China Military Network Ministry of National Defense Network
Friday , August 13, 2021
Since the 21st century, global scientific and technological innovation has entered an unprecedented period of intensive activity. A new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is reshaping the global innovation landscape and reshaping the global economic structure. Some people therefore call the current era the era of “deep technology”.
The military field is the most sensitive to technological change. At present, some major disruptive technologies are constantly emerging, showing a trend of cross-integration and group leaps. Their military applications will bring about sudden and revolutionary consequences, and even bring about a new form of war.
Artificial Intelligence: Opening the Door to Intelligent Warfare
Artificial intelligence was born in 1956. Its essence is to simulate the human thinking process, that is, to make machines understand, think and learn like humans, form experience, and generate a series of corresponding judgments and processing methods. In the past 10 years, with the continuous development of new theories and technologies such as big data, neural networks, and deep learning, artificial intelligence has pressed the fast-forward button and started to develop rapidly, bringing fundamental changes to all areas of human society.
In 2016, the artificial intelligence program AlphaGo defeated the world Go champion Lee Sedol. By 2020, the latest algorithmic programs can teach themselves to play Go, chess and other games without even being told the rules of the game.
As a strategic technology leading a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, the application of artificial intelligence in the military field has accelerated the transformation of warfare from informationization to intelligence. This transformation will be full-dimensional and full-spectrum, involving almost all links in the military chain. The most prominent impacts basically include the following aspects:
——Assisting unmanned combat. The rapid development of artificial intelligence will greatly enhance the collaborative and autonomous combat capabilities of various unmanned combat systems. This will undoubtedly promote structural changes in the composition of combat forces, and unmanned combat mode will gradually become the “main theme” of war. In a simulated confrontation in August 2020, an intelligent system funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency controlled a fighter jet and defeated experienced air force pilots. The trend of unmanned combat seems to be increasingly unstoppable.
——Reshape command and control. Complex adaptive systems supported by artificial intelligence, such as swarm systems, will have increasingly strong self-organizing capabilities, thereby breaking the traditional strict hierarchical command system and incubating a new command and control model. The action control of a swarm composed of thousands of unmanned systems will be completed by an intelligent and efficient algorithm system, which can achieve a high degree of decentralization and dynamic aggregation, demonstrating a new concept of group intelligent combat.
——Achieve intelligent decision-making. That is, generate intelligent evaluation and auxiliary decision-making capabilities, realize automatic generation, dynamic optimization, and real-time adjustment of combat plans, and enable combat planning to flexibly adapt to changes in the mission environment and battlefield uncertainties. At present, the new generation of artificial intelligence technology is in a stage of vigorous development, and new technologies will continue to emerge.
Quantum technology: writing the winning code in “entanglement”
Quantum is the smallest, indivisible unit of energy. The biggest feature of quantum technology is that it can break through the physical limits of existing information technology, play a huge role in information processing speed, information capacity, information security, information detection accuracy, etc., and thus significantly improve human ability to obtain, transmit and process information, providing strong impetus for the evolution and development of the future information society.
Quantum theory has gone through more than a hundred years of development since its birth. The development of quantum technology has directly given rise to modern information technology. Nuclear energy, semiconductor transistors, lasers, nuclear magnetic resonance, high-temperature superconducting materials, etc. have come into being, changing human production and life. In recent years, the continuous combination of quantum mechanics and information technology will usher in a new quantum technology revolution, impacting the traditional technology system and even causing the reconstruction of the traditional technology system.
Compared with the macroscopic physical world, quantum has many wonderful properties, the most representative of which are quantum superposition and quantum entanglement. Quantum superposition means that a quantum can be in different states at the same time, and can be in a superposition of these states. A vivid metaphor is the cat in a state of “both dead and alive” imagined by physicist Schrödinger. Quantum entanglement means that independent particles can be completely “entangled” together. No matter how far apart they are, when the state of one quantum changes, the other will change accordingly like “telepathy”.
