The basic form of information warfare is system confrontation. Different from any form of warfare in history, information warfare is not a discrete confrontation or local decentralized warfare with the simple superposition of various combat units and elements, but a holistic confrontation between systems. The system integration capability of war determines the effectiveness of combat and the achievement of war objectives; achieving effective integration of various systems is the fundamental way to win information warfare.
Multi-space fusion
The battlefield space is the stage for the war hostile parties to compete. Due to the widespread use of high-tech weapons, the battlefield space of informationized warfare has been greatly expanded, forming a multi-dimensional battlefield space of land, sea, air, space, and information. Under the strong “bonding” of information technology, each battlefield space is integrated around a unified combat purpose. First, the three-dimensional, all-round reconnaissance and surveillance network covers the battlefield. Under the conditions of informatization, the military reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities have been unprecedentedly improved. The large-scale, three-dimensional, multi-means, and automated intelligence reconnaissance and surveillance network connects outer space, high altitude, medium altitude, low altitude, ground (sea), and underground (underwater) into one, thereby obtaining battlefield intelligence information in multiple fields. Second, long-range, high-precision informationized weapons are densely distributed and threaten the battlefield. The extraordinary combat capability of the informationized weapon system to cover and strike targets in the entire battlefield space has realized that discovery means destruction, and promoted the high integration of various battlefield spaces. In addition, the development of space and air power has made strikes more precise, means more flexible, and combat efficiency higher, and the battlefield space has become an integrated battlefield of sea, land, air, and space. This integrated battlefield structure has a high degree of integration of multiple spaces, and multiple spaces and multiple fields restrict each other. Third, the battlefield is restricted by electromagnetic and information competition in all time and space and throughout the entire process. The development of military information technology not only realizes the integration of tangible battlefields on land, sea, air and space through reconnaissance and strikes, but also opens up the competition for invisible battlefields in the electromagnetic and information fields. Electromagnetic and information are the soul of informationized warfare and the link between the battlefields on land, sea, air and space. They exist in the entire time and space of combat, act on all elements of war, run through the entire process of combat, and deeply affect the tangible battlefields on land, sea, air and space.
It can be seen that the informationized battlefield is precisely through the increasingly mature information technology, centering on the purpose of war and combat needs, closely integrating the multi-dimensional space of land, sea, air, space, information, etc., forming an inseparable and interdependent organic unity. Leaving any dimension of the battlefield space, or losing control of any dimension, will directly affect the overall combat effectiveness, thus leading to the failure of the war.
Fusion of multiple forces
War power is the protagonist of the battle between the two opposing sides of a war. The “integrated joint combat force” of system integration is a prominent feature of information warfare. Various participating forces in information warfare are highly integrated. Regardless of their affiliation and combat mission, they will be equal users and resources of the entire combat system and integrated into a unified large system. First, the participating forces are united. Information warfare is a joint operation in which the army, navy, air force, aerospace, special operations, information operations and other forces participate. Each participating force has advantages that other participating forces do not have or cannot replace. They communicate and connect through information technology to achieve “seamless connection” and form a force system that can play to its strengths and avoid its weaknesses and complement each other’s advantages, becoming an organic whole that combines “soft” strike and “hard” destruction capabilities, combat and support capabilities, mobility and assault capabilities, and attack and defense capabilities. Second, the participants are diversified. With the development of information networks, wars in the information age no longer have a distinction between the front and the rear, and the networking of combat systems can also make home a “battlefield”. In the industrial age, wars were “over, go home”; in the information age, wars can also be “go home and fight”. Participants in war are not limited to the military forces of countries and political groups. Non-governmental and group-based people can join the “battlefield” as long as they have high-tech knowledge and are proficient in computer applications. Third, the support force is socialized. With the development of science and technology, the mutual tolerance, intercommunication and compatibility of military and civilian technologies have been greatly enhanced. A large number of combat facilities and platforms will rely more on local basic resources. Not only does the material support in combat need to be socialized, but also the technical support and information support need to be socialized.
It can be seen that the victory or defeat of the informationized battlefield depends on the overall strength of the warring parties. Various combat forces are both interrelated and mutually influential, but any single force is difficult to determine the outcome of the war. Only when multiple forces work closely together and learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses can the overall combat system benefits be brought into play and victory be ultimately achieved.
Multi-level integration
The war level is the pattern of the war between the two hostile parties. In information warfare, the distinction between strategy, campaign and battle is no longer as clear as in traditional warfare. Instead, there is a mutual integration of you and me, and the distinction between levels has become relatively vague. First, the war path is simplified. With the centralized use of a large number of informationized weapons and equipment and their information systems, the precision strike capability of the troops has been unprecedentedly improved. A small-scale combat operation and a high-efficiency information offensive operation can effectively achieve certain strategic goals. A battle, a campaign or a carefully planned information operation may be a war. The path to achieve the purpose of war is becoming simpler and the convergence of war, campaign and even battle in purpose and time and space is prominent. Second, command and control is real-time. The widespread use of automated command and control systems on the battlefield has greatly enhanced the command and control function. Campaign commanders and even the highest political and military leadership of the country can plan and command and control all participating forces and specific combat operations in a unified manner, and directly intervene in campaigns, battles and even the actions of individual soldiers or combat platforms in near real time. Combat and campaign operations are similar to strategic engagements. Third, the combat process is fast-tracked. Quick victory and quick decision are important features of information warfare. The combat time is showing a trend of shortening. There is no concept of time for all combat operations. More often, the participating forces at all levels are carried out simultaneously in different fields. The beginning and the end are closely linked. The combat operations in various battlefield spaces penetrate each other, are closely linked, and gradually merge into an integrated and coordinated system, which is difficult to distinguish at the level.
It can be seen that information warfare has a strong overall nature. Campaigns, as a bridge for achieving strategic and even war objectives, are gradually integrated into battles. Combat, as the most basic combat activity in war, is also gradually sublimated into strategies and campaigns. All levels are intertwined and serve to achieve the purpose of war. Only by comprehensively exerting the combat capabilities of all levels and achieving overall effects can we seize the initiative in the war.
Fusion of various styles
The combat style is the carrier for the war hostile parties to compete. Informationized warfare is a process of confrontation between multiple forces and multiple fields, and is manifested in multiple combat actions and confrontation styles. Various combat actions are inseparable from the overall combat situation, and various actions are closely linked, mutually conditional, coordinated, and integrated to form an overall combat power. The first is the unity of combat actions. The victory or defeat of informationized warfare is the result of the system confrontation between the two warring parties. Isolated and single combat actions are often difficult to work. This requires multiple military services to adopt a variety of combat styles in different combat spaces and combat fields, while the combat style dominated by a single military service can only “live” in the overall joint action as a sub-combat action, and all combat actions are unified in the system confrontation. The second is the integration of combat actions. Informationized warfare is a form of war that pursues high efficiency. Objectively, it requires that multiple combat styles and actions must be highly “integrated” from the perspective of system effectiveness. Comprehensively use a variety of combat styles and tactics, combine tangible combat actions with intangible combat actions, combine non-linear combat with non-contact combat and asymmetric combat, combine psychological warfare with public opinion warfare and legal warfare, combine regular combat with irregular combat, and combine soft strikes with hard destruction to form an overall advantage. The third is the mutation of combat actions. In information warfare, while integrating various combat resources and exerting overall power, both hostile parties strive to find the “center of gravity” and “joint points” of the other side. Once the enemy’s weak points are found, all combat forces and actions are linked as a whole and autonomously coordinated, and various styles and means of destruction are adopted to cause a sudden change in the enemy’s combat capability and a comprehensive “collapse” of the combat system, so as to achieve combat initiative and advantage.
It can be seen that information warfare is a practical activity in which various forces use a variety of combat styles and means to compete in multiple battlefield spaces and combat fields. Only when multiple combat styles and means cooperate, support and complement each other can a multiplier effect be produced, thereby exerting the maximum combat effectiveness of the entire system.
Multi-method integration
The means of war are methods used to achieve the purpose of war. In addition to powerful military means, information warfare must also use all available ways and means to cooperate with each other, organically integrate, and form a whole to achieve a favorable situation. First, the use of war means is comprehensive. All wars have a distinct political nature and serve certain political purposes. With the influence of factors such as the globalization of the world economy and the multipolarization of international politics, information warfare is more based on military means, and military means are used in combination with various means such as economy, diplomacy, culture, and technology. Second, the use of war means is gradient. With the development of the times, war as a means of maintaining and seeking power and interests has been increasingly restricted by international law and international public opinion. In addition, resorting to war requires a high price. Therefore, in the information age, the use of war means presents a gradual development gradient, usually starting from retaliation, display of force, and violent retaliation (strike) in the sense of international law, and finally developing into local or even large-scale wars. Third, the use of war means is systematic. Information warfare is a contest of the comprehensive national strength of the hostile parties. The victory of the war depends on the comprehensive and systematic use of various war means. In specific combat operations, various means of warfare have different functions and natures, occupying different positions and playing different roles in the war. Only by closely combining various effective means of warfare into an organic whole can we form a combat system that fully utilizes our strengths and avoids our weaknesses, and maximize the overall combat effectiveness.
It can be seen that information warfare is subject to more restrictive factors, simpler war objectives, and newer combat styles. In the process of decision-making and action, only by coordinating and integrating with struggle actions in other fields such as politics, economy, culture, and diplomacy can the overall goal of the war be achieved efficiently.
The rapid development and widespread application of artificial intelligence technology are profoundly changing human production and lifestyles, bringing huge opportunities to the world while also bringing unpredictable security challenges. It is particularly noteworthy that the military application of artificial intelligence technology may have far-reaching impacts and potential risks in terms of strategic security, governance rules, and moral ethics.
AI security governance is a common issue facing mankind. With the widespread application of AI technology in various fields, all parties are generally concerned about the risks of AI military applications and even weaponization.
Against the backdrop of diverse challenges facing world peace and development, all countries should uphold a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable global security concept and, through dialogue and cooperation, seek consensus on how to regulate the military applications of AI and build an effective governance mechanism to prevent the military applications of AI from causing significant damage or even disasters to humanity.
Strengthening the regulation of the military application of artificial intelligence and preventing and controlling the risks that may arise will help enhance mutual trust among countries, maintain global strategic stability, prevent an arms race, alleviate humanitarian concerns, and help build an inclusive and constructive security partnership and practice the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind in the field of artificial intelligence.
We welcome all parties including governments, international organizations, technology companies, research institutes and universities, non-governmental organizations and individual citizens to work together to promote the safe governance of artificial intelligence based on the principle of extensive consultation, joint construction and sharing.
To this end, we call for:
– In terms of strategic security, all countries, especially major powers, should develop and use artificial intelligence technology in the military field with a prudent and responsible attitude, not seek absolute military advantage, and prevent exacerbating strategic misjudgments, undermining strategic mutual trust, triggering escalation of conflicts, and damaging global strategic balance and stability.
– In terms of military policy, while developing advanced weapons and equipment and improving legitimate national defense capabilities, countries should bear in mind that the military application of artificial intelligence should not become a tool for waging war and pursuing hegemony, and oppose the use of the advantages of artificial intelligence technology to endanger the sovereignty and territorial security of other countries.
– In terms of legal ethics, countries should develop, deploy and use relevant weapon systems in accordance with the common values of mankind, adhere to the people-oriented principle, uphold the principle of “intelligence for good”, and abide by national or regional ethical and moral standards. Countries should ensure that new weapons and their means of warfare comply with international humanitarian law and other applicable international law, strive to reduce collateral casualties, reduce human and property losses, and avoid the misuse of relevant weapon systems and the resulting indiscriminate killing and injury.
– In terms of technical security, countries should continuously improve the security, reliability and controllability of AI technology, enhance the security assessment and control capabilities of AI technology, ensure that relevant weapon systems are always under human control, and ensure that humans can terminate their operation at any time. The security of AI data must be guaranteed, and the militarized use of AI data should be restricted.
– In terms of R&D operations, countries should strengthen self-discipline in AI R&D activities, and implement necessary human-machine interactions throughout the weapon life cycle based on comprehensive consideration of the combat environment and weapon characteristics. Countries should always insist that humans are the ultimate responsible party, establish an AI accountability mechanism, and provide necessary training for operators.
– In terms of risk management, countries should strengthen supervision of the military application of artificial intelligence, especially implement hierarchical and classified management to avoid the use of immature technologies that may have serious negative consequences. Countries should strengthen the research and judgment of the potential risks of artificial intelligence, including taking necessary measures to reduce the risk of proliferation of military applications of artificial intelligence.
