizing static power demonstrations and deterrence actions in the system-based superiority warfare, striving to win the battle without fighting or with a small battle; second, electromagnetic interference warfare, using a variety of combat means and action styles such as electronic reconnaissance, attack and defense to disrupt, prevent and destroy the enemy’s electromagnetic capabilities, actively compete for electromagnetic spectrum advantages, seize information control, and thus win the initiative in combat; third, network attack warfare, using a variety of means such as soft strikes and hard destruction to break the enemy’s command network, intelligence network, communication network, and logistics supply network, and disrupt the enemy’s command and support; fourth, cognitive control and interference warfare. Through information attacks, public opinion attacks, and brain attacks, control advantages are formed in cognitive space; fifth, agile mobile warfare. Rapidly adjust the deployment of troops and weapons, quickly gather capabilities on the battlefield, and seize combat opportunities; sixth, swarm autonomous warfare. Widely use unmanned combat means such as “swarms”, “wolf packs”, and “fish schools” to autonomously organize actions and distributed attacks to achieve human-machine joint victory; seventh, precision point killing warfare. Accurately obtain intelligence, implement multi-domain precision strikes, strive to hit one point to shake the overall situation, and maximize combat effectiveness; Eighth, supply chain disruption warfare. Organize elite forces to attack the enemy’s logistics and equipment supply chain, supply lines and supply bases, and destroy the enemy’s loss of supply and withdrawal from the battle; Ninth, system destruction and paralysis warfare. Comprehensively adopt a variety of means such as breaking the network, training, and hitting nodes to interfere with, delay, destroy or even paralyze the effective operation of the enemy’s combat system and weaken the function of the enemy’s combat system.
Overall deterrence warfare Overall deterrence warfare refers to actively organizing static power displays and deterrence actions in system-based superior warfare, striving to defeat the enemy without fighting or fighting a small battle. Sun Tzu said: “To defeat the enemy without fighting is the best of the best.” Deterrence and war are two main forms of military activities. Deterrence is mainly to show determination and will to potential opponents by showing strength or threatening to use strong strength to deter the opponent’s actions. It can be said that the overall deterrence warfare in the system-based superior warfare is an important means or tactics to achieve “stopping” the enemy’s troops without fighting. Clausewitz emphasized that the first rule of strategy is to be as strong as possible, first of all, strong in general, and then strong in key parts. Modern warfare is a confrontation between systems. The overall deterrence war under the informationized local war requires not only the traditional deterrence means and capabilities of land, sea, air and space, but also new deterrence means and capabilities such as space deterrence, electromagnetic deterrence, and network deterrence, and more importantly, the overall deterrence that demonstrates the overall strength of the country. In particular, with the rapid development of advanced technologies such as information technology, the scientific and technological revolution, industrial revolution, and military revolution are accelerating integration, and the coupling relationship between strategic competitiveness, social productivity, and military combat effectiveness is closer. Winning the informationized war is more of a contest of national will and national overall strength. If you want to contain the war, you must first deter your opponent from the overall strength. 1.1 Emphasize multi-domain joint deterrence Deterrence means usually include nuclear deterrence and conventional deterrence. In the system-based superiority war, the overall deterrence war is implemented, aiming to comprehensively use the conventional deterrence means of the land, sea, air, space, and power grid in the whole domain to achieve the purpose of deterrence. In particular, with the application of information network technology and space and directed energy technology in the military, space, network, and electromagnetic weapons have become new means of deterrence. Space deterrence mainly uses rapid response electromagnetic orbital weapons, space-ground networked anti-navigation and positioning service systems, large elliptical orbit laser weapons, high-power microwave weapons and other equipment to threaten and attack the opponent’s space targets, forming an “interference and blocking” deterrence against the enemy’s space information. Network deterrence mainly uses cyberspace situational awareness and attack equipment to threaten and attack the opponent’s military network and other key information infrastructure to achieve deterrence against the enemy. Electromagnetic deterrence mainly uses electromagnetic spectrum combat systems to threaten and attack enemy detection, navigation, communication and other informationized weapon equipment systems to achieve deafening and blinding deterrence against the enemy. 1.2 Three elements should be possessed in the implementation of overall deterrence warfare To implement overall deterrence warfare and achieve the expected deterrence effect, three elements are usually required: one is strength. The deterrent party must have reliable capabilities or strength that make the opponent feel daunted and fearful; the second is determination and will. The deterrent party must dare to use this capability when necessary; the third is clear information transmission. The deterrent party must accurately and effectively let the other party know its action capability and determination. Historically, there are three main changes in the criteria for judging deterrence strength: first, active military strength; second, comprehensive national strength or war potential; third, the total number of main combat weapons and equipment. For a long period of history, the number of troops was deterrence, and the strength of military strength directly depended on the size of the active army, the number of important weapons and equipment, and non-material factors such as military training and organization morale. After the 20th century, with the expansion of the scale of war, deterrence strength is no longer limited to the number of troops and important weapons and equipment, but is determined by the country’s war potential, including economic strength, scientific and technological strength, energy resources, and even population size, etc. The overall deterrence war in the system-based superiority war, the formation of its deterrence strength is mainly based on the network information system, and the joint full-domain 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 extensive penetration and application in the military field have provided favorable conditions for building overall strength and achieving overall deterrence. System-based superior warfare is supported by the network information system and makes full use of the penetration and connectivity of information technology. It not only integrates various combat forces, combat elements, and combat units into an organic whole to achieve military system combat advantages, but also connects and integrates various fields related to war and national mobilization, such as national politics, economy, diplomacy, finance, transportation, and energy, into the national war mobilization system, gathers various forces and resources to form an overall force, realizes the emergence effect of system capabilities, and shows the overall strength advantage. It forms a powerful invisible deterrent of unity and common hatred of the enemy, and creates a situation where the enemy “has power but cannot act” and “can act but has no effect”, which plays 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 relevant regions of the world; the mobilization time will be faster, and the mobilization and action information can be quickly transmitted to everyone and every node at the first time by using the network and information system; the action coordination and collaboration will be more consistent, and the forces distributed in various regions can act in a unified manner almost at the same time based on the same situation and the same order, greatly improving the efficiency of action coordination; the resource utilization will be more sufficient, and various war resources based on the network can quickly realize the transition from peace to war and from military to civilian, and realize the integrated and precise guarantee of the front and rear.
Electromagnetic interference warfare Electromagnetic interference warfare refers to the flexible use of various combat means and action styles such as electronic reconnaissance, attack and defense to disrupt, prevent and destroy the enemy’s electromagnetic capabilities, actively compete for the advantage of the electromagnetic spectrum, seize the right to control information, and then win the initiative in combat. 2.1 The key to competing for information advantage Local information warfare is highly dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum, and the control and counter-control of electromagnetic space have become the focus of competing for the right to control information. Organizing and implementing electromagnetic interference warfare is 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. Using electromagnetic means to disrupt and destroy the enemy’s electromagnetic spectrum will effectively reduce the enemy’s information combat capability, and enable the enemy to ensure the rapid and effective flow of information in the scenario where the enemy has the right to control information, and drive the command flow, action flow, material flow, and energy flow through the information flow, thereby gaining the dominance and initiative of the operation. 2.2 The basic focus is to disable and invalidate the enemy’s combat system. The implementation of electromagnetic interference warfare in the system-based superior warfare is mainly aimed at the enemy’s dependence on electromagnetic space. At the same time, in order to ensure the effective use of electromagnetic space by the enemy, various electronic reconnaissance, interference, attack, defense and support forces are organized to interfere with and attack the enemy’s communication network, radar network, computer network and command center, communication hub, radar station, computer network node, global navigation positioning system, space-ground integrated Internet and other space link systems, and other various frequency-using weapons and equipment, block and destroy their communication and data transmission, and destroy the “connection” and “sharing” structural center of gravity of the enemy’s combat system, and provide support for the seizure of information control and electromagnetic control from the root, thereby weakening the enemy’s command and control capabilities and disabling the enemy’s entire combat system. 2.3 Effective tactics to crack unmanned swarm warfare Unmanned autonomous swarm warfare such as “bee swarm”, “wolf pack” and “fish pack” is an important feature of information-based local warfare with intelligent characteristics. There are a large number of various unmanned autonomous clusters, with various types and complex characteristics, and each individual can complement each other and replace each other to play a role. It will be very difficult to intercept and destroy the entire unmanned cluster. However, from a technical perspective, in order to achieve effective coordination in unmanned combat clusters, 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 situation and information, and it will be difficult to coordinate actions with each other, and it will be difficult to play its due combat effectiveness. This provides an opportunity for the other party to implement communication interception and electromagnetic interference. Therefore, the implementation of electromagnetic spectrum warfare, interference and attack on the information and communication network of unmanned clusters, and destruction of their information sharing and interaction will make it impossible for each individual in the unmanned cluster to achieve effective coordination, thereby losing combat capability.