These special properties of quantum contain great military potential. In quantum detection, quantum communication, quantum imaging, quantum computing, etc., they are gradually showing great military application value. For example, by taking advantage of the characteristics of quantum state superposition and the inability to accurately copy unknown quantum states, quantum codes that cannot be deciphered can be developed.
In addition, based on the characteristics of quantum entanglement, the high correlation between two microscopic particles with a common source can be utilized, and entangled photons can be used as light sources to achieve quantum imaging, which can greatly improve the resolution and anti-interference ability of imaging.
Gene technology: a new weapon that can be “edited”
Genes are the genetic information that controls various characteristics of organisms and are known as the “master switch” of various life activities of organisms. Gene editing is equivalent to a pair of “gene scissors”, which can accurately achieve gene “modification” such as insertion, removal, and replacement of specific target genes of organisms, thereby achieving control over the genetic information of organisms.
In 2012, researchers from the United States and Sweden found a very effective pair of “gene scissors”, namely the CRISPR/Cas9 system, which can cut any genome at any desired location. Since then, the development of gene editing technology has achieved unprecedented “acceleration”, realizing gene editing of fruit flies, mice, pigs, sheep, rice, wheat and other organisms, and also providing new medical means for treating diseases such as tumors, AIDS, and thalassemia.
While genetic technology is gradually unlocking the mysteries of life, it will also cause unpredictable military security issues. If gene editing is used in the development of biological weapons, it means that developers can modify genes to obtain new pathogenic microorganisms according to their own needs, or implant biological gene fragments with different characteristics and transform existing biological warfare agents, or even artificially design and synthesize new viruses that do not exist in nature. These may produce new biological weapons that humans cannot prevent and control, and even use the precision of genetic technology to make attacks more targeted. This new coronavirus epidemic has made the world suspicious of Fort Detrick and more than 200 American overseas biological experimental bases. The United States should disclose more facts and give an explanation to the international community.
Brain science: heading towards the battlefield of “brain control”
The human brain is a highly complex information processing system that consists of billions of neurons that communicate with each other and complete a variety of cognitive tasks in an overall coordinated manner.
The brain’s complex neural information processing and cognition are so complex that even supercomputers pale in comparison. Therefore, brain science research is regarded as the “ultimate frontier” of natural science research, and the International Brain Research Organization believes that the 21st century is the “era of brain science.”
In recent years, major countries in the world have announced the launch of brain science research programs. With the emergence of new imaging technologies, convergence technologies, and computing and information communication technology platforms, brain science research has made new breakthroughs in the fields of neural circuits, brain-like intelligence, and brain-computer interfaces.
As a branch of cognitive science, the “brain-computer interface” technology was born in the 1970s. It collects the EEG signals generated by the activity of the cerebral cortex nervous system, and converts them into signals that can be recognized by computers through methods such as amplification and filtering, so that external devices can read the brain’s neural signals, identify people’s true intentions, and achieve effective control of external physical devices. In other words, a certain operation is performed by the human brain without the need to complete it through the body.
As a new type of human-computer interaction, brain-computer interface technology provides a new intelligent development direction for the control of weapons and equipment. Realizing the direct control of weapons and equipment by the human brain and giving them the intelligent features of “moving at will” are becoming the goals pursued by Western military powers. In 2013, the US Department of Defense disclosed a research project called “Avatar”, which plans to control remote “machine warriors” through thoughts in the future to replace soldiers in the battlefield and carry out various combat tasks.
If the above research is regarded as “brain control”, then the use of “brain-computer interface” and other technical means to interfere with, destroy or even control people’s neural activities and thinking abilities is the so-called “brain control”. For example, electromagnetic waves and sound waves are used to affect the normal activities of human brain cells, and even suggestions and commands are directly “projected” into the human brain. In March 2018, a Western country proposed the “Next Generation Non-Invasive Neurotechnology (N3)” plan to develop a new generation of non-invasive two-way brain-computer interfaces to further improve the high-level interaction capabilities of soldiers and weapons and equipment.
In the future, the rapid development of brain science will give rise to a new cognitive domain combat model centered on the brain, and “brain control” will also become a new battlefield for the competition in the cognitive domain.