——In rule-making, countries should adhere to the principles of multilateralism, openness and inclusiveness. In order to track technological development trends and prevent potential security risks, countries should conduct policy dialogues, strengthen exchanges with international organizations, technology companies, technology communities, non-governmental organizations and other entities, enhance understanding and cooperation, and strive to jointly regulate the military application of artificial intelligence and establish an international mechanism with universal participation, and promote the formation of an artificial intelligence governance framework and standard specifications with broad consensus.
– In international cooperation, developed countries should help developing countries improve their governance level. Taking into account the dual-use nature of artificial intelligence technology, while strengthening supervision and governance, they should avoid drawing lines based on ideology and generalizing the concept of national security, eliminate artificially created technological barriers, and ensure that all countries fully enjoy the right to technological development and peaceful use.
Artificial intelligence technology is an important support for improving strategic capabilities in emerging fields. In recent years, it has developed rapidly and has been widely used in the military field, constantly giving rise to new asymmetric advantages, and profoundly changing the basic form, combat methods and winning mechanisms of future wars. We should have a deep understanding of artificial intelligence as a revolutionary technological driving force, accurately recognize changes, respond to changes scientifically, and actively seek changes, strive to explore ways to win future wars, and gain the initiative in the accelerating intelligent war.
Information mechanism
Knowing yourself and the enemy will ensure victory in a hundred battles. Quickly and effectively mastering all-round information is the primary prerequisite for winning a war. Artificial intelligence can realize intelligent perception of battlefield situations, intelligent analysis of massive data, and intelligent processing of multiple information, and can form a “transparent” advantage on the battlefield.
Autonomous implementation of battlefield perception. By embedding intelligent modules into the wartime reconnaissance system, various reconnaissance node units can realize random networking, ad hoc coordination, and organic integration, and can autonomously capture battlefield information in all directions and dimensions, build a relatively “transparent” digital battlefield environment and combat situation, and then dispel the “fog” of war and present the combat scene in a panoramic manner.
Accurately identify massive amounts of data. Relying on intelligent technologies such as precise sensing technology and analytical recognition technology, it accurately judges, analyzes, compares, and integrates diversified voice, text, pictures, videos, and other data to obtain faster, more complete, more accurate, and deeper battlefield situation results, far exceeding the speed and accuracy of human brain processing.
Efficient response to key information. Based on intelligent technologies such as combat cloud, big data, and the Internet of Things, it can quickly discover large quantities of non-standardized and heterogeneous intelligence data, autonomously discover symptoms, identify intentions, analyze trends, find patterns, and respond to commanders’ needs for key information in real time and accurately.
Synchronous sharing of integrated situation. The intelligent control system can optimize and integrate various reconnaissance and surveillance systems distributed in different spaces and frequency domains such as land, sea, air, space and radio networks, and play an important hub role in sharing information and unified cognition, building a situation based on “one picture”, “one network” and “one chain”, so that all combat units can synchronously share the required information from different spaces, distances and frequencies in all domains and at all times, realizing intelligent sharing.
Decision-making mechanism
Those who can plan for victory before the battle have made more calculations. Scientific and accurate decision-making is a prerequisite for winning a war. Artificial intelligence can conduct dynamic battlefield simulation and deduction, quickly give feasible decisions, greatly shorten the decision-making cycle of combat planning, and form a decision-making advantage.
Intelligent strategic situation analysis. The decision-making support system that incorporates artificial intelligence technology has functions such as information collection, query management, data processing, and correlation analysis. It can effectively break through the limitations of human analysis capabilities, maximize the separation of false and true, correlation verification, and link thinking, and automatically conduct big data analysis such as enemy situation, our situation, and battlefield environment, forming comparative data on related forces and weapons, which can efficiently assist combat commanders and help commanders quickly make combat decisions.
Intelligent optimization of combat plans. Relying on the intelligent combat simulation system, it automatically generates multiple sets of intuitive plans and programs based on the pre-input combat missions and strike target information, comprehensively evaluates their advantages and disadvantages and potential risks, and selects the plan that is most conducive to realizing the commander’s intention for the commander to make the final decision. After receiving the combat missions and target requirements from the superior, each combat unit will further screen the battlefield target information in combination with the tasks and requirements of its own level, and independently formulate the best plan and program at its own level to maximize combat effectiveness.
Intelligent prediction of decision-making effectiveness. The intelligent decision-making auxiliary system relies on intelligent technologies such as big data, high-performance computing, and neural network algorithms to give the command and control system a more advanced “brain-like” ability, which can think more rationally about unexpected situations on the battlefield and quickly come to a relatively objective combat result.
Power control mechanism
The dominant position is to control power by taking advantage of the situation. Seizing control power is the key factor to win the war. Artificial intelligence can “transplant” part of human intelligence to weapons, making the combination of humans and weapon systems more and more close. The deep interaction between humans and machines has changed the traditional control elements, endowed new control connotations, and can help gain new control advantages.
The dominance of the domain is expanding to the high frontier. In the future, highly intelligent unmanned systems will be able to carry out a variety of combat missions even in harsh conditions such as high temperature, extreme cold, high pressure, lack of oxygen, toxicity, radiation, and in extreme environments such as extreme height, extreme distance, extreme depth, extreme micro, extreme darkness, and extreme brightness. The competition for dominance of the combat domain and combat space will extend to the high frontier, the far frontier, and the deep frontier.
The right to control information is expanding to multiple means. The traditional way to seize the right to control information is to control the channels of information acquisition, processing, and distribution by attacking the enemy’s reconnaissance and early warning system and destroying its command and control system. However, information warfare under the guidance of artificial intelligence uses information itself as “ammunition”, and the means to seize the right to control information are more diverse.
The network control power is expanding to distributed. The network information system built based on intelligent technology provides a ubiquitous network “cloud” to aggregate battlefield resources of various terminals and provide services, which can realize modular organization and automatic reorganization of combat forces. The traditional purpose of disconnecting the network and destroying the chain by striking key nodes will no longer be achieved. It is inevitable to respond to the “decentralized” battlefield with an intelligent distributed strike mode.
The power to control the brain is expanding to new dimensions. Brain-like technology and simulation technology are gradually militarized, forming new areas of competition and confrontation. The focus has shifted from focusing on confrontation in the physical and information domains to more emphasis on influencing and controlling the opponent’s psychology. Technologies such as virtual reality and audio-visual synthesis can confuse the real with the fake. “Core attack” can quietly change the enemy’s command and control system algorithm. “Brain control” can directly control the enemy’s decision-making. By controlling and influencing the enemy’s psychology, thinking, and will, the goal of stopping and winning the war can be achieved at the lowest cost.
Mechanism of action
The key to victory in war is speed. Taking unexpected actions against the enemy is the key to victory in war. Artificial intelligence can improve the intelligence level of weapons and equipment, command and control systems, and action decisions, making mobile response capabilities faster and joint strike capabilities more accurate, creating a super action advantage.
The speed of action is “killed in seconds”. The intelligent combat system can see, understand, learn and think, effectively shortening the “OODA” cycle. Once an “opportunity” is found, it will use intelligently controlled hypersonic weapons, kinetic weapons, laser weapons, etc. to quickly “kill” the target at a long distance.
Action style is “unmanned”. “Unmanned + intelligent” is the future development direction of weapons and equipment. Low-cost unmanned vehicles, drones, unmanned submarines and other unmanned autonomous equipment, with the support of cluster autonomous decision-making systems, can plan the task division of each unit according to combat targets, and unmanned devices can accurately dock, autonomously combine, and covertly penetrate to carry out cluster saturation attacks on the enemy.
The action space is “fuzzy”. In future wars, using interference means to carry out soft strikes on the enemy’s intelligent combat systems and intelligent weapons, and using intelligent weapons to delay or influence the enemy’s decision-making and psychology will become the key to victory. Most of these actions are completed unconsciously or silently, presenting a “fuzzy” state where the enemy and us are invisible, the boundaries between the front and the rear are unclear, and it is difficult to distinguish between the visible and the invisible.
The action deployment is “stealth”. The intelligent command system and weapon equipment have bionic and stealth properties. As long as they are deployed in advance in possible combat areas during peacetime preparations or training exercises, they can be hidden and dormant and ready for combat. Once they are activated in time in wartime, they can launch a sudden attack on the enemy, which will help to quickly seize the initiative in the war.
System Mechanism
Five things and seven strategies determine victory or defeat. Future wars will be full-domain, full-system, full-element, full-process system confrontations, and a stable and efficient combat system is the basic support for winning the war. With the continuous expansion of the application of artificial intelligence in the military field, the combat system is becoming more and more intelligent, and the full-domain integrated combat system will produce a strong system advantage.
There are more means of “detection”. Intelligent combat clusters rely on network information systems to connect with various large sensors, electronic warfare systems and other human-machine interaction platforms, use the detection and perception equipment of each combat unit to obtain battlefield data, give play to the self-organizing characteristics of intelligent groups, strengthen real-time detection and support for joint combat systems and back-end intelligence analysis, and can achieve full-domain detection, joint early warning, and coordinated verification, forming a multi-dimensional, full-domain coverage of large-area joint detection intelligence system.
The scope of “control” is wider. The use of intelligent unmanned combat platforms can break through the logical limits of human thinking, the physiological limits of the senses, and the physical limits of existence, and replace humans to enter traditional life restricted areas such as the deep sea, space, polar regions, and strong radiation areas, and stay there for a long time to implement “unconventional warfare”, thereby further expanding the combat space and having the ability to continuously repel opponents in a wider range of fields.
The speed of “fighting” is faster. With the support of intelligent network information system, the intelligence chain, command chain and killing chain are seamlessly connected, the speed of information transmission, decision-making speed and action speed are accelerated simultaneously, and the intelligent combat units can be flexibly organized, autonomously coordinated and quickly strike. All of these make the time utilization efficiency extremely high and the battlefield response speed extremely fast.
The “evaluation” is more accurate. Using intelligent technologies such as experiential interactive learning and brain-like behavioral systems, the intelligent combat evaluation system can autonomously complete the collection, aggregation, grading and classification of multi-means action effect evaluation information, accurately perceive battlefield actions based on big data and panoramic images, dynamically identify combat processes and correct defects, predict complex battlefield changes, and make comprehensive plans and flexibly respond.
The “security” is more efficient. The widespread application of intelligent comprehensive security systems represented by equipment maintenance expert systems and intelligent sensing equipment can efficiently respond to security needs in various domains, intelligently plan security resources, and ensure that the “cloud” aggregates various battlefield resources, effectively improving the comprehensive security capabilities of the networked battlefield.
Artificial intelligence is a general term for cutting-edge technology groups such as big data, automated decision-making, machine learning, image recognition and space situational awareness. It can liberate the “cognitive burden” of human intelligence and physical energy, and enable technology users to gain the advantages of foresight, preemption and preemptive decision-making and action. As a “force multiplier” and “the foundation of future battles”, artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape the future war form, change the country’s traditional security territory, impact the existing military technology development pattern, reconstruct the future combat system and military force system, and become an important dominant force on the future battlefield.
With the rapid development of technology and the continuous acceleration of competition, major countries have launched their own artificial intelligence development plans, and accelerated the promotion of organizational mechanism reform, scientific and technological research and development, and tactical and combat innovation, promoting the military use of artificial intelligence and seizing the commanding heights of future wars.
Accelerate organizational form innovation
Promote technology transformation and application
Unlike traditional technologies, the research and development and transformation of artificial intelligence have their own characteristics. The institutional settings and operation methods of the traditional national defense system are difficult to adapt to the needs of the rapid development of artificial intelligence. To this end, the armed forces of relevant countries have vigorously carried out organizational system reform and innovation, breaking the institutional barriers in the process of artificial intelligence technology research and development, and accelerating the transformation and application of related technologies.
Emphasize “connection between the near and the far”. The United Kingdom, with the “Defense Data Office” and the “Digital Integration and Defense Artificial Intelligence Center” as the main body, integrates route planning, specification setting, technology governance and asset development, and removes administrative obstacles that restrict the development and application of artificial intelligence technology. The United States, relying on the “Strategic Capabilities Office” and the “Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer”, uses the Army Future Command as a pilot to integrate decentralized functions such as theoretical development, technology research and development, and equipment procurement, focusing on strengthening the innovative application of existing platforms in a “potential tapping and efficiency increase” manner, while buying time for the medium- and long-term technological innovation of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, so as to effectively balance practical needs and long-term development.