Network attack warfare Network attack warfare refers to the comprehensive use of network and computer technologies and other effective means to conduct military confrontation actions around the control of information and information networks. It is a major combat style for cyberspace operations and the struggle for network control. Its main combat operations include both soft killing and hard destruction, mainly soft and hard. Among them, soft kill is mainly network attack, that is, the comprehensive use of blocking attack, virus attack and other means to block and attack the enemy’s information network, command system, weapon platform, etc., making it difficult for the enemy’s network, command information system, etc. to operate effectively or even paralyzed; hard destruction mainly uses precision firepower strikes, high-energy microwaves, electromagnetic pulses and anti-radiation attacks to paralyze the enemy’s information network physical facilities and destroy the enemy’s combat and weapon equipment entities. The focus is on breaking the network and reducing the ability to fail. Organizing network attack in the system concentration war is to target the weaknesses of the opponent’s military information network, take advantage of the system, organize various network attack forces, and continuously implement soft kill and hard destruction actions against the enemy’s combat command network, reconnaissance intelligence network, communication network and even logistics supply network throughout the combat process, destroy the enemy’s network system, and make the enemy’s combat system function decline or even disabled as a whole. Mainly against the enemy’s basic information network, intelligence network, command network, support network and other core targets, implement a series of combat operations such as network and electricity coordinated attack, deception confusion, link blocking, takeover and control, so that the enemy’s intelligent combat network system is disabled and ineffective, and achieve a key victory in paralyzing the enemy system.
Cognitive control and disturbance warfare Cognitive control and disturbance warfare refers to the interference, destruction or control of enemy thinking and cognition through information attack, public opinion attack and brain attack in the system-based superiority warfare, so that the enemy cannot make correct judgments and decisions, thereby forming a control advantage over the enemy in the cognitive space. The cognitive domain, that is, the human thinking space and consciousness space, is a field that has a key impact on combat decisions and judgments. The development of information technology, especially artificial intelligence technology, and its wide application in the military field have expanded the competition of war from physical space and information space to cognitive space, making cognitive space a new combat domain. With the development of information and intelligent technology and their extensive and in-depth application in the military field, human-machine intelligence tends to merge, making the status of cognition in intelligent warfare operations more prominent, and the cognitive field has gradually become an important battlefield. Controlling cognitive rights has become a key factor in future battlefield control rights. Fighting for cognitive control rights has become an important combat style for winning in informationized local wars with intelligent characteristics. 4.1 Controlling situational awareness and cognitive rights and fighting for information advantages In the system-based superiority warfare, information flow drives material flow and energy flow, and information advantage determines decision advantage. The rapid and accurate recognition of intelligence information and battlefield situation has an important impact on gaining command and decision-making advantages. Therefore, in order to organize and implement system-based optimization, we must make full use of intelligent technology and big data technology to analyze massive intelligence information data.
Through the smoke of war, we can see that today’s war has developed from barbaric flesh-and-blood battles and battles to capture cities and territories to information-led precise beheadings and fierce competition on the intellectual battlefield. This objective fact tells us that war, as a specific complex social phenomenon, will present different war forms and winning mechanisms in different historical periods. As American futurist Toffler pointed out, “Artificial intelligence is like previous missiles and satellites. Whether you are prepared or not, it will enter the historical stage of human civilization war.” President Xi clearly pointed out: “If we do not understand the winning mechanism of modern war, then we can only look at a diorama and miss the point.” The winning mechanism of war refers to the way in which various war factors play a role in winning a war. and the laws and principles of interconnection and interaction. Compared with information-based warfare in the traditional sense, the winning mechanism of future intelligent warfare has undergone significant changes.
The method of confrontation has changed from “system confrontation” to “algorithmic game”, and algorithmic advantages dominate war advantages.
Algorithms are strategic mechanisms for solving problems. In fact, an “algorithm” is a series of clear instructions for solving a problem. It is a clear step to solve a certain type of problem according to certain rules. In future wars, the party that masters the advantages of algorithms can quickly and accurately predict battlefield situations, innovate optimal combat methods, and achieve the war goal of “victory before fighting”.
Algorithms are the key to leading intelligent warfare. First, algorithmic advantages dominate cognitive advantages. After big data is processed through high-performance and efficient algorithms, massive data is quickly converted into useful intelligence. Therefore, the party with the advantage of the algorithm can dispel the “battlefield fog” caused by the lack of timely processing of data, making the understanding more profound. Second, the algorithm advantage dominates the speed advantage. Compared with classical algorithms, quantum algorithms have achieved exponential acceleration effects. In addition, quantum computers have increased from 1 qubit in 2003 to 1,000 qubits in 2015. The computing efficiency is 100 million times faster than that of classical computers. Artificial intelligence has achieved a qualitative leap. Third, algorithmic advantages dominate decision-making advantages. Algorithms, with their high-speed and precise calculations, replace people’s “meditation” and repeated exploration, thereby accelerating knowledge iteration. Mastering super powerful algorithms can quickly propose flexible and diverse combat plans and countermeasures in response to changes in the enemy’s situation, constantly disrupting the enemy’s established intentions and deployment.
Algorithms are at the heart of the jump in war effectiveness. First, war is more efficient. With the support of algorithms, artificial intelligence can react hundreds to thousands of times faster than humans. In 2016, the “Alpha” intelligent software developed by the United States has a reaction speed 250 times faster than humans. It controlled a third-generation aircraft to defeat a manned fourth-generation aircraft in a simulated air battle. Second, the war endurance is stronger. Artificial intelligence is not limited by physiological functions and can continuously perform repetitive and mechanical tasks. In September 2016, an F-16 fighter jet reached 8 times gravity during training, causing the pilot to lose consciousness. However, before the plane hit the ground, the onboard “automatic anti-collision system” automatically pulled the plane up, avoiding the tragedy. occur. Third, the outcome of the war is better. With the support of massive data and supercomputing capabilities, artificial intelligence judgment and prediction results are more accurate. The combined use of manned and unmanned equipment in the U.S. military’s search and hunt for bin Laden is a successful example.
Combat elements are changing from “information-led” to “machine-based warfare”, and machine-based warfare reshapes the combat process
In the future, intelligent technology will penetrate into all elements and processes of war. The Internet of Things, the Internet of Intelligence, and the Internet of Brains have become the basis of war. The four domains of physical domain, information domain, cognitive domain, and social domain are deeply integrated, making the battlefield holographically transparent. There are people to control the war and no one to fight on the battlefield. Intelligent weapons and equipment will reshape the combat process “from sensor to shooter”.
“Detection” with a keen eye. “Reconnaissance” refers to intelligent intelligence reconnaissance. It can use multi-dimensional sensors such as land, sea, air, space, and electricity for virtualized collaborative networking, self-organized dynamic scheduling, automatic mining of multi-source intelligence, and order-based on-demand use to maximize information shortage or information redundancy. The “fog of war” brought about by the epidemic has opened up the “eyes” to see through intelligent warfare.
Loop “control”. “Control” refers to intelligent command and control. Focusing on the core of decision-making advantages, we use the human-machine collaboration technology of “human in the loop” and adopt three decision-making and control methods of “human in the loop”, “human in the loop” and “human outside the loop” according to the autonomous authority of the machine. , forming a comprehensive advantage with superior decision-making quality and action speed.
Smart “hit”. “Strike” refers to intelligent offensive and defensive operations. Relying on the advantages of system structure and algorithm, it mobilizes all-domain multi-dimensional, manned and unmanned combat platforms in real time, quickly couples combat forces, builds combat systems on demand, focuses on targets, independently implements “distributed” and “swarm” collaborative operations, and quickly resolves battles after they are completed. Couple and wait for the battle, so that the troops can gather and disperse randomly. At the end of 2015, Russia invested 6 tracked unmanned combat vehicles, 4 wheeled unmanned combat vehicles and 1 drone to support the Syrian government forces in storming Islamic extremist strongholds and achieved the world’s first unmanned combat victory. Victory in the tough battle dominated by cars. During the battle, about 70 extremist militants were killed, while only four Syrian government troops were injured.
The decision-making method changes from “human brain decision-making” to “intelligent decision-making”, and intelligent decision-making optimizes combat operations
With the emergence of intelligent auxiliary decision-making technology and “cloud brain”, “digital staff” and “virtual warehousing”, war decision-making has evolved from pure human brain decision-making to human-machine hybrid decision-making, cloud-brain intelligent decision-making and neural network decision-making.
Human-machine hybrid decision-making. Reasonable division of labor and interaction and collaboration between humans and machines are the best solutions to explore and solve problems. The advantages of the human brain are creativity, flexibility, and initiative; the advantages of machines are fast speed, high precision, and resistance to fatigue. Artistic tasks such as high-level decision-making are handled by the human brain, and big data calculations are completed by machines. Human-computer interaction allows machines to “listen” to understand human language, “see” human movements and expressions, “understand” human emotions and intentions, and present the calculation process and results in a way that is easy for humans to understand.
Cloud brain intelligent decision-making. In future intelligent warfare, there will be a “brain” metaphor center, and distributed combat units will be linked through the cloud brain. This cloud brain is not only a physical information, physiological information and psychological information center, but also a military command center. Cloud brain decision-making is based on the intelligent “network, cloud and terminal” system. “Net” is an intelligent combat basic network integrating intelligent battlefield perception, decision-making and weapons control systems. “Cloud” is built on the basis of “network”, with the intelligent resource service layer as the main body. It is not only a “resource pool” that integrates various combat resources, but also an “intelligent cloud” that provides intelligent services for combat operations. Due to the coupling of multiple centers, rapid networking and decision-making can be achieved even when bombarded by information. “End” refers to the combat resource end, discrete intelligence and networked intelligence in combat processes, which can not only make independent decisions, but also provide distributed intelligent resources for the war system, allowing the new war system to emerge with group intelligence.