At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and military revolution is in a “qualitative change period”. Science and technology have never had such a profound impact on national security and military strategy as today. In the face of the rapid development of science and technology, we must vigorously enhance our scientific and technological cognition and acumen, strive to seize the commanding heights of science and technology, seek military competitive advantages, and seize the initiative in future wars.
Professor Liu Yangyue from the College of Arts and Sciences at the National University of Defense Technology
●To understand the laws of intelligent warfare, we must grasp the foundation of intelligence and autonomy, the key of building a war knowledge and action system, and the essence of the changes in the connotation of war power.
●War leaders must examine intelligent warfare dynamically, keenly capture the new elements spawned by intelligent warfare, correctly analyze the changes in the relationship between the new elements, and constantly re-understand intelligent warfare.
President Xi pointed out that we should seriously study the military, war, and how to fight, and grasp the laws of modern warfare and the laws governing war. Today, the intelligent characteristics of war are becoming increasingly prominent, and intelligent warfare has already shown its early form. In order to seize the initiative in future intelligent warfare, we should actively follow the development of modern warfare, keep close to the actual military struggle preparations, proactively understand the laws of intelligent warfare, deeply grasp its guiding laws, focus on answering questions such as “what is it” and “how to do it”, and constantly innovate war and strategic guidance.
Answering the question “What is it?” and understanding the laws of intelligent warfare
Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: “The laws of war are a problem that anyone who directs a war must study and must solve.” Today, as intelligent warfare begins to emerge, we should proactively understand “what” intelligent warfare is. Otherwise, we will not be able to solve “how to do it,” let alone control future wars.
The laws of intelligent warfare are the reconstruction of the war knowledge and action system. The laws of intelligent warfare, like the laws of cold weapon warfare, hot weapon warfare, mechanized warfare, and information warfare, are the inherent and essential connections between the elements of war. The difference is that it has new elements and new modes of composition between elements. It is essentially the reconstruction of the war knowledge and action system caused by the intelligent revolution. Today, to understand the laws of intelligent warfare, we must grasp the foundation of intelligence and autonomy, grasp the key to building a war knowledge and action system, and grasp the essence of the change in the connotation of war power. Mastering these laws can overcome the chaos and uncertainty in future wars and find order and certainty from them. This is the objective requirement for dealing with intelligent warfare.
The laws of intelligent warfare are the basis of the laws of war guidance. In “Problems of Strategy in China’s Revolutionary War”, Mao Zedong first analyzed the characteristics of China’s revolutionary war and revealed the laws of war, and then “derived our strategies and tactics from this”, that is, the laws of war guidance; in “On Protracted War”, he first explained “what it is”, and then turned to the question of “how to do it”, reflecting a logical order of the cognitive process. Today, the study of intelligent warfare should still follow this order, and neither put the cart before the horse, nor reverse the order; nor add, reduce or replace links. On the basis of mastering the fundamental law of intelligent autonomy, we must reveal the laws of war guidance such as autonomous perception, autonomous planning, autonomous implementation, autonomous linkage, and autonomous evaluation.
If you don’t understand the laws of intelligent warfare, you can’t guide the war. “Sun Bin’s Art of War” points out: “Know, win” and “Don’t know, don’t win.” Tao is the law of war. If you master it and act in accordance with it, you can win; otherwise, you will lose. Mao Zedong also emphasized: “If you don’t know the laws of war, you don’t know how to guide the war, and you can’t win the war.” Similarly, mastering the laws of intelligent warfare is the premise for correctly guiding intelligent warfare. Otherwise, it is inevitable to be confused by the superficial phenomena of intelligent warfare. Today, we need to analyze the basic, long-term and subversive impact of intelligent technology groups on war, and study what intelligent warfare looks like? What are the laws? How should it be fought? These are all major issues that must be answered in the guidance of intelligent warfare.
Solve the “how to do it” problem and reveal the guiding principles of intelligent warfare
The guiding laws of intelligent warfare are the medium for guiding practice by using the laws of intelligent warfare, playing the role of “bridge” and “boat”. We should solve the problem of “how to do it” on the basis of answering “what is it” and propose the “swimming skills” of intelligent warfare.