Attach importance to “research and use conversion”. The application of artificial intelligence in the military field will have a profound impact on battlefield combat methods, tactical and combat selection, and other aspects. Russia has established institutions such as the “Advanced Research Foundation” and the “National Robotics Technology Research and Development Center” to guide the design, research and development and application of artificial intelligence technology in the Russian military to improve the practical conversion rate of scientific research results. The United States has established the “Joint Artificial Intelligence Center” and relied on the “National Mission Plan” and “Service Mission Plan” to coordinate military-civilian collaborative innovation and scientific and technological achievements transformation, and promote the widespread application of artificial intelligence in the U.S. Department of Defense and various services.
Focus on “military-civilian integration”. Russia has established institutions such as the “Times Science and Technology City” in Anapa and other places, relying on the “Advanced Research Foundation” to fully absorb military and civilian talents, actively build scientific and technological production clusters and research clusters, and effectively expand the two-way exchange mechanism of military and civilian talents. The United States has established institutions such as the “Defense Innovation Experimental Group” in Silicon Valley and other places, relying on the “Defense Innovation Committee”, so that the latest achievements in technological innovation and theoretical development in the field of artificial intelligence can directly enter high-level decision-making. France has established innovative defense laboratories, defense innovation offices and other technical research and development institutions in the Ministry of Defense, aiming to solicit private capital investment and defense project cooperation to improve scientific research efficiency.
Highlight the “combination of science and technology”. The Israel Defense Forces has established a digital transformation system architecture department, which fully demonstrates new technologies, new theories, and new concepts based on the specific effects of various systems organically integrated into various services and arms, so as to determine the corresponding technology research and development priorities and strategic development directions. The United States has enhanced the overall management of national defense technology innovation and application by re-establishing the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and creating the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer. It has also relied on theoretical methods such as red-blue confrontation, simulation and deduction, and net assessment analysis to conduct practical tests on various new ideas, concepts, and methods, so as to select the focus of various technology research and development and the direction of strategic and tactical research, and achieve a benign interaction between technology development and theoretical innovation.
Project establishment for military needs
Seize the opportunity for future development
In recent years, various military powers have aimed at the research and development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies, and have widely established projects in the fields of situational awareness, data analysis, intelligence reconnaissance, and unmanned combat, intending to seize the opportunity for future development.
Situational awareness field. Situational awareness in the traditional sense refers to the collection and acquisition of battlefield information by means of satellites, radars, and electronic reconnaissance. However, under the conditions of “hybrid warfare” with blurred peace and war, integration of soldiers and civilians, internal and external linkage, and full-domain integration, the role of situational awareness in non-traditional fields such as human domain, social domain, and cognitive domain has received unprecedented attention. The US “Computable Cultural Understanding” project aims to process multi-source data through natural language processing technology to achieve cross-cultural communication; the “Compass” project aims to extract cases from unstructured data sources, integrate key information, and respond to different types of “gray zone” operations. The French “Scorpion” combat system project aims to use intelligent information analysis and data sharing platforms to improve the fire support effectiveness of the French army’s existing front-line mobile combat platforms to ensure the safety of operational personnel.
Data analysis field. Relying on artificial intelligence technology to improve intelligent data collection, identification analysis and auxiliary decision-making capabilities can transform information advantages into cognitive and operational advantages. Russia’s “Combat Command Information System” aims to use artificial intelligence and big data technology to analyze the battlefield environment and provide commanders with a variety of action plans. The UK’s “THEIA Project” and France’s “The Forge” digital decision support engine are both aimed at enhancing information processing capabilities in command and control, intelligence collection, and other aspects, and improving commanders’ ability to control complex battlefields and command effectiveness.
Intelligence reconnaissance field. Compared with traditional intelligence reconnaissance, using artificial intelligence algorithms to collect and process intelligence has the advantages of fast information acquisition, wide content sources, and high processing efficiency. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces’ satellite intelligent monitoring system is designed to identify and track foreign ships that may “infringe” its territorial waters near key waters. The U.S. military’s “Causal Exploration of Complex Combat Environments” project aims to use artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to process multi-source information and assist commanders in understanding the cultural motivations, event roots, and relationships behind the war; the “Marvin” project uses machine learning algorithms and face recognition technology to screen and sort out various suspicious targets from full-motion videos, providing technical support for counter-terrorism and other operations.
Unmanned combat field. In some technologically advanced countries, unmanned combat systems are becoming more mature and equipment types are becoming more complete. The Israeli military’s M-RCV unmanned combat vehicle can perform a variety of tasks such as unmanned reconnaissance, firepower strikes, and transport and recovery of drones in all-terrain and all-time conditions. The Russian military’s “Outpost-R” drone system, which has the ability to detect and strike in one, can detect, track, and strike military targets in real time. It also has certain anti-reconnaissance and anti-interference capabilities, and has been tested on the battlefield. The U.S. military’s “Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System” project aims to comprehensively improve the U.S. Army’s effectiveness in performing combat missions such as reconnaissance and surveillance, auxiliary targeting, battle damage assessment, and communication relay.
Adapting to the transformation of future battlefields
Continuously exploring new tactics
In order to adapt to the tremendous changes in the battlefield environment in the intelligent era, relevant countries have explored a series of new tactics by improving the participation efficiency of artificial intelligence in key military decisions and actions.
Algorithmic warfare, that is, relying on big data and artificial intelligence technology, fully utilizing the powerful potential of combat networks, human-machine collaboration, and autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons, so that the “observation-adjustment-decision-action” cycle of the side always leads the opponent, thereby destroying the enemy’s combat plan and achieving preemptive strike. In December 2015, the Russian army relied on unmanned reconnaissance and intelligent command information systems to guide ground unmanned combat platforms to cooperate with Syrian government forces, and quickly eliminated 77 militants within the target range at the cost of 4 minor injuries. In 2021, the U.S. Air Force conducted a test flight of the first intelligent drone “Air Borg”, marking the U.S. military’s algorithmic warfare further moving towards actual combat.
Unmanned warfare, guided by low-cost attrition warfare of saturated quantity attack and system attack and defense operations, strives to achieve all-round situation tracking, dynamic deterrence and tactical suppression of the enemy’s defense system through human-machine collaboration and group combat mode. In May 2021, the Israeli army used artificial intelligence-assisted drone swarms in the conflict with the Hamas armed group, which played an important role in determining the enemy’s position, destroying enemy targets, and monitoring enemy dynamics. In October 2021 and July 2022, the US military launched drone targeted air strikes in northwestern Syria, killing Abdul Hamid Matar, a senior leader of al-Qaeda, and Aguer, the leader of the extremist organization “Islamic State”.
Distributed warfare, relying on the unlimited command and control capabilities of artificial intelligence and new electronic warfare means, uses shallow footprints, low-feature, fast-paced forces such as special forces to form small groups of multi-group mobile formations, disperse and infiltrate the combat area in a multi-directional and multi-domain manner, continuously break the enemy’s system shortcomings and chain dependence, and increase the difficulty of its firepower saturation attack. In this process, “people are in command and machines are in control”. In recent years, the US military has successively launched a number of “distributed combat” scientific research projects such as “Golden Tribe” and “Elastic Network Distributed Mosaic Communication”.
Fusion warfare, relying on network quantum communication and other means, builds an anti-interference, high-speed “combat cloud” to eliminate the technical barriers of data link intercommunication, interconnection and interoperability between military services and achieve deep integration of combat forces. In 2021, the joint common basic platform developed by the US Joint Artificial Intelligence Center officially has initial operational capabilities, which will help the US military break data barriers and greatly improve data sharing capabilities. During the NATO “Spring Storm” exercise held in Estonia in 2021, the British Army used artificial intelligence technology to conduct intelligent analysis and automated processing of battlefield information of various services, which improved the integration between services and enhanced the effectiveness of joint command and control.
(Author’s unit: National University of Defense Technology)
Modern war presents the explosive growth of battlefield information and new combat style. With the continuous emergence of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and edge computing, a new generation of command information system is coming. Based on the international fourth generation command information system, this paper imagines the overall architecture of the fifth generation command information system, expounds the technical characteristics of its knowledge center, intelligent enabling, cloud edge integration, independent evolution and resilience adaptation, analyze its key technologies, continuously improves the battlefield information advantage, and transforms to the battlefield cognitive advantage, decision-making advantage and action advantage.
Abstract
Modern war presents the explosive growth of battlefield information and new combat style. With the continuous emergence of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and edge computing, a new generation of command information system is coming. Based on the international fourth generation command information system, this paper imagines the overall architecture of the fifth generation command information system, expounds the technical characteristics of its knowledge center, intelligent enabling, cloud edge integration, independent evolution and resilience adaptation, analyze its key technologies, continuously improves the battlefield information advantage, and transforms to the battlefield cognitive advantage, decision-making advantage and action advantage.
Download CitationsZHANG Zhi-hua , WANG Fan . The Fifth Generation Command Information System and Its Intelligent Technology. Command Control and Simulation . 2021, 43(5): 1-7 https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1673-3819.2021.05.001
Previous Article Next Article In his report to the 19th CPC National Congress, President Xi Jinping clearly pointed out that “we should accelerate the development of military intelligence and improve the joint combat capability and all-domain combat capability based on network information systems”
[ 1 ] . This statement indicates that future wars will be based on networked and intelligent system operations. The fifth-generation command information system will focus on intelligence, strengthen battlefield information advantages, and strive for battlefield cognitive advantages, decision-making advantages, and action advantages. According to relevant reports, the international command information system has gone through four stages of development
[ 2 ] and is evolving towards the fifth-generation command information system. The system architecture is developing towards intelligence, knowledge, cloud edge, and service. The fourth-generation system in the world mainly uses networking, service, and cloud to build an overall coordinated command information system
[ 2 ] , which meets the needs of coordinated operations to a certain extent and achieves information advantages. However, with the explosive growth of battlefield information, it is difficult to transform the system information advantage into the commander’s cognitive and decision-making advantages. With the emergence of new combat styles such as unmanned combat and cyber warfare, in order to adapt to the complexity and nonlinear characteristics of combat command, the command information system must break through cognitive technology and provide accurate battlefield situation cognition and planning and decision-making capabilities. The fifth-generation command information system is envisioned to be centered on artificial intelligence, edge computing, and cloud brain technology to enhance battlefield cognitive advantages, decision-making advantages, and action advantages, support combat command to move from the information domain to the cognitive domain, and realize capabilities such as information knowledge, intelligent decision-making, agile command and control, multi-domain collaboration, and edge services.
1 New Concept of Command and Control
1.1 Intelligent command and control
Intelligent command and control is to use artificial intelligence methods to achieve the transformation from “information-based, network-centric” to “intelligent, knowledge-centric”, and assist commanders in solving perception, understanding, and cognitive problems in the command field. The system architecture and technical architecture of the command information system will change. The system will apply corresponding intelligent technologies around functional domains such as situation, command, control, and support to improve the cognitive and decision-making efficiency of combat command. Foreign militaries pay great attention to the intelligent application of combat command. Since 2007, the US DARPA has published three white papers on national and military development strategies for artificial intelligence, and has launched plans such as “Deep Green”
[ 3 ⇓ – 5 ] , “The High-Tech Holy Grail of the Third Offset Strategy”, and “Commander’s Virtual Staff”. In the field of intelligence perception and tactical decision-making, it has launched artificial intelligence projects such as “Insight”, “Xdata”, “Deep Learning”, “Deep Text Search and Filtering”, “Distributed Battlefield Management”, “Human-Machine Collaboration”, “Mind’s Eye”, “Trace”, “Human-Machine Collaboration”, “X-Plan”, “Cognitive Electronic Warfare”, and “AlphaAI Air Combat”, realizing the ability to deeply understand battlefield intelligence, predict situation cognition, and automatically generate and deduce tactical plans. Since then, the U.S. military has also set up projects such as “Autonomous Negotiation Formation”, “Big Dog”, and “Hummingbird” to improve the manned and unmanned collaborative control capabilities. Overall, the U.S. military currently has the world’s leading level of intelligent combat command. In addition, Germany, France, Russia and other countries have also conducted extensive research in intelligent information perception and processing, intelligent autonomous unmanned combat platforms, etc., and have achieved fruitful research results
With the development of military technology, traditional large-scale cluster combat methods are gradually transformed into small-scale asymmetric combat. Combat activities at the tactical edge will play an important role in war. The tactical edge is also known as the “first tactical mile”
[ 9 ] . It is far away from the command center and has limited communication, computing, and service resources. It is usually composed of combat platforms, tactical units, and special forces. In order to gain information and decision-making advantages, command units at all levels use ubiquitous networks, micro-clouds, and other technologies to achieve information and resource sharing. Mobile computing devices at the tactical edge use fog computing methods to integrate into larger combat units and form micro-clouds under self-organizing networks. The large amount of situation information obtained by the tactical edge is calculated, stored, and shared in the tactical micro-cloud, which simplifies the scale of interaction with the command center, improves the timeliness of information interaction, and solves the problem of insufficient service capabilities at the tactical frontier in the past.