Neural network decision-making. In July 2018, Russia developed artificial neural network fully automatic software that can destroy immediately upon discovery. The intelligent decision-making tool developed by the US military is intended to shorten the decision-making cycle and improve decision-making efficiency. The application of neural networks was once limited to tactical-level calculations, making it difficult to make qualitative analysis and decisions on strategic-level macro-complex situations. “AlphaGo” has made a breakthrough in the field of Go by simulating the working mechanism of the human brain’s neural network. In the future, the super self-evolution and strategic decision-making capabilities of deep neural networks will realize a combat cycle of “people outside the loop”.
The combat style has changed from “breaking links and breaking bodies” to “extreme operations”, which subvert traditional combat methods.
Extreme warfare breaks through the boundaries of traditional warfare, subverts traditional combat styles, dramatically increases war effectiveness, and creates a truly all-weather, all-time, all-dimensional, all-domain intelligent warfare.
Break through the limits of human physiology and thinking. First, the combat space and fields have been extremely expanded. Intelligent warfare in the future will be three-dimensional, all-dimensional, and all-domain operations. The war space will expand from the traditional space field to the polar regions, deep seas, outer space, and other extremes. It will especially penetrate into the cognitive domain, information domain, and penetrate into other fields, including combat fields. More blurry. Second, the combat process has been extremely accelerated. Unmanned autonomous warfare has greatly compressed the “observation-judgment-decision-action” cycle, developing from the “instant destruction” of information warfare to the “instant destruction” of intelligent warfare. The victory of intelligent warfare is achieved by advancing the warning time, shortening the decision-making time, and extending the combat operations forward to achieve the effect of preemptive layout and preemptive strike. Third, combat operations are extremely flexible. In intelligent warfare, artificial intelligence can propose extremely rich combat plans, and the unmanned combat platform can quickly switch between different functional roles, making combat operations more bold and adventurous, and tactics more unexpected. Even if one of the combat elements loses its function, the “decentralization” function will ensure that the function of the group is not affected.
Subvert the traditional combat style. The first is intrusive lone wolf operations. That is, a single unmanned system operates independently. The second is the manned and unmanned coordinated system attack battle. That is, based on intelligent unmanned systems, through mixed operations with and without unmanned equipment, combat objectives can be quickly achieved. The third is the independent operation of unmanned system formations. Multiple sets of unmanned systems constitute a combat unit that can perform complex tasks such as multi-target attacks. The fourth is mothership swarm operations. Using the mothership as the transportation carrier and command center, a manned and unmanned hybrid swarm combat style is formed.
It has the combat effectiveness of “nuclear power”. Intelligent warfare maximizes the characteristics and potential of intelligent robots, leading to combat effectiveness approaching the limit. First, the target is small and difficult to find. For example, miniaturized stealth robots are difficult to detect with radar and sonar. The U.S. hybrid UAV with an Optode chip embedded in the Dragonfly is smaller, lighter and more stealthy, with a battery life of up to several months. Second, confrontation is difficult and costly. For example, as long as a beetle-sized micro-drone scans a human face, it can directly hit the target’s head after data analysis and determination, and it can carry enough ammunition to penetrate the brain. Third, the cost is low and the damage is great. In the future, the use of intelligent weapons in extreme operations will have the power of nuclear weapons, especially extremely large-scale intelligent weapons and equipment, extremely low-cost robot automatic production, and extremely flexible robot swarm operations, which may exceed the maximum explosion power of nuclear weapons.
認知域作戰有一個非常重要的支撐，即主要依靠語言媒介發揮作用，主要通過語篇層面發揮影響，主要通過語篇的敘事性對認知域形成隱性效應，主要 externing influence on the cognitive domain through cultural models 通過跨文化交際所發揮的潛在作用，顯性或隱性作用。 主要體現在以下幾個方面：
Cognitive domain combat refers to the use of multi-domain means such as public opinion, psychology, and law, and the use of modern network, media, text, pictures, video, digital and other multi-dimensional technologies to carry out public opinion propaganda, psychological attack and defense, and The important forms of fighting for people’s hearts, subverting confidence, influencing beliefs, fighting for thinking, and ideological struggle are intended to compete for people’s initiative in thinking, beliefs, values, personal attitudes, emotions, identification, and judgmental tendencies. Cognitive domain warfare is a complex collection of multi-domain warfare such as traditional public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, legal warfare, trade war, diplomatic warfare, technological warfare, and ideological warfare.
At present, combat in the cognitive domain has become an important basis for military struggles and struggles in other fields between countries, and language confrontation driven by goals in the cognitive domain has become an important form of combat in the cognitive domain, which deserves great attention.
A New Frontier for Language Countermeasures to Influence on Objects of Operation
Cognitive domain combat is the accompanying result of the research and development of contemporary cognitive science. It is a new combat field created after people actively explore the cognitive activities of the brain to gain a more complex, abstract and thorough understanding of the brain. Advanced deep covert activities are the high-end form of influence on the object of action. Regardless of whether it is the object of information action, the producer of information, the content of information itself, or the channel of information, operations in the cognitive domain all run through the characteristics of cognition, and highlight actions from the cognitive level from beginning to end.
From the perspective of the recipients of the information, this cognition is aimed at the deep cognition of the opponent’s audience, including its people, the army, military commanders or important leaders, important figures in the political and business circles, and even directly including the leaders of the opponent’s country or the military. Specific important generals, etc., can also be specific groups of people or people. It can involve the cognitive preferences, cognitive shortcomings, cognitive habits, cognitive biases, cognitive misunderstandings of individuals or groups; it can also be the beliefs, values, political identity, ethnic identity, social and cultural identity and emotional attitudes of individuals and groups.
From the perspective of the information provider and content, it should be infused with the cognitive design and arrangement of the information producer, which includes the unique cognition of the text, such as the discourse mode of the text, the narrative mode of the text, the perspective of observation of things, the narrative Cognitive focus and depth, organizational form of sentences, tendencies such as value concepts of sentences, acceptability of concepts of sentences, etc.
In terms of channels for information distribution and dissemination, the form of text is closer to the multimedia multimodal form, closer to the needs of cyberspace, closer to the advantages of contemporary smartphones, and closer to the characteristics of the current emerging media era, that is, more in line with the audience The cognitive characteristics of acceptance are cognitive habits and cognitive tendencies. The form of dissemination of the text fully considers the cognitive effect in international communication, especially the cognitive communication across cultures, languages, media, and groups. In this way, the text will better influence the audience from the cognitive level.
Language confrontation responds to changes in combat styles and generates new tactics
Throughout human history, it is not difficult to find that the style of military struggle has been constantly changing. From the initial physical fight with the help of cold weapons, it has developed into a contest of mechanical power with hot weapons, and has also developed into a check and balance of information capabilities under the conditions of high-tech warfare. Every change brings about profound changes in tactics. In the current transitional stage of co-existence of mechanization, informationization and intelligence, people not only pay attention to the struggle for dominance in the physical domain and information domain of the battlefield, but also pay more attention to the control of the main body of war-human cognitive domain, that is, the way of thinking, Cognitive models and styles, values, emotional attitudes, cultural models, communication models, psychological strengths and weaknesses, cognitive preferences, cultural and knowledge maps, and ideological identity. The latter involves the basic situation of social personnel and social existence, that is, the emerging field of cognitive domain operations exerting influence, and its tactics have strong particularities.
Topic flexibility and mobility: Cognitive domain operations can select many topics in the cognitive domain to carry out flexible and mobile combat operations. According to the current situation and needs, the topic can be chosen to involve a relatively macro strategic level (such as the ideology and system of the other party’s entire society, etc.), or a medium-level campaign level (such as social issues in a local area or direction of the other party’s society: Social welfare policies or environmental protection policies, etc.), you can also choose to involve very microscopic tactical issues in society (such as the unfair, unjust, and not beautiful side of society reflected by a certain person or a specific event). The macro, meso, and micro cognitive domains are interconnected and transform into each other. It is very likely that a micro issue will also become a macro strategic issue. The question should be raised according to the relationship with the entire military operation, and the cognitive domain operation must be subordinated to the overall combat operation and serve the needs of the macro political and diplomatic situation. More importantly, the topics should be prepared in normal times, and the data of various topics should be collected in normal times, especially paying attention to various important data in the real society. Once needed, these data can be quickly transformed into arrows, bullets, and shells fired at the enemy’s cognitive domain, and even become strategic weapons that affect the overall situation.
Controllability at the combat level: The important design of cognitive warfare is that at the combat level, it is controllable and adjustable as a whole, and can be upgraded or reduced according to changes in the situation. If the strategic level is needed, the commander can enable the design and force input at the strategic level; if the campaign level is needed, it can also be controlled at the corresponding campaign level; if it is only needed at the specific small problem level, it can also be controlled at the corresponding The niche local level makes the whole operation serve the needs of the overall combat operation. The strategy, campaign and tactics here refer more to combat design and power input. Since the battlefield situation may change rapidly, some issues may also change at the level, from strategic issues to affect the effects of campaign and tactical levels; some issues, due to the particularity of tactical issues, become campaign-level issues that affect the overall situation.