The guiding laws of intelligent warfare are the laws of applying the laws of war. The purpose of understanding the laws of war is to apply them. Marx pointed out: “Philosophers only interpret the world in different ways, but the problem is to change the world.” Similarly, intelligent warfare itself forces commanders to discover the laws. Once discovered, they will combine initiative and use the laws to serve winning the war, which will inevitably lead to the emergence of guiding laws for intelligent warfare. Today, war is the continuation of politics, which is still the law of intelligent warfare. From this, it can be concluded that intelligent warfare must obey the guiding laws that serve politics; soldiers and civilians are the basis of victory, which is still the law of intelligent warfare. From this, it can be concluded that the guiding laws of mobilizing the people in the broadest possible way are derived, and so on. These guiding laws for intelligent warfare are derived from the laws of war and are “swimming skills in the sea of intelligent warfare.”
Give full play to the active role of people in intelligent warfare. Engels said: “It is people, not guns, who win the battle.” The guiding laws of intelligent warfare are the laws of practice and use. It is not a simple “transfer” or “copying” of the laws of intelligent warfare, but it can be transformed into the guiding laws of war with the addition of people’s subjective initiative. Today, military talents who master artificial intelligence are not only the operators of intelligent weapons, but also the creators of artificial intelligence. People still occupy a dominant position in the intelligent human-machine system and are the decisive factor in the victory or defeat of intelligent warfare. Commanders should give full play to their initiative on the basis of mastering the laws of intelligent warfare and adhere to the “technology + strategy” combat theory generation model, so as to change from answering “what is” to solving “how to do”.
The laws governing intelligent warfare are constantly evolving. War is a “chameleon”. Intelligent warfare itself will also go through different stages such as germination, development, and maturity, which will inevitably lead to the development of laws governing intelligent warfare. War leaders must dynamically examine intelligent warfare, keenly capture the new elements of intelligent warfare, correctly analyze the changes in the relationship between the new elements, and constantly re-recognize intelligent warfare. We must keep up with the historical process of the accelerated advancement of war forms towards intelligence, grasp the direction of development of intelligent warfare and the pulse of the times, push the research on the laws governing intelligent warfare to a new level, and seize strategic initiative and opportunities on future battlefields.
Keep a close eye on the “initiative” and continue to innovate intelligent warfare and strategic guidance
As the military is ever-changing, water is ever-changing. As intelligent warfare has already arrived, we must follow the laws and guidance of intelligent warfare, keep close to the actual military struggle preparations, strengthen research on opponents and enemy situations, take the initiative to design “when”, “where” and “who to fight”, innovate war and strategic guidance, and firmly grasp the strategic initiative of future wars.
You fight yours, I fight mine. The highest realm of the art of war guidance is that you fight yours, I fight mine. “Each fights his own” requires commanders to use their own forces independently and autonomously in future intelligent wars, no matter how complex and difficult the environment is. In particular, enemies with high-tech equipment may cause a temporary local situation where the enemy is active and we are passive. At this time, we must use comprehensive means such as politics, economy, and diplomacy to make up for the disadvantages in weapons with an overall favorable situation, quickly reverse this situation, and restore the active position. If you are led by the nose by your strategic opponent, you may suffer a great loss.
Seize the opportunity and use the troops according to the time. The Six Secret Teachings pointed out: “The use depends on the opportunity.” Jomini emphasized: “The whole art of war lies in being good at waiting for the opportunity to act.” On the one hand, if the time is not right, do not force it. Be cautious about the opportunity, and have great patience before the opportunity comes to prevent strategic blind action. On the other hand, the time will not come again, so don’t miss the opportunity. Be good at seizing the opportunity, and once you encounter a favorable opportunity, you must resolutely use it and avoid being timid. It should be pointed out that we should look at the issue of the maturity of the opportunity dialectically. The future intelligent war is changing rapidly, requiring quick decision-making, but in the face of uncertain factors, we must make careful decisions. Sometimes making a decision early may be more effective than making a more perfect decision tomorrow. Therefore, we must dare to take a little risk, otherwise we will sit back and watch the loss of the opportunity for success.