1.3 Multi-Domain Battle Command and Control
In 2016, the U.S. Army proposed the concept of “multi-domain warfare”
[ 10 ] , taking “synchronous cross-domain firepower” and “all-domain mobility” as core elements, promoting the high integration of combat elements, enhancing all-domain strike capabilities, and attempting to eliminate the “anti-access/area denial” capabilities of China, Russia and other countries. It mainly has the following three characteristics
[ 10 ] . First, the combat domain is expanded in multiple dimensions, enabling the U.S. Army to deploy forces from the ground to multiple combat domains such as sea, air, electricity, and the Internet, and has the ability to integrate with other services. Second, the combat elements are highly integrated, and the various services and combat functional domains can share information, coordinate tactics, and synchronize actions, which promotes the transformation of joint services to the integration of combat capability elements. Third, the command chain is developing in a flat direction, and the command mechanism is efficient and flexible. It is necessary to have centralized planning and decentralized execution, and to share information and instructions with various command nodes and individual soldiers, extend the tactical command chain, and realize rapid, multi-line, and multi-domain combat command.
1.4 Mosaic Combat Command and Control
In 2017, DARPA proposed the concept of “mosaic warfare”
[ 11-12 ] , which takes into account both ” threat-based” and “capability-based” equipment construction methods, and flexibly combines sensors, command and control nodes, combat platforms, and cooperative manned and unmanned systems in multiple combat domains on demand to form a mission system. System integration uses a building block approach to dynamically link dispersed fine-grained systems together to form a combat system similar to a “mosaic block”. “Mosaic warfare” uses intelligent decision-making tools to provide distributed situational awareness and adaptive planning and control, assist in combat mission planning, and implement distributed combat management. “Mosaic warfare” requires the replacement of fixed combat force composition with adaptive system reorganization, and the combat command has a resilient and adaptable information system that can customize physically dispersed mixed combat units on demand and meet various dynamic and collaborative combat requirements
2. Transformation of the Characteristics of the Fifth Generation Command Information System
1) The system shifts from network-centric to knowledge-centric. The network-centric approach brings battlefield information advantage, which is then transformed into cognitive advantage and decision-making advantage. The information sharing between systems shifts to knowledge-centric intelligence sharing, which promotes the transformation of the entire command system into decision-making and action advantage.2) The cloud architecture is transformed into cloud-edge-end integration. Expand the original cloud resource sharing capabilities
[ 2 ] and extend them to the platforms, teams, and individual soldiers at the tactical edge, realize the integrated hybrid service capabilities of the battlefield center cloud, mobile cloud, and edge micro-cloud in a mobile environment, and enhance the tactical frontier resource service capabilities.3) Transformation from scheduled integration to resilient adaptability. Currently, the system is deployed and operated according to preset rules. When the mission changes, it must be regulated according to the pre-planned plan. In the future, battlefield systems are vulnerable to attacks and paralysis, requiring the system to have the ability to self-reconstruct, resilient and adaptable when disturbances occur to ensure that the core mission is uninterrupted
[ 13-14 ] .4) Transformation from computational intelligence to cognitive intelligence. Intelligence is manifested in computational intelligence, perceptual intelligence, and cognitive intelligence. Currently, computational intelligence provides a tactical deterministic solution method. In the future battlefield, intelligent technology must be used to improve the accuracy and real-time degree of cognition in terms of massive intelligence processing, situational awareness, and decision-making reasoning.5) Performance changes from fixed fixed to autonomous learning evolution. The system’s algorithm and performance are generally determined and fixed during the design period, and performance improvement is achieved through upgrading and transformation. Intelligent systems have the ability of self-learning and self-evolution, and can learn algorithms for situational awareness and intelligent decision-making online to improve system performance.6) Construction shifts from capability-based to knowledge-based. Command information systems are generally constructed based on capability elements, and system integration is integrated based on capability elements. Intelligent systems pay more attention to the intellectual construction of the system, focusing on the construction of system knowledge, rules, algorithms, and data.7) The interaction mode will shift to human-machine fusion intelligent interaction. Human-machine fusion intelligent perception, anthropomorphic interaction, intention-oriented intelligent human-machine interface interaction, wearable human-machine fusion computing, and fusion and linkage interaction will become the main interaction mode of future systems, and the human-machine control system will progress towards human-machine fusion.8) The separation of combat and training has shifted to the integration of combat, training, exercise and research. The fifth-generation command information system tightly couples combat command and tactical training, and has parallel simulation and reasoning capabilities. It can not only update intelligent algorithms, but also conduct combat and tactics confrontation research, obtain tactical data, and promote algorithm learning. Exercise training has developed from war game simulation to battlefield virtual game.
3 Overall Architecture Concept
The overall architecture of the future fifth-generation command information system should be a command information system that is knowledge-centric, human-machine integrated, intelligently empowered, cloud-edge integrated, autonomously evolving, and resilient and adaptable. The following article mainly describes the overall system from the perspectives of system architecture, service architecture, and technical architecture
[ 15 ] . The system architecture mainly refers to the composition of the system’s logical elements and their relationships, the service architecture describes the integration model of information and computing resources between systems, and the technical architecture describes the system’s technical reference model.
3.1 System Architecture Concept
The system is changing from “information-based, network-centric” to “intelligent, knowledge-centric”, while extending to the tactical edge. Based on the original system integration, the system integrates knowledge and algorithms, applies intelligent technology in functional domains such as situation, command, control, and support, and improves the cognition and decision-making efficiency of combat command. The system architecture is envisioned as follows:
Figure 1 Conceptualization of the fifth-generation command information system architecture
第五代指揮資訊系統架構概念
The fifth-generation system expands the functional domain of parallel deduction and learning training on the basis of functional elements such as situational awareness, command decision-making, action control, support and guarantee, and information services to meet the needs of combat branch evaluation and algorithm learning. In terms of situational awareness, it covers computational intelligence, perceptual intelligence, and cognitive intelligence, mainly completing battlefield intelligence processing and target identification, understanding and predicting the situation, having state and momentum, and improving information advantage; in terms of command decision-making, it is mainly based on cognitive intelligence, which can machine tactical reasoning, generate plans and plans, and improve decision-making level; in terms of action control, it is mainly based on computational intelligence and cognitive intelligence, completing task monitoring and temporary tactical control, and providing action optimization strategies based on knowledge reasoning, such as command guidance, firepower coordination, and unmanned cluster intelligent control; in terms of comprehensive guarantee, it is mainly based on computational intelligence, completing the optimal allocation of battlefield resources under prior knowledge and rules; in terms of parallel deduction and learning training, it combines command and control with simulation training, trains personnel and algorithms in peacetime, and conducts parallel plan deduction in wartime.In addition, the fifth-generation system has an autonomous evolving learning mechanism: first, autonomous learning within the node to optimize the algorithm and knowledge base; second, the nodes share intelligent algorithms and knowledge through the command cloud to collaboratively complete the evolution. Each node can upload the learned algorithms and knowledge to the command cloud to update the algorithms and knowledge of the knowledge center; third, the system issues instructions to tactical nodes, weapon nodes, detection nodes, and combat support nodes, and collects execution feedback. These feedback results can be used to learn and evolve the algorithm.Between the fifth-generation systems, based on the original comprehensive integration based on the cloud/end architecture, an integrated sharing method for knowledge and intelligent algorithms has been added. Each command information system uploads intelligent algorithms and knowledge rules to the knowledge center for plug-and-play sharing by heterogeneous nodes such as battlefield detection, command, and weapons. The command information system can obtain existing intelligent knowledge from the knowledge center and conduct secondary learning and training in combination with its own battlefield data to improve algorithm capabilities. The command cloud will eventually form an intelligent knowledge center for the battlefield, and a battlefield knowledge network will be formed between the intelligent command information systems.
3.2 Concept of cloud-edge-device service architecture
In the future, ubiquitous network connections will extend from command units to various squads, individual soldiers, and platforms at the tactical edge. The fifth-generation command information system will use fog computing and distributed computing technologies to build tactical mobile clouds, squad micro-clouds (Cloudlet), and individual task group pico-clouds (Pico-Cloud) based on cloud architecture technology
[ 9 , 16 ] , forming tactical frontier mobile cloud service capabilities, realizing the hybrid service capabilities of battlefield centralized combat clouds, mobile tactical clouds, and edge micro-clouds and pico-clouds, forming an integrated resource service structure of “cloud, edge, and end”, and quickly building command chains and strike chains.
Concept of cloud-edge-end service architecture of the fifth-generation command information system
第五代指揮資訊系統雲端端服務架構構想
The cloud-edge-end integrated service capability supports the fifth-generation system to achieve dynamic aggregation and release of combat resources through “cloud deployment, cloud aggregation, cloud attack, and cloud dissipation”, thereby improving the combat effectiveness of the entire system
[ 17 ] . The centralized combat cloud is deployed in the command center in a fixed cloud manner
[ 16 ] to provide services for various combat nodes; air, land, and sea tactical clouds provide information, algorithms, computing, and storage services under mobile conditions for aircraft, ships, armored forces, and other forces at the tactical frontier, thereby improving the resource sharing level at the tactical frontier
[ 9 , 16 , 18-19 ] ; in tactical edge military operations, micro-clouds and pico – clouds are constructed. Micro-clouds are deployed in fog computing on vehicles, aircraft, and boats within one hop of the communication distance of the frontier contact unit, expanding the tactical information processing and sharing capabilities of the frontier unit personnel. When individual soldiers and units cannot access micro-clouds, mobile ad hoc networks and distributed computing technologies can be used to construct pico-clouds to support dynamic information aggregation and resource sharing end-to-end under weak connections at the tactical edge, thereby extending the command chain.
3.3 Technical Architecture Concept
The fifth-generation command information system will extend the war from the physical domain and information domain to the cognitive domain, and will change the way of command and control. Its technical architecture is as follows:
Technical architecture of the fifth-generation command information system
第五代指揮資訊系統技術架構
The fifth generation command information system adds tactical edge services and intelligent computing environments based on the networked computing environment of the fourth generation command information system, which is compatible with the system architecture and meets the intelligent requirements of the system. The tactical edge service computing environment provides micro-cloud and pico-cloud basic computing, storage, and information service platforms for weakly connected terminals; the intelligent computing environment provides intelligent services for situation, decision-making, control, and human-computer interaction.The intelligent technology environment layer includes the following five parts. The intelligent computing hardware platform is equipped with AI acceleration processors such as GPU, FPGA, and TPU to adapt to the computing power required by deep learning. Some algorithms use brain-like chips with neuron processing mechanisms or solidified dedicated intelligent computing chips; the intelligent data management platform mainly manages data, samples, cases, models, and knowledge; the deep learning framework integrates the runtime library and basic algorithm library of deep learning and reinforcement learning; the traditional artificial intelligence computing framework includes traditional algorithm support libraries such as spark and bigflow for search and solution, data mining, and parallel processing; intelligent services include application-oriented intelligent algorithm service libraries, such as intelligent interactive recognition, valuation network calculation, and strategy network calculation services, which provide solution interfaces for application development.The intelligent application layer mainly provides functional elements such as intelligent situational awareness, planning and decision-making, action control and information services, human-computer interaction, learning and training. It is the system’s main functional interface for users and the core problem that intelligence needs to solve.The fifth-generation system technology architecture model mentioned above mainly uses cloud computing and intelligent technology support services to achieve the sharing of situations, instructions, algorithms and knowledge between systems, and supports system autonomous evolution, algorithm upgrades and knowledge updates. System intelligence can be divided into levels 0 to 4
[ 20 ] . Level 0: full manual control; Level 1: computing intelligence, deterministic complex tactical calculations and information automation processing; Level 2: having certain perceptual intelligence, able to understand, evaluate and predict battlefield situations; Level 3: having cognitive intelligence, able to provide machine decision-making and decision-making deduction capabilities; Level 4: having human-machine integration and symbiosis capabilities, and the core algorithm can self-learn and self-evolve. At present, the intelligence level of the fourth-generation system is generally at level 1, and situation understanding and command decisions are still controlled by humans. The intelligence of the fifth-generation system can reach the fourth level through three stages. The first stage is to realize the ability to perceive, understand and evaluate the battlefield situation; the second stage is to build a knowledge base of tactics and enable machine decision-making based on rules, knowledge and algorithms; the third stage is to realize machine self-learning and self-evolution of core tasks, and have the function of autonomous decision-making, reaching a highly intelligent level of human-machine integration
4 Key technologies of the system and its intelligent concept
The key technologies of the fifth-generation command information system mainly solve the above – mentioned problems of intelligence, cloud – edge-end integration, and system resilience and adaptability. The key technologies of the system and its intelligent concept is the following
Key technologies of the system and its intelligent concept
系統關鍵技術及智慧化理念
The key technologies of the fifth-generation command information system cover all aspects of the command and control OODA loop, and can support the system’s intelligence, resilience, and edge command and control requirements in terms of detection, decision-making, control, and strike, thereby building a precise perception chain, rapid control chain, precise strike chain, and agile service chain, extending to the tactical edge and improving command effectiveness.