Emerging media dominance: The main influence channel of the cognitive domain has shifted from traditional paper media and print media to emerging media. Traditional media mainly rely on a single medium, such as newspapers, magazines, books, leaflets, posters, etc. to convey information; the later generation of television brought three-dimensional media. In the Internet era, especially the Internet 2.0 era and the birth of smart communication devices, people rely more on multimedia, multi-modality, and short videos and texts to transmit information. The introduction of various advanced devices such as smart phones, smart tablets, and smart players, and the birth of various new social software and tools have made new media the main tool for people to communicate and communicate. Emerging media, emerging social software and tools have become an important space for various forces to compete and struggle in social security, public opinion security, ideological security, social security, and political security. Internet security, especially the ability to grasp the security of new social media, emerging social software and tools, etc., is to some extent the key to the security of a country’s cognitive domain. The information of emerging media tools and new media spaces has become the main battlefield, main position and main space for cognitive warfare in various countries. It is worth pointing out that the thoughts and theories that influence people’s cognition will become the most influential weapons at all levels of cognitive domain operations.
Language confrontation adapts to the age of intelligence, cognitive computing enhances new computing power
In the era of artificial intelligence, on the basis of big data analysis and application, supercomputing ability, intelligent computing ability, natural language processing ability, smart phone dissemination ability and new generation network communication ability, human beings have begun to be able to understand the whole society and the whole network. Carry out precise modeling and analysis of language culture, psychological cognition, group emotion, and social behavior in different domains, local groups, different local groups, and specific individuals. Especially people’s deep understanding and grasp of brain cognition, human brain thinking, thinking mode, habit preference, image schema, cognitive framework, and even neural network, human-computer collaboration, brain control technology, etc., as long as there are enough diverse dynamic data , people can calculate and simulate all people’s psychological activities, emotional activities, cognitive activities, public opinion, and behavioral patterns. Through deep calculations, actuarial calculations, and clever calculations, people can accurately grasp people’s cognitive world and form an understanding of people’s cognitive domain. fine and deep control. This aspect presents the following characteristics:
Computational all-dimensionality: As an emerging field, the cognitive domain can be digitized in all aspects and can be calculated in all directions, the whole process and the whole individual. It can collect various types of information extensively, and then can be reflected as information about Big data with diversified main factors of combat opponents, so that various calculations can be carried out for the whole, groups, groups, and individual data and between them. All kinds of activities can be completed, displayed and accurately grasped through calculation.
Computational cognition: Computation in the cognitive domain embodies strong cognition, and it can reveal more relationships between various things, events, and characters that are difficult to observe with the naked eye, and can reveal the relationship between various concepts in the same event frame. The clustering and hierarchical relationship between concepts reflects the deep cognitive connection between concepts, whether explicit or implicit, direct or indirect, and reveals the complex concept network system between concepts, allowing people to see a deep cognitive world that is completely beyond the ordinary naked eye observation. .
Computing intelligence: Computing in the cognitive domain embodies strong intelligence. This kind of intelligence is manifested in the calculation, and it will draw intelligent conclusions. For example, through the collection of a large amount of text and data mining, we can find the relationship between various themes, viewpoints, tendencies, groups of people, positions, and appeals that cannot be seen due to limited human power, so as to form a more comprehensive understanding of a certain issue. Comprehensive, in-depth, accurate and systematic understanding to make scientific and optimized decisions. This kind of decision-making may be in line with human intelligence, or it may exceed or even far exceed human intelligence. By making good use of the power of cognitive computing, especially by combining the data of the country and the opponent, we can better achieve early prevention, early warning, and early deployment, and can achieve the best, best, fastest and most accurate strikes and counterattacks. It can also better reflect efficient, powerful and targeted protection. Cognitive computing here is more about a possible macro-meso or micro-level issue that may arise in different groups of people, in different time periods, in different backgrounds, in the entire network domain or in a local network domain, or within a specific group. In particular, the analysis and inspection of the active and passive situations that may be presented by both parties when playing games with opponents, and the attack and defense of the cognitive domain, etc.
Give full play to the status of discourse subject and release the new application of discourse power
Cognitive domain combat has a very important support, that is, it mainly relies on the language medium to play its role, exerting influence mainly through the discourse level, forming a hidden effect on the cognitive domain mainly through the narrative nature of discourse, and mainly exerting influence on the cognitive domain through cultural models Potential role, overt or implicit role exerted through cross-cultural communication. It is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Text Discourse Uniqueness: Cognitive Domains Need Information to Influence. Although the information may be displayed by relying on the special visual effects of video pictures, fundamentally speaking, the uniqueness of the integrated discourse expressed by the text becomes the main support for the cognitive impact. Among them, the mode of discourse expression, the skill of discourse expression, the main design of persuasion and appeal of discourse expression, especially the uniqueness of discourse narrative will be the key to affect people’s cognition. This may include narrative perspectives, narrative themes, styles, narrative story frameworks, narrative language innovations, narrative key sentences, narratives contain philosophy, humanities, religion, society, nature, etc., and the identities of different participants in the narrative , the diversified evaluation of narrative, the authenticity, depth and emotional temperature of narrative, the subtle influence of narrative on viewpoints, and the personal emotions, values, ideology, and position evaluation released by narrative. The uniqueness of text discourse is an important reliance on cognitive influence exerted by text in cognitive domain operations. Making full use of the complexity of texts, giving full play to the respective advantages of diverse texts, and giving full play to the implicit and explicit cognitive influences of text connotations have become the key to combat in the cognitive domain of text discourse. The most important thing is to innovate text discourse, to win readers with brand-new discourse, more novel expressions, and more unique expressions, so that readers can understand and feel the thoughts in the text subtly, and accept them silently. The thought of the text.
Potential of cultural models: To fight in the cognitive domain, we must deeply grasp the characteristics and models of different countries and national cultures. Different countries and different nationalities have different cultural models, philosophical thinking, traditional culture, religious beliefs, customs, and ways of thinking are obviously different; citizens of different cultures also have different national psychology and national cognition Models should also have typical cognitive preferences belonging to their own nation and culture, as well as corresponding shortcomings and weaknesses, and some of them obviously have a huge difference from other nationalities in their own country, and even have misunderstandings and hostility. Therefore, at the cultural level, combat in the cognitive domain is to grasp the overall cultural models of different countries, build cultural models for different groups in different countries, build different cognitive models for different things in different countries, and fully grasp a certain country’s cultural models in a series of things. The overall attitude and way of doing things on issues and issues, especially for some typical cases, cultural taboos, religious requirements, spiritual pursuits, general concepts, etc. It is necessary to use existing theories and findings to comprehensively construct the basic performance of different groups of people in the cognitive field on some typical, sensitive, and important issues, so as to provide important reference and guidance for the next step of cognitive operations. Strengthen the research on the cultural patterns of different personnel of the enemy, especially military personnel, personnel in key positions, including the research and construction of basic cultural characteristics and models of generals, officers, soldiers, etc., such as the psychological cognitive behavior of characters and cultural model portraits, It has become the core practice of cognitive domain operations. It is also of great value to analyze the cognitive patterns of ordinary people, especially ordinary citizens and citizens, as well as specific groups of people, including special NGO forces.
Cross-cultural strategic communication: Cognitive domain operations are international language and cultural communication, which need to follow the laws of international communication. To grasp the basic paradigm of international communication, to skillfully combine national stories with international expressions, to skillfully combine the other party’s language and culture with their own stories and ideas; to be good at combining different art forms, including words, pictures, paintings, music (Sound), video and other means or multi-modal means to achieve the international dissemination of information. At the same time, it is also necessary to coordinate multi-dimensional and macroscopic communication at the strategic level: use various means, rely on military-civilian integration, military-civilian coordination, and military-civilian integration to carry out communication; in addition to non-governmental organizations, especially rely on non-governmental forces, experts, opinion leaders, and ordinary people To help the military carry out cognitive domain operations; to set up issues in a unified way, to make multi-point, multi-person and multi-dimensional voices, to form a strategic communication situation, to form a good situation for emergency solutions for major actions, major issues, major crisis management and control, etc., to form a good atmosphere of public opinion, and to create Positive effects, eliminating adverse effects or extinguishing adverse effects. In particular, it is necessary to establish a capable team that is proficient in foreign languages, understands cross-cultural skills, understands the laws of international communication, and can skillfully speak out on international multi-dimensional platforms. These personnel can usually carry out extensive issue awareness, collection and discussion, establish personal connections and fan groups with the help of common or special issues; more importantly, at critical moments, through their fan groups, exert influence and complete strategic communication tasks .
At present, with the popularity of hybrid warfare, multi-domain warfare and global warfare, cognitive domain warfare has become a common method of hybridization and mixing. , The advanced stage of the development of legal warfare, the complex stage and the escalation stage. Its rise is more deceptive, ambiguous, concealed, embedded, implanted and unobservable, especially considering its deep integration with contemporary emerging media, and continuous learning and reference into multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary new ideas, new technologies, and new methods. As a result, combat in the cognitive domain has become a form of combat that we must be highly vigilant against. (Liang Xiaobo, professor and doctoral supervisor of the College of Arts and Sciences, National University of Defense Technology)
[This article is a phased achievement of the National Social Science Fund’s major project “National Defense Language Capacity Building from the Perspective of National Defense and Military Reform”]
Original Chinese Military Source: https://military.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2022/0517/c1011-32423539.html
Chinese Military Perspective on the New Development Trends in Foreign Military Network Warfare
After decades of development, cyberspace has become an important field of production and life in human society, and has become the fifth-dimensional battlefield after “land, sea, air, and sky.” In recent years, the United States and other developed countries have rushed to introduce cyberspace strategies, build (expand) cyber warfare forces, and implement cyber offensive and defensive operations. The moves in the construction, development, and application of cyber warfare deserve the attention of the world.