Different domains are different, and operations are based on the local conditions. Clausewitz pointed out: “War is not like a field full of crops, but like a field full of trees. When harvesting crops, you don’t need to consider the shape of each crop, and the quality of the harvest depends on the quality of the sickle; when chopping down trees with an axe, you must pay attention to the shape and direction of each tree.” Different strategic spaces lead to different wars, and war guidance is also different. At present, the battlefield space is constantly expanding from traditional spaces such as land, sea and air to new spaces such as space and the Internet. War leaders should explore new intelligent war laws and guidance laws based on the characteristics of multi-domain, three-dimensional, and networked.
Aim at the opponent and win by taking advantage of the enemy. The Art of War by Sun Tzu states: “Follow the enemy and decide the battle.” Jomini also said: “No matter who you are, if you don’t understand the enemy, how can you know how to act?” Looking to the future, smart strategists should classify combat targets into primary combat targets and general combat targets, actual combat targets and potential combat targets according to their importance and urgency, and comprehensively and objectively understand the strategic intentions, force deployment, combat concepts, etc. of different combat targets, propose new intelligent war guidance laws that can give full play to the advantages of their own combat power, and implement correct war actions.
In short, the laws of intelligent warfare are the laws of the cognitive process, solving the problem of “what”; the guiding laws are the laws of the practical process, solving the problem of “how”. The two are dialectically unified and inseparable, forming a complete chain of understanding and guiding intelligent warfare. “Victory is not repeated, but should be formed in infinity.” Today, war and strategic leaders should, based on objective conditions, deeply explore and flexibly apply the laws of intelligent warfare and the laws of war guidance, and innovate war and strategic guidance in line with the times.
(Author’s unit: Academy of Military Science, Institute of War Studies)
Source: Liberation Army DailyAuthor: Hao Jingdong Niu Yujun Duan FeiyiEditor-in-charge: Wang Feng2021-03-16 10:12
In today’s world, the new military revolution has entered a critical qualitative change stage. Intelligent warfare with ubiquitous intelligence, interconnectedness, human-machine integration, and full-domain collaboration is accelerating. In order to consolidate its position as the world’s hegemon, the United States actively promotes the third “offset strategy” to “change the future war situation”, formulates an artificial intelligence development strategy, accelerates the actual combat testing and exercises of artificial intelligence, and regards intelligent technology as the core of a “disruptive technology group” that can change the “rules of the game”. Military powers such as Russia, Britain, and Israel are unwilling to lag behind and are also stepping up to improve their respective strategic layouts in the field of artificial intelligence. As competition among major powers intensifies, military intelligence will become the new commanding heights of the arms race.
【Key words】military conflict, artificial intelligence strategy, AI war 【Chinese Library Classification Number】D81 【Document Identification Code】A
In 2017, Master, known as the evolved version of “AlphaGo”, swept the top Go players on the online Go platform and won 60 consecutive games; in 2019, in the StarCraft II man-machine competition, two top human players were defeated with a score of 1:10; in 2020, in the “Alpha” air combat competition held by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the United States Department of Defense, the F-16 piloted by the US military ace pilot was completely defeated by the artificial intelligence fighter with a score of 0:5. These events show that the era of artificial intelligence that humans both look forward to and fear has quietly arrived.
Engels said, “Once technological advances can be used for military purposes and have been used for military purposes, they will immediately and almost forcibly, and often against the will of the commander, cause reforms or even changes in the way of warfare.” At present, the militarized application of artificial intelligence has caused “the winning mechanism of war to undergo an unprecedented transformation, and the center of gravity of combat power generation is undergoing a historic shift.” A new round of scientific and technological revolution, industrial revolution and military revolution provides support for the intelligent era of “controlling energy with intelligence.”