1) Situational Awareness Machine Analysis TechnologyIntelligence compilation and analysis technology.
Use big data, deep learning, knowledge graphs and other technologies to perform intelligent information correlation matching, text semantics intelligent analysis, and public opinion intelligent search and extraction to obtain valuable intelligence from massive, multi-source, and heterogeneous battlefield information.
Multiple target rapid recognition technology. Using deep learning methods, a multi-layer CNN convolutional neural network is constructed, and sample feature parameter learning is used to complete feature extraction and rapid target recognition of optical, infrared, electromagnetic, and acoustic information.Situation recognition and understanding technology. Analyze the enemy’s combat intentions and combat capabilities, use the reinforcement learning valuation network technology to simulate the commander’s situation recognition process, and combine the CNN nonlinear battlefield situation fitting ability to establish a mapping from situation images to situation understanding
Situation machine prediction and assessment technology. Based on situation understanding, the enemy’s tactical behavior is estimated. First, the strategy network is used to obtain the enemy’s activity rules, and then the parallel deduction method is used to perform multi-branch situation deduction. Finally, a prediction network is constructed to predict the situation.
Combat mission space and strategy modeling technology. Modeling the state and action strategy of the combat mission space and determining the description method of the mission state, strategy, and feedback are the basis for deep reinforcement learning to make decisions.Mission planning machine decision-making technology. Use operations optimization to complete target analysis and task allocation. Use deep reinforcement learning and swarm intelligence algorithms to machine plan force composition, firepower configuration, and collaborative paths. Tactical planning tends to be rule-based reasoning and easy to break through; campaign planning tends to be knowledge-based reasoning based on experience, involving the art of command, and is more difficult to break through.
Parallel simulation technology for combat plans. With reference to the parallel simulation technology of the “deep green” system the Monte Carlo search tree and game test method are used to simulate enemy combat behavior, rehearse and evaluate the action process, and accumulate feedback reward and punishment functions for learning, training, and decision optimization.
Intelligent generation technology of combat plans. Using intelligent perception algorithms such as natural language understanding, voice command recognition, and sketch recognition, combined with the extraction of elements from the task model, the knowledge graph is used to automatically extract the plan to generate combat plans and command sequences .
Rapid decision-making technology on the spot. Based on the current situation, using the learning data accumulated by the game platform, automatically matching the most appropriate plan adjustment, making dynamic decisions on the plan based on Monte Carlo tree search and transfer learning algorithms, reverse reinforcement learning, and enhancing the generalization ability of the plan.3) Intelligent motion control technologySituation-based improvisation control technology. According to the effects and deviations of combat operations, the resources, paths, and coordination modes of the mission are dynamically adjusted, and parallel simulation multi-branch deduction and reinforcement learning technology are used to correct the deviations, thus realizing tactical “feedforward” control .
Swarm intelligence collaborative control technology. Promote the maximization of the overall effectiveness of battlefield intelligent bodies in collaborative operations, use ant colony and bee colony control algorithms and deep reinforcement learning methods to build a global tactical value network, establish an effect feedback model, and perform strategic control based on the value network.Firepower collaborative control technology. Improve the speed and accuracy of friend-or-foe identification, firepower allocation, and collaborative dispatch, use swarm intelligence and deep reinforcement learning algorithms to automatically plan, coordinate and optimize the strike chain, and have a certain degree of autonomous decision-making ability.
Multi-domain cluster system autonomous collaborative machine planning technology. Use branch search solution, knowledge reasoning, and deep reinforcement learning to plan and allocate collaborative tasks for manned/unmanned systems, and use swarm intelligence optimization algorithms to plan collaborative trajectories for unmanned and manned platforms.Multi-domain cluster system autonomous collaborative command and control technology. It monitors the missions of unmanned clusters and provides autonomous collaborative command and guidance. It uses swarm intelligence algorithms to detect conflicts and avoid collisions among multiple unmanned platforms, and coordinates grouping, routing, and load.
5) Intelligent information service technology.
Intelligent battlefield information sharing technology uses reinforcement learning and semantic association technology to analyze users’ information needs and preferences, generate information needs based on users’ differentiated characteristics, and intelligently push tactical information to users.
Human-computer fusion intelligent perception interaction technology. Construct multi-channel human-computer interaction methods including sketches, spoken language, gestures, head postures, expressions, eye movements, etc., and provide natural, sensitive, accurate and anthropomorphic interaction strategies . Intention-oriented intelligent human-computer interface technology. Using FCM fuzzy cognitive interactive reasoning technology, infer the user’s interactive intention, and organize the interactive interface output by integrating different means such as spoken language, gestures, sketches, and natural language according to the user’s interface needs and interaction preferences.Smart wearable human-machine fusion technology. It uses edge computing technology and new human-machine interaction methods such as voice, gestures, eye movements, brain-computer interfaces, and augmented reality to provide soldiers with smart wearable devices that have a collaborative, integrated, and linked human-machine interaction mode.
7) Virtual gaming and training evaluation technology.
The combat virtual game technology builds a game confrontation test platform, conducts combat knowledge modeling, and uses parallel simulation, branch decision, differential confrontation and other technologies to conduct red-blue confrontation, which not only trains tactics and methods, but also collects tactical data.Machine training and evaluation technology uses the data accumulated by the game platform and the experience of personnel to model, adopts small sample transfer learning technology to train and optimize the algorithm, replays the real data afterwards, performs transfer learning optimization on the decision model, and updates the decision plan.
8) System resilience adaptive reconstruction technology.
Environmental perception and autonomous fault detection technology. Under soft and hard damage, it can detect the main faults and analyze abnormal correlations, predict the occurrence of faults that affect task execution, evaluate the impact of faults on tasks, and realize active perception and rapid location of system resources and faults.System self-healing and reconstruction intelligent technology. When key nodes of the system fail, an adaptive mechanism is used to reallocate resources, achieve capacity regeneration, and continuously ensure the completion of core tasks. The system changes from a fault repair method with preset rules and manual participation to an intelligent system reconstruction method.
9) Tactical edge computing technology.
Mobile micro-cloud service platform technology. Deployed in fog computing mode on vehicles, aircraft, and boats within one hop of the enemy, it provides shared processing capabilities for combat teams and expands the tactical information processing capabilities of team members.Pi-cloud resource sharing technology under weak connection ad hoc network. Based on the individual soldier ad hoc network, the Pi-cloud is constructed using distributed computing technology to support end-to-end autonomous collaborative information sharing and resource sharing between individual soldier mobile devices under weak connection to meet tactical edge needs.
5 Development ideas and ideas
1) Gradually progress in stages, starting with the easy and then moving on to the difficult. In the first stage, image, voice, gesture, face recognition, and natural language understanding are applied to intelligence analysis; in the second stage, deep learning and reinforcement learning are applied to situational awareness and command decision-making; in the third stage, cloud computing is used to realize a knowledge-centered, intelligently empowered system.
2) Select intelligent algorithms for application. Focusing on the application of deep learning in situation and deep reinforcement learning in planning and decision-making, select appropriate tactical backgrounds to verify intelligent algorithms. Tactical-level planning of paths, firepower, tasks, etc. can be used as breakthroughs.
3) Strengthen the construction of knowledge engineering in the field of combat command. Expert rules, military regulations, and actual combat data are the basis of intelligent command. The existing combat rules should be modeled and represented in a knowledge-based manner, and the input and output mapping relationship between knowledge representation and deep learning should be established. The research on knowledge learning and knowledge reasoning methods should be strengthened .
4) Establish a virtual confrontation game platform to accumulate data. Intelligent algorithms require a large number of learning samples. The ways to accumulate samples are: Establish a confrontation game platform to conduct war games, human-machine confrontation, and red-blue confrontation to accumulate data; Collect tactical data from actual combat exercises and build models as training samples.
6 Conclusion
This paper proposes the overall and intelligent concept of the fifth-generation command information system, constructs a new generation of command information system architecture with “intelligent empowerment, human-machine integration, cloud-edge integration, autonomous evolution, cloud-intelligence sharing, and resilience and adaptability”, analyzes its key technologies and capability characteristics, and attempts to achieve cognitive advantages, decision-making advantages, and action advantages based on the fourth-generation system in the world .
There are not many technical verifications for the fifth-generation system in the world, so we should not rush for quick success and still need to conduct sufficient research.
Establishing normative guidelines for the management of military information dissemination on the Internet
——Interpretation of the three highlights of the “Internet Military Information Dissemination Management Measures”
Strengthening the management of Internet military information dissemination is related to the overall situation of national defense and military construction, and to the image and reputation of the people’s army. The promulgation of the “Internet Military Information Dissemination Management Measures” (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”) has established normative guidelines for the management of Internet military information dissemination. Its implementation will surely provide a strong legal guarantee for promoting the rule of law in cyberspace, regulating the order of Internet military information dissemination, and better promoting the healthy development of Internet military media. The “Measures” not only aims to solve the practical problems of Internet military information dissemination in recent years, but also looks forward to the future trend of military information dissemination. Overall, there are three highlights:
Improved the opening standards of platforms and columns
Once military-related, confidential or negative information is disseminated, it will inevitably damage national security and the image of the military. The key to managing this kind of network chaos is to correct the source and effectively regulate the source of information dissemination. The Measures clearly regulate the opening of military website platforms, military columns on website platforms, military accounts, etc. First, Internet military information service providers must obtain licenses and perform filing procedures in accordance with the law to ensure the authenticity of their identities. Second, Internet military information service providers are encouraged and supported to establish or clearly be responsible for editing agencies for military information services, and to be equipped with full-time editors and content reviewers appropriate to the scale of services to ensure the professionalism of their capabilities. Such standardization can further improve the effectiveness of Internet military information dissemination management and effectively enhance the quality and level of Internet military media.
List of positive and negative aspects of the content being spread
In the digital age, online public opinion has become an important force in shaping social concepts and behaviors, with both the supply and dissemination of positive information and the spread of illegal and negative information. The Measures aim to turn the Internet, the biggest variable, into the biggest increment in promoting the development of the cause of strengthening the military, and refine and clarify the positive list of Internet military information dissemination content, mainly involving 11 aspects of information, including the promotion of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military, the promotion of the nature, purpose, glorious history, fine traditions and style of the People’s Army, and the reflection of the achievements of national defense and military modernization. At the same time, the Measures also detailed and clarified a list of 12 negative aspects, including harmful information that endangers national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and undermines the absolute leadership of the Party over the military and the responsibility system of the Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Through these regulations, Internet military information service providers and users can be effectively guided to maintain a good military-related public opinion environment, maintain a good image of the People’s Army, and safeguard national security and military interests.
Standardized the supervision chain of military accounts
Military information is highly sensitive, professional, and confidential, and must be handled by professionals. In response to the current problems of low registration thresholds for a large number of military accounts, arbitrary release of military information that disrupts the order of communication, the Measures regulate the conditions for identifying military accounts, and clarify the verification and reporting of military accounts. These requirements are in line with the national policy requirements for doing a good job in the classification and filing of mobile Internet accounts, which is conducive to further clarifying the responsibilities of website platforms and improving the pertinence and accuracy of military account supervision.