Pay attention to cyberspace security, and accelerate the establishment of supporting strategies and regulations
Since cyberspace security is a security issue in an emerging field, most countries lack supporting strategies and systems of laws and regulations. In recent years, major countries in the world have positioned it as a major security field, and the pace of promulgating network security strategies and regulations has been significantly accelerated. For example, since the first national network security strategy was proposed in 2000, the United States has continuously formulated, expanded, and updated various policies, strategies, regulations, and regulations in the field of network security. The network strategy alone includes the “National Network Strategy”, “International Cyberspace Strategy”, ” The Cyber Strategy of the Ministry of National Defense and the cyber strategy of the military services, etc., are used to standardize and guide the development and application of cyber warfare. In October 2014, the U.S. military also issued the world’s first joint doctrine “Cyberspace Operations”, which elaborated and standardized the concepts, actions, and tasks of cyberspace operations. In response to cyber attacks by the United States and NATO, Russia announced the “Russian Federation Cyber Security Strategic Concept” in 2014, and promulgated a new version of the “Information Security Doctrine” in 2016, proposing to ensure network information security. In order to strengthen the overall guidance of network security affairs, India issued the “National Cyber Security Policy” in 2013 and plans to issue a “National Cyber Security Strategy”; the Indian military has formulated policies such as the “Army Cyber Security Policy” and “Navy Information Security Policy” regulations.
Strengthen the professional construction of cyber warfare forces, and pay attention to the use of non-governmental network forces
In recent years, the establishment, integration, and expansion of specialized cyber warfare forces have become a trend among foreign militaries. The United States was the first country to propose the concept of cyber warfare, and it was also the first country to form a professional cyber warfare force. The U.S. military established the Cyber Command in 2010, and upgraded it to a first-level joint operations command in 2018. The number of cyber task forces under its jurisdiction has reached 133, with about 6,200 personnel. Russia established a professional information warfare unit in 2013, and cyber warfare is an important function of it. The Japanese Self-Defense Force established the Cyber Defense Team in 2014, initially with more than 100 members, and has now increased to nearly 300, and plans to expand to a thousand in the future. The United Kingdom also announced in 2020 that it will soon create a national cyber force. On this basis, foreign militaries have generally carried out systematic design and layout of cyber warfare forces. In the field of cyber warfare, forces such as network attack, network defense, and network operation and maintenance are inseparable; externally, network warfare forces are integrated and integrated with information warfare forces such as signal reconnaissance and electronic warfare. For example, the commander of the U.S. Cyber Command also serves as the director of the National Security Agency, and the network attack and defense are integrated with signal intelligence and reconnaissance. The Japanese Self-Defense Force has set up a special first-level command to oversee space, network, and electronic warfare affairs.
It is worth noting that foreign military forces constitute the “regular army” of cyber warfare forces, and private cybersecurity companies, technology companies, hacker organizations, etc. have also become important cyber offensive and defensive forces and have attracted much attention. The notorious “Eye of Sauron” and “Equation Group” and other hacker organizations are inextricably linked to the US military. In recent years, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela have encountered cyber attacks, all of which have the shadow of “Equation Group”. The Indian Army is also considering absorbing its rich IT talents to form a cyber warfare reserve force to further strengthen its cyber warfare capabilities.
Actively develop and build a network arsenal, and intelligent weapon systems are beginning to emerge
Cyber weapons are special weapons used for network attack and defense. They can be viruses, loopholes, denial of service attacks, phishing attacks and other offensive and defensive technologies, or network attack and defense system platforms. Anatoly Smirnov, chairman of the International Information Security Association of the Russian Federation, disclosed in 2019 that many Western countries were developing cyber weapons; the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan also made no secret of possessing cyber weapons. According to the disclosures of Snowden and WikiLeaks, U.S. intelligence agencies and the U.S. military have built a systematic offensive cyber arsenal, some of which can be called “weapons of mass destruction” in cyberspace. In 2020, Patrick Saunders, commander of the British Strategic Command, took the initiative to declare that the UK has developed a “destructive” cyber weapon, which can effectively kill the enemy’s power grid and other facilities and equipment.
In terms of network system platforms, the U.S. military has built the most complete network warfare system platform in the world, including accusation management systems such as joint network command and control and unified platform, basic systems for network warfare planning and execution such as the IKE project, and network warfare and network warfare systems such as “Shute”. A weapon system with integrated firepower. In terms of network monitoring and defense, India has developed and built system platforms such as a central monitoring system, network traffic analysis system, and network security monitoring and evaluation system.
Cyber weapons have a natural “kinship” with smart technology. At present, weapon systems in the fields of network situation monitoring, network attack and defense, and password deciphering have already taken shape in intelligentized countries in cyberspace dominant countries. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, the trend of intelligent network weapons will become more and more obvious.
Focus on enhancing the actual combat capabilities of network attack and defense, and innovate network training methods
In view of the reality and destructiveness of cyber threats, foreign militaries attach great importance to testing the security of information network systems and improving the cyber offensive and defensive capabilities of military and government agencies through cyber exercises and training activities in the context of actual combat.
In terms of participating forces, it covers the military, government agencies, reserves and civilian cyber forces. In the method mode, opponents are generally set to ensure the confrontation of the exercise. Some also innovatively use the method of offering rewards to attract hackers to “legally” attack specific target networks and help find network system defense loopholes. In terms of the training environment, actively build a network shooting range to simulate the information network environment of one’s own side and the opponent’s. The United States, Britain, Japan, Canada and NATO have all established professional cyber ranges. As the world’s largest multinational cyber exercise, NATO’s “Lock Shield” exercise simulated a country’s information network environment in 2019. The content of the drill includes responsiveness testing, defense vulnerability inspection, and election interference analysis. India regularly holds “Cyber Fortress” exercises. It is said that in the “Cyber Fortress-8” exercise organized in 2015, the Indian Army’s cyber brigade used remote penetration and other means to successfully obtain the administrator authority of a certain network system of the Indian Army, and found that 13 major categories of security vulnerabilities were identified. In addition, the U.S. military has begun to practice the integration of cyber warfare and operations in other fields. In the U.S. military’s “Schriever” exercise, the integration of space operations and cyber warfare is one of the important contents.
At present, some countries have regarded some serious cyber attacks as acts of war. As the international rules of conduct in cyberspace restrict and deter cyber attacks more and more, cyber exercises may replace real network operations and become foreign military training and upgrading. The primary path to network offensive and defensive capabilities.
Emphasis on pre-emptive offensive operations, actual combat tends to integrate deterrence and multi-domain integration
The hugeness, complexity, and fragility of the network system make network defense difficult and costly. For this reason, the United States and other countries have gradually changed their network security policy and operational thinking from the initial comprehensive defense to preemptive offensive operations, emphasizing Conduct pre-emptive offensive operations in hostile networks to eliminate potential or actual threats.
Driven by offensive thinking, cyber warfare is common in international conflicts, and the targets of attacks are no longer limited to military targets. The United States is the first country to apply cyber warfare to actual combat. In 2009, the U.S. military used the “Stuxnet” virus to carry out cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, causing more than 1,500 centrifuges to be scrapped and the Iranian nuclear process to be paused. In 2020, after the assassination of Soleimani, the U.S. military launched cyber attacks on the command and control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, missiles, and air defense systems to deter and prevent Iran from carrying out military retaliation. Of course, the idea of offensive cyber warfare does not require absolute cyber superiority. Some non-cyber powers have also proposed the idea of using asymmetric cyber capabilities to carry out preemptive attacks on the enemy’s weaknesses, and then achieve the goal of using the small to gain the big and the weak in the network game. Mandatory.
It is worth noting that in recent international conflicts, the trend of multi-domain integration in the fields of cyber warfare and firepower warfare, electromagnetic spectrum warfare, and cognitive domain warfare has become very obvious. For example, when armed conflicts broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Naka region in 2020, the two sides launched cyber offenses and defenses in cyberspace on the one hand, and on the other hand launched fierce confrontations in the cognitive domain around international and domestic public opinion, military morale, legal principles and morals.
At present, the low-intensity and ambiguous nature of cyber warfare attracts some international actors to frequently carry out cyberspace operations regardless of the consequences, and the risk of conflict escalation out of control is constantly accumulating. To this end, all countries in the world should start consultations and negotiations on international rules of conduct in cyberspace and cyber arms control as soon as possible, jointly restrict military activities in cyberspace, create a new pattern of cybersecurity, and build a community of shared future in cyberspace.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Actively Responding to the Challenge of Intelligent Warfare
In recent years, the wave of intelligence has surged and has been widely used in the military field. Major countries in the world attach great importance to the construction and application of military intelligence, and various unmanned combat platforms and intelligent weapons and equipment continue to appear, and they are installed in troops and put into actual combat. In the face of the accelerated evolution of intelligent warfare, only by seizing development opportunities, actively responding to challenges, accelerating the development of military intelligence, and accelerating the forging of intelligent combat capabilities can we seize the strategic initiative of intelligent warfare and win future intelligent warfare.