Military artificial intelligence demonstrates its powerful power in modern warfare
The drive of the arms race among the major powers is triggering a chain of changes in the military field. In recent years, the world situation has been in a turbulent period, which has triggered a series of geopolitical crises. The concept of “hybrid warfare” has entered the war stage, and military artificial intelligence has entered a new stage of development. The rapid development and comprehensive integration of technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and reconnaissance and strike drones have demonstrated their powerful power in modern warfare. Whether it is the physical domain of firepower strikes, the interest domain of economic sanctions, or the cognitive domain of public opinion and psychological control, it makes people deeply feel that military artificial intelligence is becoming popular.
Assassinating senior Iranian officials, AI becomes a “killing tool” for the US military. On January 3, 2020, then-US President Trump ordered the US military to launch an airstrike on Baghdad International Airport in Iraq without the consent of the US Congress. This airstrike directly killed Iranian senior official Soleimani. Soleimani is the top commander of the “Quds Brigade” of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Why was he successfully assassinated by the United States in the capital of Iraq? It is reported that the “Reaper” drone carried out this mission, which “targeted and eliminated” Soleimani by projecting “Hellfire” missiles. The operation was very secretive and could not be detected by radar. Even the US spy satellites did not know the location of the “Reaper” at the time. It should be emphasized that the assassination of Soleimani was an illegal and brutal act of the United States using terrorist means, “one of the war crimes committed by the United States by abusing force”, and its so-called “rules-based international order” is a pure whitewash, and its essence is a true manifestation of hegemony.
In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel launched the “first AI war”. In May 2021, Israel launched “Operation Rampart” against Hamas. During the 11-day battle in the Gaza Strip, Israel relied on advanced information collection technology, analytical algorithms and AI-led decision support systems to quickly and effectively select attack targets and use the most appropriate ammunition as needed. Through hundreds of intensive and precise strikes from multiple combat platforms, it paralyzed Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization’s rocket positions, rocket manufacturing plants, ammunition depots, military intelligence agencies, senior commanders’ residences and other key facilities, destroyed several autonomous GPS-guided submarines of the Hamas Maritime Commando, and killed Bassem Issa and other Hamas senior commanders and senior agents.
It has been disclosed that the artificial intelligence system used in the war is an algorithm system developed by an elite team code-named 8200. The three systems “Alchemist”, “Gospel” and “Deep Wisdom” hatched by the team were all used in this military operation. The “Alchemist” system can analyze the enemy’s attempt to launch an attack and provide real-time warnings through the communication device carried by individual soldiers. The information fed back by the soldiers will also be collected again and evaluated for the next attack; the “Gospel” system can generate target strike suggestions and mark target information in real time. Commanders can flexibly select important targets and implement strikes based on battlefield conditions; the “Deep Wisdom” system can accurately draw a map of the tunnel network of Hamas armed organizations in the Gaza Strip through intelligence collection and big data fusion such as signal intelligence, visual intelligence, personnel intelligence, and geographic intelligence, forming a situation map that fully reflects the conflict area scenario. The use of these technologies has greatly enhanced the Israeli army’s battlefield situation awareness capabilities. A senior intelligence official of the Israel Defense Forces said that this is “the first time that AI has become a key component and combat power amplifier in fighting the enemy.” The Israeli military believes that the use of AI has brought “super cognitive ability” and even directly calls it “the first artificial intelligence war.”
In order to seize the technological commanding heights, countries are stepping up their strategic layout of military intelligence
Artificial intelligence is regarded as a key strategic technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In order to gain the upper hand in the new round of disruptive technology competition, the world’s military and technological powers, led by the United States, have stepped up their strategic layout around military intelligence, and are working intensively and spare no effort.