Transformation from two-dimensional combat to three-dimensional attack and defense
●From “able to fly” to “good at fighting”
The Army’s air assault force is showing its strength
PLA Daily reporter Kang Zizhan and special correspondent Zhang Shengtao reported: 10 years ago, Liu Zhenhua, as a pilot of the Army Aviation Force, was rated as an excellent pilot mainly for his excellent personal flying skills; now, as a pilot of the Army Air Assault Force, his compulsory training courses have added ground force combat formation, tactics and tactics application, etc. In the past 10 years, the upgrade of the “capability baseline” of Liu Zhenhua, a pilot of an Army Air Assault Brigade, is the result of the Army’s low-altitude combat force’s leap from “able to fly” to “good at fighting”.
On the eve of August 1, 2016, President Xi Jinping emphasized during his inspection of the newly established Army Headquarters that we must accelerate the transformation of the Army from a new starting point in accordance with the strategic requirements of mobile operations and three-dimensional offense and defense, and strive to build a strong, modernized new Army.
A year later, the military parade to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army was held at the Zhurihe Joint Training Base. The Chinese Army Air Assault Brigade made its debut in a new combat formation and was reviewed by President Xi.
Air assault, surging. Since its establishment, the Army Air Assault Force has conducted military exercises in all areas, covering mountains, dense forests, deserts, and grasslands. Iron wings are flying, eagles are lined up, ground forces and air forces are integrated within the organization, and energy is released within the system, giving the military exercise field a new look.
In the heart of the Central Plains, air-ground coordination has given birth to a new landscape. In the staff competition, the pilot won the championship; in the flight planning, the infantry squad leader served as the staff. Snipers “train in the air” and pilots “learn on the ground”. The air and ground subjects are integrated into the training, and the air and ground forces are truly combined and fight together.
When the pilots found the “enemy” target on the prairie, they did not choose to attack it head-on, but used the information system to send coordinates in the air and call for support from the ground advance forces to attack the “enemy” target. From the ground calling for air support to the air calling for ground support, the “call change” witnessed the expansion of the officers and soldiers’ battlefield vision.
In the northwest desert, an air assault brigade of the Army was ordered to carry out cross-domain maneuvers, flying and fighting along the way, and taking turns to use a series of new tactics such as surpassing attack operations, leapfrog assault operations, and key point control operations, showing the sharp edge of the Army’s new air assault combat force…
Following the footsteps of the Army’s airborne assault troops’ military exercises, one new battle scene after another comes into view: “One Tree High” is no longer “riding alone”, but a “synthetic eagle group” composed of multiple aircraft types, with modules organized and each performing its own duties; approaching the front line, firepower strikes are no longer the first choice, and the “electronic iron fist” is the first to be swung; commanders sit in the “air command post” to plan air-ground coordinated operations… The changes in the low-altitude battlefield highlight the strong battlefield adaptability and combat effectiveness of the air assault force.
At the beginning of the new year of 2022, President Xi signed the Central Military Commission’s Order No. 1 of 2022, issuing a mobilization order to the entire army to start training, requiring all levels of the army to vigorously promote system training. As a symbolic force in the army’s transformation from two-dimensional combat to three-dimensional offense and defense, the air assault force has shown many new changes in system training.
An airborne assault brigade of the Army joined hands with an Air Force unit to study the subject of assault infantry guiding Air Force fighters to carry out fire strikes; cooperated with multiple forces of the Joint Logistics Support Force to explore an integrated peacetime and wartime support model; and conducted joint training with a unit of the Strategic Support Force to enhance the unit’s electromagnetic interference and anti-interference capabilities… The airborne assault force system has more and more “close partners” in training, the “circle of friends” of new combat forces is getting bigger and bigger, and the unit’s actual combat capabilities continue to improve.
New forces contain new mechanisms, and new mechanisms give birth to new forces. President Xi stressed the need to strengthen the construction of new combat forces and increase the proportion of new quality combat power. During the adjustment and reform, the Army’s air assault force came into being, eliminating the geographical separation between air and ground, blurring the spatial concepts of frontier and depth, and updating the combat concepts of air and ground arms. The Chinese military’s land warfare pattern is being reshaped.
From looking at the battlefield head-on to looking down on the battlefield, and then to three-dimensionally perceiving the battlefield, the air assault force has demonstrated the huge potential of a new type of combat force, and the Army is accelerating into the era of three-dimensional combat.
“This is an unprecedented opportunity, but also an unprecedented challenge.” Tang Hongyi, the battalion commander of an air assault brigade of the army, led the officers and soldiers to transform from mountain infantry to air assault infantry. On the journey of reforming and strengthening the army, he dared not slack off for a moment, “Each generation has its own mission and responsibility. We must run the ‘first leg’ of air assault force construction and run the ‘our leg’ of the army’s transformation and development well.”
Short review
Accelerate transformation and molting to take off
■Kang Zizhan
Fly far and molt. The new army badge has a pair of “wings of soaring” on both sides, implying that the new army is “flying”. From the Army Aviation Corps to the Air Assault Corps, the transformation and reshaping of the army’s low-altitude forces is the result of the new world military revolution, and ahead is the strategic direction of the Chinese Army’s accelerated transformation.
President Xi has repeatedly stressed the need to strive to build a strong, modern, and new army. In today’s world, military technology is changing with each passing day, and the forms of war and winning mechanisms are constantly changing. The rise of the Army’s air assault force tells us that the system combat effectiveness of a force does not only come from the external system structure, but more depends on whether multiple forces can be effectively integrated; it is not difficult for new equipment to form combat effectiveness, but it is difficult to create a new “sword method” that adapts to the system. The new combat force should have a new charging posture, be brave to take the lead, forge ahead, and accelerate on the road of transformation.
Extraordinary achievements require extraordinary people. President Xi pointed out: “Now, the responsibility of strengthening the military has historically fallen on our shoulders. To shoulder this burden, we must dare to take on the responsibility. This is not only the expectation of the Party and the people, but also the political character that contemporary revolutionary soldiers should have.” In the new era of reforming and strengthening the military, the new army will take off and will surely write new glory on the journey of strengthening the military.
In mid-July 2021 World Internet of Things Expo held a press conference and revealed that the expo is scheduled to be held in Wuxi in early September. At that time, the expo will be themed “Intelligently Connecting Everything and Leading the Future with Digital”, focusing on showcasing the latest achievements in the global Internet of Things field.
The Internet of Things is changing people’s daily lives, quietly changing the form of modern warfare, and promoting the development of intelligent warfare.
Professor Chen Yingwen from the National University of Defense Technology tells you about the military Internet of Things——
Everything is connected, winning thousands of miles away
■Feng Zijian, Qu Shenghui, Qi Xucong
Schematic diagram of military Internet of Things technology simulation.
A “bridge” connecting the virtual world and the real world
The so-called Internet of Things can be simply understood as an Internet that connects everything. If the Internet is a “dialogue” in the virtual world, then the Internet of Things is a “bridge” connecting the virtual world and the real world.
The application of the Internet of Things had already appeared in wars under the name of “sensor networks” more than half a century before it attracted people’s attention.
In the 1960s, the “Ho Chi Minh Trail” on the Vietnam battlefield was covered with tens of thousands of “tropical tree” vibration sensors. These sensors are like a dense “spider web”, waiting for the “prey” to arrive. Whenever a person or vehicle passes by, the sensor detects the vibration generated by the target and records data such as its direction and speed.
At this time, tens of thousands of kilometers away, in an infiltration surveillance center code-named “Task Force Alpha”, US military technicians were receiving and processing relevant information sent back by the “sensor network”. Once a Vietnamese military convoy was discovered passing by, the command center would send instructions to the US troops stationed in Vietnam, instructing fighter planes to fly over the target and carry out bombing.
Due to the limited technology at the time, the sensors could only work for a few weeks. The “spider web” carefully built by the US military ultimately failed to prevent the Vietnamese army from transporting troops and supplies.
Although this “cooperative” combat method between humans and objects did not achieve any good results in history, it has prompted Western countries led by the United States to conduct in-depth research on Internet technology and continuously explore the interconnection between humans and objects, and objects and objects. Its highly informationized advantages are highlighted in many areas of military applications.
After decades of development, some military powers have successively developed a series of military sensor network systems, including the “Smart Dust” system for collecting battlefield information, the “Lumbas” system for remotely monitoring the battlefield environment, the “Sand Straight Line” system for monitoring the movement of weapon platforms, and the “Wolf Pack” system specifically for detecting electromagnetic signals.
Among them, the detection element of the “smart dust” system is only the size of a grain of sand, but it can realize all functions such as information collection, processing and sending, thereby enhancing the ability to control information during combat.
No combat entity will become an “island”
In the world of the Internet of Things, every grain of “sand” will have its network address. For the military Internet of Things, no operational entity will become an “island”.
During the first Gulf War, many weapons and equipment transported by the US military could not be found, resulting in a large waste of war resources. The reason is that the containers transporting weapons and equipment were not clearly marked, and personnel were unable to track the location of the transported weapons and equipment, which led to the loss of a large number of weapons and equipment.
Twelve years later, during the Iraq War, the US military installed radio frequency microchips on every container shipped to the Gulf region, and placed readers and writers according to transportation and storage needs, thereby achieving full tracking of personnel, equipment, and materials, greatly improving the effectiveness of military logistics support.
Foreign research data revealed that compared with the Gulf War, the Iraq War’s sea transport volume decreased by 87%, air transport volume decreased by 88.6%, combat equipment reserves decreased by 75%, and strategic support equipment mobilization decreased by 89%.
In fact, from the moment the electronic tags are attached and the sensing systems are installed, the originally silent equipment becomes like an organic life form that can sense and communicate with each other. Through the transformation of the Internet of Things technology, each combat entity such as combat personnel and combat equipment has become a “network node”. Through perception and communication with each other, the battlefield situation is clearer and combat operations are more efficient.
Take the personnel assessment network established by the Australian Department of Defense as an example: during combat, commanders can assess the physical functions and conditions of soldiers through sensors worn by soldiers, and then combine them with satellite positioning information to obtain the physical function status of all personnel. Commanders can use this as a basis for allocating troops, which can greatly improve the efficiency of battlefield decision-making.
Military IoT technology will play a big role in future battlefields
In today’s world, there are more and more similar military news——
In June 2016, the US military launched an airstrike using drones, killing 16 Taliban members; in September of the same year, Turkish security forces killed 6 terrorists under the guidance of their domestically produced drones.
In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the Middle East in 2020, a video released by Azerbaijan made many people feel the power of networked and intelligent weapons: after the drone discovered the enemy tank, it aimed and fired…
From sensing the battlefield situation to locking onto the target and then launching an attack on the target, the reason behind unmanned equipment becoming the main offensive entity is the huge support of military Internet of Things technology. This huge intelligent information network is like the “clairvoyance” and “super hearing” on the battlefield, allowing combat personnel to sit firmly in the “central military camp” and win the battle thousands of miles away.
“Everything is connected, and victory can be won thousands of miles away.” This is the development trend of military Internet of Things technology and an important feature of future intelligent warfare. In the era of the Internet of Everything, the military Internet of Things will connect several individual combat entities into intelligent combat groups and generate a smart combat system. In the future, it will only be necessary to give the smart combat system clear combat objectives, and military combat personnel will not have to participate in its execution process.
At present, the development of military Internet of Things technology still has a long way to go before it can realize the Internet of Everything, but we should be aware that when smart nodes reach a certain scale, the military Internet of Things will achieve a qualitative leap.
In future battlefields, military Internet of Things technology will surely play a big role in achieving victory through “connection”.
The metaverse is an artificial online virtual world that is born out of, parallel to, and independent of the real world. It is parallel to the real world, reacts to the real world, and integrates a variety of high technologies. These are the three major characteristics of the future metaverse. The operation of the metaverse conforms to the natural laws of human understanding and transformation of the world, and provides a new way of thinking to understand and discover the operating behavior, state, and laws of complex real systems, as well as a new means to explore objective laws and transform nature and society. Researching the application of the metaverse in the field of foreign military training and analyzing the opportunities and challenges that the metaverse brings to the field of military training have important theoretical and practical value in solving the key problems that need to be solved in military training in the intelligent era, promoting scientific and technological training, and promoting the innovative development of military training models.