Focusing on designing wars to create intelligent theory
Military theory comes from combat practice and is used to guide combat practice. Restricted by various conditions in the past, military theory research was mostly “looking backwards”, that is, summarizing battle examples to form combat guidance. With the rapid development of modern technology, especially big data, cloud computing and other disruptive technologies, the research on combat theory has got rid of the traditional follow-up and inductive reasoning mode, and has entered a new era of experimental warfare and design warfare. New disruptive technologies in the field of intelligence have opened up new space for military theory innovation. To this end, we should create a basic theory of intelligent warfare in accordance with the idea of ”proposing concepts-needs analysis-innovating theories”, and conduct in-depth research on the concept connotation, essential characteristics, war guidance, combat styles, offensive and defensive actions, winning mechanisms, etc. of intelligent warfare. Features and laws, etc.; innovate intelligent combat methods and methods, give full play to the overall effectiveness of the intelligent combat system, strengthen research on new intelligent combat methods and methods such as man-machine collaborative intelligent combat, intelligent robot combat, and intelligent unmanned swarm combat, as well as intelligent Combat command, the process and methods of intelligent combat support, etc.; focus on effectively responding to the threat of intelligent combat, and research strategies to defeat the enemy, such as intelligent interdiction warfare and intelligent disruption warfare. These theories are the cornerstone of the theoretical system of intelligent warfare. In the future, the theory of war centered on strengthening “controlling intellectual power” and competing for “algorithm-centric warfare” will most likely replace the theory of warfare centered on “network-centric warfare.”
Focus on cross-domain interconnection and explore intelligent forms
The military organization is the link connecting military technology and combat theory, and the lever to exert the overall combat effectiveness of the military. Modern combat places more emphasis on “elite combat under the support of a large system”, that is, supported by the joint combat system, “fine front and strong back”, according to the idea of ”integrated design, modular formation, and combined application”, the formation is more precise and more accurate. The powerful combat module enables the maximum release of combat energy. The organization of the future intelligent warfare system will be based on strategies, campaigns, and tactics at different levels and different arms and arms, and will form different types and purposes of small, multi-functional and intelligent new joint combat forces. According to the requirements of reconfigurability, scalability and self-adaptation, the intelligentized combat network can seamlessly link and flexibly organize individual weapon platforms according to changes in the enemy situation and battlefield environment, and then aggregate them to form System advantages, forming a combat module integrating offense and defense. The intelligent new combat force system is a comprehensive product of the development of artificial intelligence technology, the formation of new combat capabilities, and the evolution of war forms. new growth point.
Focus on the integration of man and machine to develop intelligent weapons With the development of information technology and intelligent technology, whoever can win in the field of artificial intelligence is expected to have the initiative in future military confrontation. We should focus on the dual needs of intelligent warfare system operations and intelligent weapon equipment system construction, do a good job in top-level design and overall planning, compile a road map for the development of intelligent weapon equipment systems, and develop high, medium, low-end, low-end, and Large, medium and small, long-range and short-range, covering space fields such as land, sea, air, space, electricity, and networks, and an intelligent unmanned combat equipment system that matches combat and support, and establishes a “human-led, machine-assisted, mixed formation, joint “Operation” manned-unmanned cooperation system, enhance the system integration of various military arms and various intelligent weapons and equipment such as operations and support. Intelligent unmanned combat system is a new trend in the development of future war equipment. Its core is to aim at the requirements of “zero casualties”, “full coverage” and “fast response” in future wars, and make full use of new theories, new materials, new processes, new energy, and new technology development achievements in two aspects: man-machine collaboration and autonomous action. Continuously make breakthroughs, build a three-level unmanned equipment sys
tem of strategy, campaign, and tactics, build a new type of intelligent unmanned division on a large scale, and realize the systematic and coordinated operations of unmanned combat systems. At the same time, we should focus on the needs of unmanned and anti-unmanned, intelligent and anti-intelligent operations, and focus on the development of anti-enemy intelligent unmanned combat weaponry systems to ensure effective intelligent unmanned offensive and defensive confrontation with the enemy.
Focus on ability compound innovation intelligent training
The professional division of labor in modern warfare is becoming more and more detailed, and the entire combat system is becoming more and more complex, which promotes the transition from manpower-intensive to technology-intensive operations, requiring combatants not only to have good physical fitness, but also to have good technical literacy and intellectual advantages , to meet the needs of different combat missions, combat environments, and combat opponents. Military intelligence puts forward higher requirements on the quality of people. Correspondingly, intelligent military talents should have the characteristics of group talents, sophisticated skills, complex knowledge, innovative thinking, and intelligent decision-making. Intelligent warfare will be a war carried out by the combination of man and machine, and the combat force with the intelligent unmanned combat system as the main body will play an increasingly important role. The effective combination of high-quality personnel and intelligent weapons can maximize combat effectiveness. It is necessary to adapt to the new characteristics of the intelligent warfare force system, innovate and develop the concept of intelligent training, and explore a new model for the generation of intelligent warfare combat power. At present, artificial intelligence technology can create a more “real” weapon operation experience and battlefield environment, and can realistically interpret the combat process, assist decision-making and command, and evaluate combat concepts. To this end, adapt to the new characteristics of the intelligent warfare force system, focus on the improvement of the self-command, self-control, and self-combat capabilities of the intelligent combat system, and make full use of the characteristics of the intelligent system that can self-game and self-growth, forming a special strategy for intelligent warfare. Combat system training system, training environment and training mechanism, strengthen “human” control of intelligent system training, and explore a new training mode with “machine” as the main object. In this way, the intelligent combat system can obtain a leap in combat capability after short-term self-intensive training, so as to cope with the test of disorder, complexity and uncertainty in the future combat environment.
Focusing on Accurate and Efficient Improvement of Guarantee Mode
Intelligent battlefields and the degree of realization of comprehensive support for joint operations are important factors that directly affect the generation of combat effectiveness of troops. The development of intelligent technology will surely trigger a revolutionary change in the construction of the joint combat support system and realize intelligent comprehensive support. Comprehensive support is the foundation of combat effectiveness and a bridge that transforms national economic strength into military combat capability. With the continuous maturity of the Internet of Things technology, intelligent warfare puts more emphasis on integrated guarantee, precise guarantee, and distribution guarantee, that is, the required amount is delivered to the required place at the required time. Relying on the integrated support system, the dispersedly deployed support forces and resources are grouped according to functional modules such as supplies, supplies, maintenance, ammunition, and management, so that they cover all areas of combat service support. Relying on visualization technology, the entire process of combat supply is tracked and mastered According to the current situation, according to the real-time development of the battle situation, information control, reception and distribution of personnel flow and material flow are carried out to achieve point-to-point direct support. Through the use of technologies such as the Internet of Things, drones, smart cars, remote surgery, and 3D printing, upgrade and build an intelligent after-installation support system covering intelligent warehousing, intelligent delivery, intelligent maintenance, and intelligent medical treatment, so as to realize automatic, fast and accurate supply of after-load materials on the battlefield , Rapid diagnosis and maintenance of equipment failures, timely rescue of battlefield personnel, changing passive support into active service, and improving the overall support efficiency and effectiveness of aftermarket.
Focus on both military and
civilian use and deepen intelligent integration
Breakthroughs in the core and key technologies of artificial intelligence are the “country’s most important weapon” to deal with the threats and challenges of intelligent warfare. The rapid development of intelligent technology has become an accelerator of military intelligence. In the information age, the boundary between military technology and civilian technology is becoming more and more blurred, and the transferability is becoming stronger and stronger. Actively establish a military-civilian collaborative innovation mechanism, continuously strengthen the driving force for the innovation and development of intelligent core technologies, build an open industry-university-research collaborative innovation system for the whole society, plan forward and support investment in core cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, and give full play to the innovation power of the entire society. Promote the rapid and sustainable development of military intelligence. Accelerate technological breakthroughs in key areas. It is necessary to focus on relevant key technical fields and break the technical bottleneck that restricts the development of military intelligence. Strengthen research on the basic support fields of military intelligence, such as military big data, military Internet of Things, etc.; start from combat requirements, strengthen research on intelligent application technologies in various operational elements, especially intelligent command and decision-making, intelligent weapon platforms, Research on intelligent battlefield perception and intelligent countermeasure technology. The research and development of the core key technology of military intelligence not only requires interdisciplinary and cross-field collaborative innovation, but also integrates the development of social intelligence and military intelligence. Intelligent technology is quickly embedded in operational elements and operational processes. To accelerate the development of military intelligence, we should explore the rules of cultivating relevant talents, make full use of military and local education resources, increase the intensity of training relevant talents, and provide solid intellectual support and talent guarantee for promoting the construction of military intelligence.
Chinese Military Higher Education in the Age of Intelligent Warfare
“Military academies are born for war and built for war.” At the opening ceremony of the 2019 military academy principal training, Chairman Xi proposed the military education policy for the new era, pointing out the direction for the military academies to cultivate high-quality, professional new military talents. At present, the form of war is accelerating towards informationization and intelligence. What kind of soldiers are needed to win future intelligent wars, and how military higher education can cultivate talents suitable for intelligent warfare are major issues before us.