The United States attempts to rely on artificial intelligence to maintain its military hegemony. Since 2016, the U.S. Department of Defense has successively issued documents such as “Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence”, “National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan”, and “Department of Defense Artificial Intelligence Strategy”, which have elevated the development of artificial intelligence to the national strategic level. In order to establish its own “rules of war”, the Pentagon has successively formulated artificial intelligence technology research and development plans, key project concepts, and technical standards and specifications, and focused on building a research and development production and combat application system. In summary, the U.S. military’s layout for the future development of artificial intelligence can be roughly divided into three stages: near, medium, and long. In the first stage, before 2025, with unmanned, stealth, and remote combat platforms as the development focus, a “global surveillance and strike system” will be built, and unmanned systems will become the main means of military intervention by the U.S. military. In the second stage, before 2035, with intelligent combat platforms, information systems, and command and decision-making systems as the development focus, an intelligent combat system will be initially established, and unmanned systems will surpass manned systems and occupy a dominant position in combat. The third stage, before 2050, will focus on the development of technologies such as strong artificial intelligence, nanorobots, and brain networking, fully realize the intelligence of combat platforms, information systems, and command and control, promote the expansion of combat space to biospace, nanospace, and intelligent space, and strive to seek the intelligent combat system to enter the advanced stage.
The various branches of the U.S. military have also launched and continuously updated their artificial intelligence development plans. The ground unmanned autonomous system has the “U.S. Ground Unmanned System Roadmap” and the “U.S. Robot Development Roadmap”, etc., and plans to achieve intelligent formations and coordinated actions of manned and unmanned by 2030, and realize the mobility of synthetic forces by 2040. The aerial unmanned autonomous system has a special drone development plan, and the long-term goal is to form a complete aerial unmanned equipment system covering high, medium and low altitudes, large, medium, small and micro, ordinary and long flight time. The maritime unmanned autonomous system is divided into two directions. One is to create a new underwater combat system, using multiple unmanned submarines to form a mobile integrated reconnaissance, detection, and strike network, and form an “advanced underwater unmanned fleet”; the other is to accelerate the development of surface unmanned ships and make breakthroughs in the “human-machine cooperation” of surface unmanned ships. In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense has also established partnerships with industry, academia and allies to ensure access to the most advanced artificial intelligence technology support.
Russia has also put forward its own strategic plan in the field of artificial intelligence. In recent years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has attached great importance to the development of artificial intelligence. He proposed that artificial intelligence is the future for both Russia and all mankind. Whoever becomes a leader in this field will stand out and gain a huge competitive advantage. Artificial intelligence is related to the future of the country. Russian Chief of General Staff Gerasimov said that the Russian army is “developing non-nuclear strategic deterrence forces” through artificial intelligence equipment. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Russian army is stepping up the research and development and deployment of military robots, and combat robots will be put into mass production.
As early as November 2014, Russia adopted a plan to develop combat robots by 2025, proposing that robot systems will account for 30% of the entire weapons and military technology system by 2025. In December 2015, Putin signed a presidential decree to “establish a national robotics technology development center”, providing institutional support for the development of artificial intelligence from a strategic level. In recent years, Russia has successively issued strategic plans such as “Future Russian Military Robot Application Concept”, “National Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy by 2030”, and “Russian Federation Defense Plan 2021-2025”, carried out war games in various complex combat environments, studied the impact of artificial intelligence on various levels such as strategy, campaign and tactics, and strived to build a multi-level and multi-dimensional unmanned intelligent combat system that is interconnected.
From the perspective of medium- and long-term goals, attacking unmanned equipment is the focus of Russia’s development. In 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed at the Russian Federation Security Conference that in the next 10 years, the Russian army will vigorously develop combat robot systems that can perform tasks on the battlefield. The short-term goal is to build a multifunctional combat robot force with certain autonomous control capabilities by 2025. According to information, the force will be composed of 5 types of robots, each of which can be independently divided into combat units and can basically complete battlefield combat tasks without or with very little human intervention. At present, the Russian army has started the experimental design work of the heavy and light robot “assault” and “comrade” systems. Some experts analyzed that the combat robot force may become an independent and brand-new branch of the Russian army.
The United States is wooing its allies to prepare for AI wars, and the AI arms race is intensifying. In recent years, in order to maintain its absolute leading position in the field of artificial intelligence, the United States has stepped up its own AI militarization construction while trying to win over its allies to jointly develop a joint operation AI system in the name of serving the alliance combat system. According to the U.S. “Defense News” website, in September 2020, the U.S. Joint Artificial Intelligence Center has launched the “Defense Partnership Program”, which covers the United Kingdom, France, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden and other countries. It aims to develop an AI system that is interconnected with the above-mentioned allies and lay the foundation for joint operations in intelligent warfare. It is reported that relevant defense representatives of the United States and its allies have held several meetings around this plan. The United States also claimed that this defense cooperation will “open the door” to more interested U.S. allies.