Background of Cognitive Metaverse Empowered Military Training
The scientific and technological revolution has given rise to a new ecology of military training. Driven by the new scientific and technological revolution and the industrial revolution, cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things have accelerated their development. Technology giants have laid out the metaverse, and human real life has migrated to the virtual world more rapidly. The metaverse integrates a variety of emerging technologies, thus generating new Internet applications and new social forms that integrate the virtual and the real. Perception technology supports the integration of the virtual and the real in the metaverse, “AI+” technology supports the social nature of the metaverse, data transmission technology supports the real-time nature of the metaverse, electronic game technology supports the diversity of the metaverse, digital twin technology supports the sustainability of the metaverse, and blockchain technology supports the security of the metaverse. The future metaverse, where virtual and real are highly interconnected, is born out of, parallel to, and independent of the real world. It integrates all elements such as the Internet, virtual reality, immersive experience, blockchain, and digital twins to build a new basic ecology for intelligent military training.
The evolution of war has dominated the transformation and upgrading of military training. With the advent of the intelligent era, the war situation has accelerated its evolution towards informationization and intelligence. The informationized warfare system with “information acquisition and utilization as the core” will gradually transition to the intelligent warfare system with “intelligent simulation and expansion as the core”. The trend of long-range precision, intelligence, stealth, and unmanned weapons and equipment has become more obvious, and intelligent warfare has surfaced. At the same time, combat elements represented by artificial intelligence such as “AI, cloud, network, group, and terminal” and their diversified combinations have formed a new battlefield ecology. The metaverse has constructed a new battlefield space where virtual and real are integrated and parallel interactions occur. The traditional war winning mechanism is being profoundly changed. The development and changes in the form of intelligent warfare have compulsorily driven the transformation and reshaping of the military’s thinking and concepts, requiring the accelerated transformation and upgrading of military training, greater attention to the impact of technological development and changes on warfare, and the use of the “new engine” of training and warfare to achieve “accelerated” preparations.
Foreign militaries explore breakthroughs in military training models. In order to seize the strategic commanding heights of military intelligence, the world’s military powers attach great importance to the innovation of military training models. Some countries have begun to try to apply the metaverse and related technologies to military training. For example, the United States has successively released the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy and the Department of Defense Transformation Plan, focusing on building an “all-round army” and forming a “full spectrum advantage”. It has also simultaneously formulated the Training Transformation Strategic Plan and the Training Transformation Implementation Plan, and proposed the concept of a comprehensive training environment (STE), the core of which is immersive and integrated virtual training, which intends to integrate real-time, virtual, constructive and gaming environments into a comprehensive training environment. Russia also attaches great importance to the development of virtual training systems. Almost all of its advanced weapons and equipment are equipped with corresponding virtual training systems, and are moving towards universalization and embedding. The United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, etc. are also actively developing various professional military training virtual environments. Intelligent training supported by technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality is gradually becoming the mainstream of military training research in powerful countries.
Clarifying the Advantages of Metaverse-Enabled Military Training
The emergence of new concepts in military training. Only by leading the opponent in thought can we gain the upper hand in action. The emergence of disruptive technologies will inevitably rewrite the current military training rules and systems, and will also innovate the existing military training thinking concepts. On the one hand, the metaverse has set off a hurricane-like “brainstorm”, and the training thinking led by “intelligence” has organically connected training with actual combat, and upgraded to intelligent military training thinking. On the other hand, new technologies and new means represented by the metaverse empower military training, strengthen the concept of winning by science and technology and intelligent drive, and greatly improve the scientific and technological content of military training, in order to control the initiative in future wars. In the future, the metaverse will create more impossible possibilities by constructing a virtual battlefield space, designing wars and evolving wars.
Innovate new theories of military training. War is the area that needs innovation the most. Military training must adapt to the development of intelligent warfare, and theoretical innovation and training practice must be driven by both. Training transformation will not happen automatically. It requires not only a sharp and profound foresight to grasp the general trend, but also a scientific, powerful and solid theory to drive forward. On the one hand, by keeping up with the development of the times and starting from new concepts and new cognition, we can build a scientific theoretical system for metaverse-enabled military training. On the other hand, by following the laws of combat-training coupling, we can establish an innovative model of intelligent military training theory with the characteristics of the times, allowing the metaverse to empower and improve the efficiency of promoting the iterative development of military training transformation.
Transform the new military training model. The combat style determines the training mode, and intelligent warfare changes the “rules of the game”. Military training for the next war must adapt to the requirements of future wars by changing the training mode. First, it can build an intelligent blue army with “both form and spirit”. With the help of optimized AI technology, powerful computing power support, and realistic performance simulation, the Metaverse follows the evolutionary process of “knowing the enemy, imitating the enemy, surpassing the enemy, and defeating the enemy” to create an intelligent blue army with platform support and data empowerment, and carry out “real” confrontation training and effect evaluation in the Metaverse space. Second, it can carry out new domain and new quality combat training. The metaverse expands the practical application path with new domains and new types of combat forces as the leading elements, highlights the research and development of training methods and tactics that are compatible with advanced combat concepts and winning mechanisms, and creates new forms of training such as unmanned and seamless human-machine collaboration, becoming a new point of combat power growth. Third, it can cultivate new types of military talents. At present, the educational metaverse has led the intelligent transformation of education. In the future, the military metaverse will accelerate the realization of intelligent interaction between people and equipment, deep integration between people and systems, and adaptive evolution between people and the environment, and promote the integrated development of “commanders” and “fighters” into “scientists” and “technicians.”
Reshape the new ecology of military training. The multi-dimensional perception, virtual-real integration, free creativity, and open development of the metaverse will make the future metaverse a fully immersive, time-transcending, self-creating and developing space. First, create a digital twin “battlefield metaverse”. The “battlefield metaverse” will be a typical manifestation of the metaverse in the military field, with stricter security and confidentiality standards, stronger simulation computing capabilities, and more real-time and detailed interaction requirements. Secondly, create a full-dimensional three-dimensional metaverse training environment. The metaverse uses technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality to create an immersive and complex scene environment; using powerful data and network support, it builds a full-dimensional space such as land, sea, air, space, electricity, and the Internet. Furthermore, a Metaverse verification platform for weapons and equipment will be built. The platform will have functions such as new weapon and equipment design demonstration, weapon and equipment performance test, weapon and equipment compatibility test, and weapon system combat effectiveness test. In the future, the Metaverse will greatly shorten the timeline for weapons and equipment to go from “weak intelligence” to “strong intelligence” and then to “super intelligence”, realizing the intelligence multiplication effect of weapons and equipment.
Grasping the Key Points of Metaverse-Enabled Military Training
Focus on top-level design. From the perspective of the development of things, the metaverse is a new thing, and its maturity has yet to be verified. Intelligent military training is also a complex, arduous and long-term system engineering, which requires strengthening strategic planning and top-level layout. We should pay close attention to the development trends and technological trends of the metaverse, and scientifically formulate the development plan of the “training metaverse”. In the context of the integration of intelligence, informatization and mechanization, we should give full play to the outstanding advantages of the metaverse, such as enabling trainees to undergo immersive experiential training, so that the metaverse can not only be a display platform for virtual technology, but also a practical platform for improving the effectiveness of military training.
Strengthen technology research and development. From a technical perspective, the Metaverse has reintegrated existing technologies in the information and intelligent technology group, proposed an overall innovative concept, and provided comprehensive application scenarios, thereby giving birth to new vitality. To accelerate the development of the “training Metaverse”, we must speed up the research on basic software and hardware technologies such as algorithm engines and network communications, strengthen the research and development capabilities of core technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital twins, blockchain, and the Internet of Things, and at the same time strengthen the overall technical design and research and development of the Metaverse, such as immersion, sociality, openness, collaboration, and decentralization.
Create training types. From the perspective of time and space, the metaverse may create a vast virtual war space, recreate the war environment, present the war process, and virtualize the future of war. An intelligent military training operation system based on the metaverse should be built, military training concepts should be updated in a timely manner, and innovations in military training models, management support, and legal mechanisms should be deepened. A dynamic and high-level combat-oriented military training environment based on the metaverse should be built to fully support strategic, campaign, and tactical training as well as war simulations. At the same time, in the process of “intelligent adaptation” of military training, we will achieve the expansion of wisdom and intelligent evolution towards the unknown space of military training with “innovation, openness, diversified iteration, and new intelligent ecology”.
Attach importance to risk prevention and control. From the perspective of safety and controllability, the concept and technology of the Metaverse brings innovative opportunities to intelligent military training, but the potential risks associated with the technology itself cannot be ignored. The Metaverse is a huge technology group, and its system architecture, key technologies, and application environment are still in the development and implementation stage. The supporting protection system, safety technology, and management standards will bring security risks. In addition, the integrated application of various emerging technologies in the construction process, the complexity and confidentiality in the application process will be the unknown factors for the key prevention and risk challenges of the Metaverse in military training.
War and civilization always go hand in hand, and military traditions and cultural traditions always complement each other.
Once the ideological and cultural tradition, especially the military ideological and cultural tradition, is formed, it will produce an inertial force that cannot be underestimated. “In the source of Alexander’s victory, we can often find Aristotle.” The outstanding politicians, theorists and military strategists in history have all been influenced by the national ideological and cultural tradition, and their brilliant achievements have all shone with the glory of ideological and cultural tradition.
For thousands of years, the differences between Chinese and Western thought and culture have led to different emphases in the respective societies’ thinking about military activities and different characteristics in war practice, which directly affected the content and characteristics of Chinese and Western military thought and culture.
Guihe and Chongzheng
Human beings have created various civilizations in the long course of history. How different civilizations interact is an issue that no civilization can avoid. Chinese traditional thought and culture emphasize harmony, valuing harmony and pursuing harmony in diversity; while Western traditional thought and culture emphasize struggle, emphasizing control over everything and being the master of the world.
The culture of “harmony” is in the blood of the Chinese people, and “harmony” is the primary feature of traditional Chinese military thought and culture. When our ancestors created characters, they regarded “stopping war” as “martial arts”. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Shi Bo proposed that “harmony creates life, while sameness does not continue”, forming the idea of ”harmony but difference” in Chinese culture. The Book of History, Yao Canon, proposed that “the people are bright and the nations are in harmony.” After that, “harmony among nations” became a model of the Chinese worldview. In the early 15th century, Zheng He led the world’s largest fleet at the time and made seven overseas missions without causing any harm. Such a peaceful journey is unique in the world.
In contrast, traditional Western realism, as an important part of Western traditional thought and culture, believes that the world is essentially full of conflicts and confrontations of interests. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus believed that struggle is justice, and everything is created and destroyed through struggle. The famous ancient Greek reformer and military strategist Solon also believed that: “The reason why a civilization can grow and develop is because it has strong imperial ideals and desires for conquest; once these ideals and desires disappear, the entire civilization will dry up and die. Either conquer or be conquered, this is the law of survival of all civilizations.”
Now, some Western countries are trying to “format”, “standardize” and “unify” world civilization under the guise of “universal civilization”. However, one note cannot express a beautiful melody, and one color cannot depict a colorful picture. The unification of civilization will exhaust human creativity and lead to the rigidification and decline of human civilization. In this regard, historian Toynbee once said, “Humanity has mastered the means of highly technological civilization that can destroy itself, and at the same time is in the camp of extremely opposing political ideologies. The spirit it needs most is the essence of Chinese civilization – harmony”. “Harmony in diversity” can promote dialogue and integration of different civilizations and work together to build a community with a shared future for mankind that is inclusive of all civilizations.
Caution and militarism
War and peace are two major themes of human society. In terms of the basic attitude towards war, Chinese traditional thought and culture generally hold the concept of being cautious about war, while Western traditional realism is more inclined to praise and commend war.
In ancient China, wars were frequent. Many thinkers and military strategists closely linked wars with the lives of the people and the survival of the country. They put forward the idea of cautious warfare and pursued the “total victory” of “subduing the enemy without fighting”. Taoists believe that war is a major disaster. Laozi said: “War is an ominous tool.” The “Art of War” points out at the outset: “War is a major event of the state, a place of life and death, and a way of survival and destruction. It must be carefully considered.” Although Sun Tzu attached great importance to war, he also opposed war. In Sun Tzu’s view, “a destroyed country cannot be restored, and the dead cannot be resurrected. Therefore, wise rulers are cautious and good generals are vigilant. This is the way to ensure the safety of the country and the army.” He also clearly put forward three basic principles for limiting war: “Don’t move unless it is beneficial, don’t use unless it is necessary, and don’t fight unless it is dangerous.” Shang Yang also proposed that war is “fighting to end war”, and “the great law of war is to be cautious.” It can be said that the cautious warfare ideas of the pre-Qin scholars have continuously influenced later generations and gradually became the mainstream thought of China’s military tradition.