The form of war is accelerating towards intelligent development
The form of war is the expression form and state of war history staged mainly marked by the technical attributes of the main battle weapon. So far, after experiencing cold weapon wars, hot weapon wars, and mechanized warfare, the form of warfare is accelerating its development towards informationized and intelligentized warfare. The increasingly widespread application of advanced technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and brain science in the military field is becoming an important driver of the new military revolution, giving rise to new forms of unmanned, autonomous, and intelligent warfare, changing the Traditional war winning mechanism. In 2014, a foreign military think tank released a research report titled “20YY: War in the Robot Era”, arguing that a storm of military transformation marked by intelligent armies, autonomous equipment, and unmanned warfare is approaching. Platforms, information systems and decision support systems, as well as new weapons such as directed energy, hypersonics, bionics, genes, and nanometers, will initially establish an intelligent combat system by 2035, and will develop to an advanced stage by 2050, fully realizing combat platforms, information Systems, command and control are intelligentized and even unmanned, new weapons such as bionics, genes, and nanometers are on the battlefield, and the combat space is further expanded to biological space, nanospace, and intelligent space.
In recent years, with the continuous deepening of research on the human brain, the brain-computer interface technology is becoming more and more mature. In the future, the information exchange between human beings and the outside world will no longer be limited to the senses, and the direct information exchange between the brain and the outside world can also be realized through chips. People and people, people and things are fully interconnected, and human beings may surpass the Internet and the Internet of Things and enter the era of intelligence supported by the Internet of Brains. In the era of the Internet of Brains, soldiers’ brains are directly connected to combat platforms, information systems, and decision-making support systems, and decisions are made with the assistance of technologies such as quantum computing and cloud platforms. Information and mind merge. Some domestic experts believe that under the influence of artificial intelligence technology, the winning mechanism of future wars will change from “information dominance, system confrontation, precise strikes, and joint victory” in information warfare to “intelligence dominance, independent confrontation, and traceability” in intelligent warfare. Following the transformation of “strike, cloud and brain winning”, following matter, energy, and information, cloud intelligence that integrates man and machine has become the key to determining the outcome of a war. This transformation of the form of intelligent warfare is accelerating, and any hesitation may bring unimaginable consequences.
But it should be noted that no matter how the war develops, people are always the most fundamental element. The form of intelligent warfare will lead to changes in the functions and roles of soldiers, and will put forward higher requirements for the ability and quality of soldiers. Cognitive ability may surpass knowledge and skills and become the core ability of soldiers.
Intelligent warfare requires the upgrading and reconstruction of the comprehensive quality of soldiers.
According to the talent growth cycle, soldiers who are currently receiving higher education will become the main force of combat training in more than 10 years, and will also become the first main force to meet the challenges of intelligent warfare. At present, there are still some deficiencies in the design of personnel training goals in our military’s higher education, and insufficient attention is paid to the ability to adapt to the ever-changing intelligent battlefield in the future. There is still a certain gap between the personnel training objectives and the needs of intelligent warfare. On July 23, 2020, when Chairman Xi inspected the Air Force Aviation University, he emphasized that we must persist in cultivating people with morality, educating people for war, strengthening m
ilitary spirit education, strengthening fighting spirit, and comprehensively strengthening the ideological and political, military, scientific and cultural aspects of pilot students. , Physical and psychological quality foundation. To implement President Xi’s important instructions and meet the needs of future intelligent warfare, it is urgent to build a higher-level military talent training goal with thinking as the core, and accelerate the upgrading and reconstruction of military personnel’s comprehensive quality.
Intelligent warfare is a complex giant system integrating multiple fields. Its intelligence-based characteristics and iterative and changeable development trend are changing the role of soldiers in warfare. Soldiers may gradually move from the foreground of the war to behind the scenes, from direct face-to-face combat to man-machine collaborative combat, from front-line charging to back-end planning and design of war. In order to be competent in man-machine coordination, planning and designing wars and other functional roles, in addition to ideological, political, physical and psychological requirements, in terms of military profession and scientific culture, soldiers should focus on improving the following five aspects of knowledge, ability and quality: First, multidisciplinary integration Master the core principles of multiple disciplines related to intelligent warfare, such as nature, military, cognitive psychology, and network intelligence, and be able to integrate knowledge across disciplines to guide military practice; the second is strong cognitive ability, with logical thinking, judgment Thinking and system thinking ability, able to use scientific methods to analyze and reason to solve combat problems; the third is human-machine collaboration ability, deeply grasp the characteristics and laws of intelligent warfare, skillfully use combat platforms, command and control systems, and decision support systems, and be able to control diversified intelligent weapons The fourth is the ability to innovate, with a keen sense of technology and strong creativity, able to grasp the frontiers of science and technology, innovate combat styles, and grasp the laws of war development; the fifth is the ability to self-growth, to be able to accurately recognize oneself , rationally plan military careers, freely use information means to acquire new knowledge, new technologies, and new methods, constantly improve the knowledge structure, enhance cognitive ability, and better adapt to the complex and changeable military revolution development.
Identifying the Emphasis Points of Military Higher Education Reform
At present, the superposition of informatization and intelligentization has brought greater complexity to the personnel training work of military academies. It is necessary to meet the actual needs of informatization operations and at the same time lay the foundation for adapting to intelligent warfare. We should focus on The following work.
Restructure the curriculum system. The curriculum system supports the formation of talent knowledge structure. In order to cultivate military talents that meet the needs of intelligent warfare and achieve the training goals of military majors, science and culture, it is necessary to break the practice of designing a curriculum system with a single major as the background and establish a curriculum system of “general education + direction”. The general education course is based on the existing natural science and public courses, adding courses such as mathematical logic, mathematical modeling, critical thinking, network foundation, artificial intelligence, cognitive neuroscience, system engineering, etc., to establish cross-field and interdisciplinary courses System, expand the knowledge of students, build a knowledge structure urgently needed for intelligent warfare, and lay a broad knowledge foundation for their lifelong growth. Orientation courses are to establish a discipline and professional direction, set up a vertical curriculum system of mathematical science, professional foundation, and professional positions, build a solid professional background, and cultivate students’ ability to use professional theories to solve complex combat training problems. The curriculum system of “General Education + Orientation” helps build a “T”-shaped knowledge structure and meets the needs of military personnel to adapt to diverse and intelligent warfare.
Deepen classroom reform. Educational neuroscience believes that education is the reshaping of students’ brains, and the classroom is the main position for reshaping students’ neural networks, especially for the formation of high-level cognitive abilities required for intelligent warfare. Continuously deepening classroom reform is the key to military Critical tasks for higher education today. It should be seen that a classroom with only knowledge and understanding is far from a good classroom. All human behaviors, though
ts and emotions are all controlled by the brain, and every knowledge, thought and emotion corresponds to a specific neural network of the brain. Therefore, classroom reform should center on students’ learning, follow the cognitive laws of the human brain, and Attract and maintain attention as the starting point, establish a scientific thinking framework, and mobilize students to think proactively. Usually, teaching methods aimed at higher-level abilities have a general model—problem-driven heuristic teaching, and the commonly used problem-based teaching methods, project-based teaching methods, and inquiry-based teaching methods all belong to this model. Therefore, the main path to promote classroom reform is to develop unknown, novel, and interesting questions and stories for students, design a thinking framework that points to logical reasoning, critical thinking, reflection, creativity, and learning ability, and inspire students under the guidance of the framework. Active thinking, supplemented by the output process of speaking and writing, finally achieves the goal of internalizing knowledge understanding and forming high-level abilities.
Promote comprehensive education. Modern educational theory not only regards the classroom as an important position of education, but also regards all time and space outside the classroom as an important resource for cultivating students. The time and space outside the classroom not only support classroom teaching and promote the formation of knowledge and ability, but also an important place to cultivate non-intellectual ability. Colleges and universities should make full use of these time and space, clarify specific training objectives, focus on going deep into the army, close to actual combat, highlighting practicality and creativity, and scientifically design education and training programs. Focus on giving full play to the advantages of military academies in management and education, explore the establishment of a student management model, and promote the cultivation of students’ leadership and management capabilities; continue to enrich the second classroom, build an innovative platform, create more opportunities for independent practice, and improve students’ innovation capabilities; make full use of various Large-scale activities to cultivate students’ competition awareness and teamwork ability; strengthen the construction of management cadres, improve scientific management and training capabilities, and effectively guide students to carry out time management, goal management, emotional management, psychological adjustment, habit formation, etc., to help students improve self-management and self-learning ability.
All in all, education is a systematic project. The above are only three aspects to break through the shortcomings of talent training in the era of intelligence. To truly solve the problem, military academies need to carry out systematic reforms, such as strategic planning, quality management, personnel quality, teaching conditions, etc. All aspects can effectively support the achievement of the goal of personnel training, and this requires us to continuously explore and innovate, continuously improve the level of running schools and educating people, and strive to create a new situation in the construction and development of military academies.
Chinese Military Perspective on the Evolution of the Winning Mechanisms of Intelligent Warfare
Military theorists have often said that victory tends to smile to those who can foresee changes in the character of warfare, rather than to those who wait for changes to occur before adapting. In recent years, disruptive technologies represented by artificial intelligence have developed rapidly and are widely used in the military field, accelerating the evolution of warfare to intelligence, and correspondingly, the concept of warfare is also undergoing changes. Only by discovering changes in time, actively responding to changes, and actively adapting to changes can we be invincible in future wars.
From “fighting the weak with the strong” to “controlling the clumsy with wisdom”
“The strong win the weak and the weak lose” is a law of victory in war with certain universality. Even those battles in which the weak defeated the strong often had to form a strength advantage against the enemy at a local and specific period of time in order to truly win. In the era of intelligent warfare, the contribution rate of intelligence superiority to combat effectiveness is much higher than that of other factors.
In the confrontation of intelligent warfare, human intelligence widely penetrates into the combat field and is transplanted into weapon systems. Global multi-dimensional and various types of intelligent combat platforms can quickly couple combat forces, build a combat system according to mission requirements, and independently implement coordinated operations. After the end, it quickly returned to the standby state, showing the trend of intelligence and autonomy. The side with a higher and stronger level of intelligence can better develop and use the mechanism of “controlling stupidity with wisdom”, and even design wars based on this, dominate the development of the battle situation, and win the final victory. It should also be noted that in the era of intelligent warfare, there are likely to be multiple stages of development from low to high. Try to keep yourself at an advanced stage, and attack your opponent so that it is at a low-dimensional stage. use.
From “destroying power” to “destroying cognition”
With the accelerated evolution of warfare to intelligence, the combat space has gradually expanded from the physical domain and the information domain to the cognitive domain, from the tangible battlefield to the invisible battlefield. The cognitive space composed of people’s spiritual and psychological activities has become a new combat space. Different from the main purpose of destroying the enemy’s vital forces in traditional warfare, intelligent warfare will pay more attention to weakening the enemy’s morale, disintegrating the enemy’s will, and destroying the enemy’s cognition.
Through the intelligent analysis of the opponent’s personality preferences, psychological characteristics, and decision-making habits, deterrent information can be “tailored” in a targeted manner, and the advantages of cutting-edge technologies such as intelligence can be used to show the opponent’s powerful strength in a vivid way, so that anxiety, suspicion, etc. , panic and other emotions continue to ferment inside it, which eventually leads to its self-defeating. Known as the “new oil”, big data not only enriches intelligence sources, but also becomes an important “weapon” that acts on the opponent’s cognition. By processing big data and deliberately “leaking” it to the opponent, it will create a new “fog of war” for it, and make it fall into a situation of cognitive confusion. In an intelligent war, the game of struggle will be more intense, and the party with a cognitive advantage will be ahead of the opponent, and it will be easier to grasp the initiative and opportunities.
From “people-oriented” to “human-machine collaboration”
In traditional warfare, the organization and use of military power are dominated by people. With the widespread application of intelligent technology, the proportion of unmanned equipment continues to increase. In intelligent warfare, combat tasks will be completed by man-machine collaboration, and the two will achieve organic integration and complement each other’s advantages. The third “offset strategy” proposed by the foreign military regards human-machine cooperation as a key technology for key development, and its successively proposed concepts such as “loyal wingman” are also aimed at exploring the realization of manned/unmanned coordinated operations. It is foreseeable that human-machine collaboration will play an important role in future warfare.
Using unmanned reconnaissance forces to carry out three-dimensional and multi-dimensional battlefield situational awareness can provide real-time intelligence support for manned combat forces; use unmanned platforms to carry relay loads to continuously provide communication relay support for manned combat forces; use
unmanned combat forces to go deep into the front battlefield, It can attract the enemy to attack, force the enemy to expose its position, and provide target guidance and fire support for manned combat forces; use unmanned transport equipment to provide supplies for the front line, which can improve the efficiency of logistics support, reduce transportation costs, and reduce unnecessary casualties. With the assistance of artificial intelligence, manned combat forces and unmanned combat forces will realize scientific division of labor and reasonable collocation in terms of quantity, scale and function, so as to maximize the overall effectiveness.
From “eat the small with the big” to “eat the slow with the fast”
In traditional warfare, it is often necessary to make up for shortcomings in equipment performance and other aspects by increasing the number of troops. The rapid development of military intelligence has greatly improved the speed of information transmission and the accuracy of weapon strikes, greatly reduced the time for reconnaissance and early warning, intelligence processing, command decision-making, firepower strikes, and damage assessment, and accelerated the OODA kill chain cycle. , making “find and destroy” possible.
Hypersonic missiles, laser weapons, microwave weapons, electromagnetic pulse weapons and other new rapid-kill weapons have further pushed the rhythm of war to “second kill”. In the Gulf War, the loop time of the OODA loop required 3 days; in the Iraq War, the loop time has been shortened to less than 10 minutes; and in the Syrian War, the loop has almost achieved near real-time. In intelligent warfare, the use of an unmanned platform for surveillance and attack to quickly target high-value targets such as the enemy’s core command post and high-level commanders will cause the opponent to suffer heavy losses before they can react, and even face the danger of paralysis. It can be seen that victory does not necessarily favor the side with a large military force, and the side that moves quickly and accurately will be more likely to win the battlefield. According to statistics, the reaction time required by artificial intelligence to respond to changes in the battlefield is more than 400 times faster than that of humans. In the face of the rapidly changing battlefield situation, people will be more inclined to use artificial intelligence technology to realize the adaptive planning and autonomous decision-making of the command and control system, so that the command and control mode will be changed from “people on the loop” to “people outside the loop”, so as to reduce the While shouldering the burden of commanding personnel, it can improve combat efficiency and the success rate of mission execution.
From “Integrated Winning” to “Cluster Winning”
The traditional concept of equipment development is to invest a lot of money in the research and development of highly integrated high-precision weapon platforms, in order to achieve dimensionality reduction strikes on the enemy by virtue of intergenerational advantages and performance advantages in war. However, developing and deploying a multi-functional high-end platform not only takes a lot of time and money, but when multiple software and hardware modules are integrated into a single weapon platform, there may be incompatibility among them. Once the platform is destroyed, it will cause heavy losses. The military application of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence has led to the rapid development of unmanned swarms. Unmanned swarms have the advantages of large scale, low comprehensive cost, and decentralization. Unmanned platforms coordinate with each other, divide labor and cooperate, and can make independent decisions and carry out combat tasks in an organized manner. Even if some unmanned platforms are destroyed, it will not affect the overall operation. efficacy. Combat concepts such as “decision-making center warfare” and “mosaic warfare” proposed by foreign militaries focus on the use of unmanned swarms to complete combat tasks. In intelligent warfare, by dispersing functions such as reconnaissance and surveillance, information communication, command and control, and fire strikes into a large number of single-function unmanned combat units, a highly robust and highly elastic “kill net” is constructed, and then Adjusting the combination method will make it emerge a powerful group intelligence, creating great uncertainty for the opponent, and then trap the opponent in the judgment link of the OODA loop, unable to make effective decisions. In addition, due to the large number of unmanned swarms, the opponent’s detection, tracking, and interception capabilities can be quickly saturated, and the opponent has to face the dilemma of fortification failure because it cannot destroy all unmanned platforms in the swarm.
From “Military Dominance” to “Multiple Mixture”
Traditional warfare mainly relies on violent means to make the enemy submit to one’s own will, and usually has a strong war intensity, with clear boundaries between peacetime and wartime. With the continuous expansion of the field of military struggle to new fields such as space, network, and intelligence, and the increasingly prominent role of economic, cultural, diplomatic, and legal means in warfare, intelligent warfare will be carried out in many fields represented by the “grey zone”. Developed in the form of “multi-pronged approach”. The intensity of war may be weakened, and the boundary between peace and war will become more blurred. Whether in 2019, half of Saudi Arabia’s oil fields were attacked by drones and half of its oil production was shut down, or in 2021, the largest oil pipeline in the United States was hit by cyber attacks and caused a large-scale oil shortage. The far-reaching impact of various new attack methods cannot be ignored underestimate.
With the development and maturity of intelligent technology, the comprehensive use of various means to attack opponents’ industrial, transportation, financial, communication, energy, medical and other facilities and networks will become more common. The threshold of intelligent warfare will show a downward trend, and the warring parties may adopt the method of undeclared war to launch a hybrid war that integrates economic warfare, diplomatic warfare, cyber warfare, public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, legal warfare, etc., so that the opponent is exhausted. Handle.
From “actual combat inspection” to “experimental exercise”
Under traditional conditions, due to the lack of scientific simulation and evaluation tools, the true capabilities of the army can only be tested in actual combat. Under intelligent conditions, using virtual reality technology can create a virtual scene with a strong sense of three-dimensional and realism based on the actual battlefield environment and task background. This scene can not only restore objective things such as weapons and equipment from multiple dimensions such as sound, appearance, and performance, but also simulate various severe weather such as heavy fog, heavy rain, and snowstorm, and display the terrain, meteorology, hydrology, etc. of the battlefield in a visualized form. Electromagnetic, nuclear and other information, close to the real situation of the battlefield.
Set the imaginary enemy in the virtual environment according to the characteristics of the enemy in reality, and carry out intelligent simulation of the possible trend of the battle situation, so that officers and soldiers can “experience” the war in virtual reality several times before the official war, so as to improve the equipment performance, The rhythm of the war and the situation of the enemy and the enemy are all clear, and it will be easier to perform realistic tasks. Before the outbreak of the Iraq War, the U.S. military secretly developed a computer game that simulated the combat environment in Baghdad. Among the personnel dispatched to Iraq to perform missions, the survival rate of those trained in the game was as high as 90%. With the continuous enrichment and improvement of data collected in reality, the construction of virtual battlefields will be more realistic, the prediction of the battlefield situation will be more accurate, and the comprehensive evaluation of exercises will be more credible. If the outcome of the war is known in advance, there may be a situation where “surrender the enemy” without a fight or a small fight.