Western traditional realism holds a more positive view on war, believing that there is natural competition between people and that war itself is in line with human nature. Heraclitus said: “War is the father of all things and the king of all things.” In the eyes of the ancient Greeks, war is the main way to seek honor and become a hero. In Sparta, as long as “the monarchs give a little signal to fight, they will find many people who are willing to take up arms, and their only wish is to gain honor.” Since then, in the long history of development, traditional realism has always influenced the development of Western political philosophy and military philosophy. In modern times, the Western concept of advocating war and force has not been eliminated, and the two world wars have brought great disasters to mankind.
Today, after countless wars, more and more countries have realized that the law of the jungle is not the way for human coexistence, and militarism is not the way for human peace. Humanity is more capable than ever to move towards the goal of peace and development. However, we must also see that the world is not peaceful, and turning swords into plowshares is still a good wish of people. In order to win peace, we must make comprehensive preparations, which also includes research and preparation for war, in order to contain and prevent war. Therefore, being cautious in war should not only retain the traditional meaning of “winning without fighting”, but also add the meaning of “making peace without fighting” and build a mechanism to restrain war.
Kingly Way and Hegemony
In international exchanges, there has always been a debate between “kingly way” and “hegemonic way”. The core of kingly way is benevolence, while the core of hegemonic way is power. Mr. Sun Yat-sen once said that Eastern culture is kingly way, advocating benevolence, righteousness and morality; Western culture is hegemonic way, advocating utilitarianism and power.
It is a tradition of Chinese culture to first make a moral evaluation of war. Since the Han Dynasty, Confucianism has begun to dominate, and Confucian culture has occupied the dominant position in society. It has gradually formed a Confucian ethical order of “benevolence” inside and “ritual” outside, which is the cultural basis for the formation of China’s military tradition. Confucius once said: “Therefore, if people from afar are not convinced, cultivate culture and virtue to win them over.” Mencius also said: “Those who conquer people by force are not convinced by their hearts, because their strength is not enough. Those who conquer people by virtue are satisfied with their hearts and sincerely convinced.” Confucius and Sun Tzu also proposed that “those who have civil affairs must also have military preparations” and “command them with culture and unify them with military force.” In their minds, the benevolent are invincible in the world, and the virtuous are invincible. The way to win the world is the kingly way of practicing virtue and benevolence, not the hegemonic way of conquering by force. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Five Hegemons who rose in the chaos of war used cultivating virtue and strengthening the army as an inseparable double-edged sword to establish their hegemony. To practice the kingly way, one must win people over with virtue, rely on virtue, use peaceful means, value justice and reason, win over distant countries with virtue, and adapt to foreign countries. Winning with virtue can make people sincerely convinced, which is the highest realm of winning.
Western traditional realism believes that power is the main content of politics, and regards war as a means to win by violence. Force is the main way to deal with relations between countries. Take ancient Greece and ancient Rome as examples. From the founding of the country to the establishment of the country, from the acquisition of rule to the consolidation and maintenance of rule, they always put the pursuit of power first, and regarded the expansion of force and iron-blooded rule as the foundation of the country. In military policy and even national policy, the will of the ruling class is implemented in society more by the iron-blooded spirit. Sparta even stipulated in law that the responsibility and obligation of citizens is to fight and die in battle. However, history and practice have shown that absolute hegemony pursued by force will also put oneself in trouble and will inevitably be defeated or buried by force in the end.
At present, global governance has entered a critical stage, and mankind is facing a historical choice of where to go. Those countries that still cling to the Cold War mentality, hegemonism and power politics are the root cause of world conflicts and turmoil. The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind proposed by President Xi is a logical extension of China’s “internal harmony leads to external harmony, and internal harmony will inevitably lead to external harmony”, and is China’s value pursuit as a responsible world power. It brings to mankind not greed and demand, but the benevolence of “loving all people and all things”; it presents to the world not conquest, but the tolerance of “harmony among all nations”; it brings to mankind not war, but peaceful coexistence and common prosperity. This is precisely the wisdom contribution of the Chinese nation as an ancient nation with profound cultural heritage to the long-term development of all mankind.
Morality and interests
Human beings’ understanding and thinking about the origin of war has experienced a process of gradually rising from an intuitive and perceptual state to a logical and rational state. “Even war has rules.” On the ideological balance of balancing righteousness and interests, the Chinese and Western military traditions each have their own emphasis on the “moral” principle and the “interest” principle.
The view of righteousness and profit, “righteousness is in profit, and profit is in righteousness”, is an important essence of Chinese traditional culture, emphasizing that righteousness is more important than profit, giving up profit for righteousness, taking profit with righteousness, and thinking of righteousness when seeing profit. “A gentleman is concerned with righteousness, while a villain is concerned with profit” and “A gentleman loves money and gets it in a proper way”, these moral principles that every Chinese is familiar with have become an important cultural gene of our nation. In the ancient Chinese classics, history, and collections, there is almost no content that directly advocates that the purpose of war is to plunder profits, but more of it is accusations against such wars. The Mohists believed that wars were waged for the sake of moral punishment and to punish the unrighteous; Mencius pointed out that wars were waged to punish tyrants, such as the revolution of Tang and Wu; “Xunzi” emphasized that “war is used to suppress violence and eliminate harm”. Military strategists, who were in the main position of ancient military theory, usually used morality as the criterion for evaluating wars, and emphasized whether the use of troops should be considered in accordance with morality, and emphasized that “there is a legitimate reason for the war”, emphasizing that the purpose of war is to maintain morality.
The ancient Western thinking on the issue of war has always been based on the principle of interest struggle. Machiavelli, a famous scholar in the Renaissance, said bluntly: “In order to achieve national interests, no moral principles can be mentioned; as long as the goal is achieved, any means can be used.” Since the principle of interest was clearly running through early practice and cognition, wars in medieval Europe for the purpose of plunder were often naked. All the wars in the West have also confirmed this conclusion. No matter what the cause of the war is, there is a strong interest drive behind it.
Nowadays, some countries use their military superiority to interfere everywhere, and do things to grab interests under the guise of morality, which has torn the originally peaceful and tranquil countries into pieces and made the originally clear and peaceful world into a mess. War is the continuation of politics, and politics is not only the concentrated expression of morality, but also the economy. In the final analysis, war must reflect both the principle of interests and the principle of morality. Therefore, adhering to the correct view of justice and interests and insisting on the dialectical unity of interests and morality is the fundamental requirement of military activities. Only in this way can we avoid the strange phenomenon of winning tactically but losing strategically.
Spiritual and material
As the basic components of war power, people and things cannot be neglected. In this regard, Napoleon said that there are only two kinds of power in the world – sword and spirit. In general, Chinese traditional military thought and culture emphasizes strategy to defeat the enemy, adheres to the logic of wisdom plus strength, and pays more attention to the cultivation of military spirit, while Western traditional military thought and culture emphasizes strong soldiers to win, adheres to the logic of strength plus technology, and even develops into technological determinism.
Chinese traditional philosophy can be called wisdom philosophy, and Chinese traditional culture can be called integrity culture. The ancient sages often regarded reputation as more important than life, and attached more importance to the social significance and moral value of life. Ancient military strategists recognized the importance of morale very early, and often had classic discussions on this when discussing the view of war, strategic thinking and military management concepts, such as “to unite the army and gather the people, it is necessary to stimulate morale”, “if the morale is strong, they will fight, if the morale is lost, they will flee”, “victory is gained by prestige, defeat is lost by losing morale”, etc., and later in military books, there were special discussions on “inspiring soldiers”, “extending morale” and “moral warfare”. This reflects that the ancients attached great importance to the spiritual factors in combat. Han Xin’s battle with his back to the river and Xiang Yu’s burning of his cauldrons and sinking of his boats have become military practice models. Comrade Mao Zedong made a vivid interpretation when evaluating the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea – the enemy had “more steel and less morale”, while we had “less steel and more morale”. The strategic wisdom of maneuvering and calculating and the fighting spirit of facing death with indifference and marching forward courageously have always been our important magic weapon for creating miracles in war.
Western civilization’s thinking is often centered on nature, and focuses on applying the results of natural science. As early as the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian navy carefully designed and equipped warships, relying on the high speed, maneuverability and impact of warships to win. In the Middle Ages, the advancement of firearms technology finally broke through the shackles of feudal knight heroism. Since then, the West has placed more emphasis on keeping one eye on war practice and one eye on new technology. Since Copernicus published On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres in 1543, science and technology in the Western world have entered a period of rapid development. It was against this background that Western military technology emerged as a powerful tool for colonists to plunder and conquer the world. The West has always been extremely sensitive to accepting new technologies. Technological innovation and the equally important ability to respond quickly to such innovations soon became the characteristics of Western military culture.
At present, with the rapid development of science and technology and its continuous application in the military field, the great role of things in war is increasingly shown. In particular, the impact of advanced science and technology on the military field is unparalleled in any period in history. It is certainly one-sided to emphasize weapons and neglect spirit, but if it is overcorrected, it is also one-sided to emphasize spirit and neglect weapons. War practice tells us that although the spiritual power in war can make up for the disadvantages of weapons and equipment to a certain extent, it is not infinite. If we do not attach importance to weapons and equipment, the role of spirit in war cannot be maximized, and it will cost more to win in war. On the basis of adhering to the materialist view of history that “it is people rather than things that determine the outcome of war”, we must adhere to the dialectical unity of human factors and material factors, add scientific and technological wings to strategic wisdom and fighting spirit, continuously improve the proportion of scientific and technological composition of combat effectiveness, integrate human initiative with the basic role of things at a higher level, and comprehensively improve the combat effectiveness of the army.
Defense and Offense
Offense and defense are the most basic modes of warfare. Ancient China attached great importance to national integration and national unity, and emphasized the status of defense. It was necessary to maintain its national independence while not expanding outward. It adopted the strategic principle of active defense against foreign invasions. In ancient times, expansionism prevailed in the West, which mainly focused on dealing with foreign nations and paid more attention to offense.
Chinese civilization was born in the heartland of the Central Plains in the Yellow River Basin. It is an agricultural society and has been a multi-ethnic community since ancient times. Chinese traditional culture emphasizes stability, preservation, and restraint. Ancient China has always considered itself the center of the world. These are reflected in military thought, which is to cherish unity, focus on defense, regard internal peace as the top priority of military strategy, and place defense in an important position. There are many discussions about defense in ancient Chinese classics. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, when military strategists were most prosperous, military strategists such as Sun Wu, Wu Qi, and Sun Bin emphasized defense in general when discussing military affairs, and when discussing offense, they mostly discussed it from the perspective of combat and tactics. Mozi proposed the political and military concept of “non-aggression”. The book “Mozi” handed down from generation to generation describes Mozi and his school’s profound insights on military defense. The Great Wall of ancient China is a materialized symbol of defense thought, reflecting the guiding ideology followed by rulers of different periods in military strategy: advocating both maintaining the independence of their own nation and not expanding outward. The famous scholar John King Fairbank once said that China has always emphasized defensive warfare, which is completely different from the offensive theory of European imperialism.
The ancient West had a tradition of expansion to dominate. Western civilization originated from the Greek peninsula. The characteristic of maritime civilization that “the world is home” makes it mobile and aggressive. At that time, the national defense targets and war edges of those countries were mostly directed at foreign countries. In addition to fighting each other, the nations of Western Europe often united or independently used foreign forces. The places they went to were as close as the Mediterranean coast and as far as Asia, Africa and Latin America. They reflected the cultural characteristics of Westerners who admired force, liked expansion and adventure. For example, the Assyrian wars that broke out many times in history swept across West Asia and North Africa. With the Assyrian Kingdom as the center, various countries launched a melee. All countries that have been glorious and leading in the history of ancient Western countries have a strong desire for conquest. The rise of great powers is accompanied by expansion, hegemony and war. This is the theory in Western culture that a strong country must dominate.
The world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, and in the face of an international situation characterized by chaos and changes, and to adapt to the new requirements for the development of national strategic interests, we must unswervingly adhere to the strategic thinking of active defense, strive to build a military force that is commensurate with my country’s status and consistent with my country’s development interests, enhance the aggressiveness and initiative of military strategic guidance, carry out diversified military tasks in a broader space, firmly safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests, faithfully practice the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, actively fulfill the international responsibilities of a major power’s military, comprehensively promote international military cooperation in the new era, and strive to contribute to building a beautiful world of lasting peace and universal security.