The United States’s push will undoubtedly intensify the AI arms race among the world’s major military powers. Among the United States’ many allies, Israel’s AI level is the best. Israel is the world’s largest exporter of military drones; it has the world’s first controllable autonomous unmanned vehicle, the Guardian, which has been equipped to the troops; it is the only country in the world, except the United States, equipped with unmanned surface vessels, and has many types of unmanned surface vessels such as the Protector, Stingray, and Seagull.
Other major countries are also stepping up their layout in the field of artificial intelligence. The United Kingdom has formulated an artificial intelligence development path of “universities as the source, military-civilian integration”, and issued the “National Artificial Intelligence Strategy” and the “Robots and Artificial Intelligence” strategic plan. France has formulated the “French Artificial Intelligence Strategy” and the “French Artificial Intelligence Plan”. Since 2018, it has increased its defense budget year by year and continuously increased investment in the research and development of artificial intelligence weapons. Germany has the world’s largest artificial intelligence research center. In 2018, it issued the “Artificial Intelligence Strategy” and planned to create an “Artificial Intelligence Made in Germany” brand by 2025. Japan has successively issued the “Artificial Intelligence Strategy”, “New Robot Strategy” and “Comprehensive Science and Technology Innovation Strategy”, and established the “Innovative Intelligence Comprehensive Research Center” to focus on the development of artificial intelligence-related technologies. In January 2021, the Australian Department of Defense issued the “Fighting the Artificial Intelligence War: Operational Concepts for Future Intelligent Warfare”. This document focuses on how to apply artificial intelligence to land, sea and air combat.
As some experts have said, “Intelligent technology is a double-edged sword. While it promotes the evolution of warfare to intelligent warfare, it also brings about a series of new war ethics issues and dilemmas in the law of war.” What changes will artificial intelligence bring to human society? This issue deserves in-depth thinking and continued attention.
(The author is the director of the News Research Department of Guangming Daily)
【References】
①Wu Mingxi: Intelligent Warfare—AI Military Vision, Beijing: National Defense Industry Press, January 2020.
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⑤He Fuchu: “The Future Direction of the New World Military Revolution”, Reference News, August 23, 2017.
⑥Ma Junyang: “Russian-made unmanned intelligent weapons debut in Syria”, People’s Liberation Army Daily, December 30, 2019.
Geng HaijunPeople’s Forum (July 1, 2022, Issue 03)
At present, judging from the reform and development of the establishment system in major countries in the world, the military is developing towards a lean, small, efficient, intelligent, and integrated “man-machine (robot-drone)” direction, seeking to coordinate and fight together with robot soldiers, drones and human soldiers. According to statistics, the armies of more than 60 countries in the world are currently equipped with military robots, with more than 150 types. It is estimated that by 2040, half of the members of the world’s military powers may be robots. In addition to the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Iran and other countries that have successively launched their own robot warriors, other countries have also invested in the research and development of unmanned weapons.
The world’s military powers will set off a wave of forming unmanned combat forces to compete. The so-called unmanned combat forces are a general term for combat robots or battlefield killing robot systems. With the development of various types of information-based, precise, and data-based weapons and equipment, intelligent platforms have become the driving force for pre-designed battlefields, combat robots have become the main force on the battlefield, and the combination of man and machine has become the key to defeating the enemy. In the future, battlefield space forces will highlight the three-dimensional unmanned development trend of land, sea, and air.
USA Today once published an article titled “New Robots Take War to the Next Level: Unmanned Warfare,” which described unmanned warfare like this: drone fleets swarm in, using sophisticated instruments for detection, reconnaissance, and counter-reconnaissance; after locking onto a target, they calmly launch missiles; automatically programmed unmanned submarines perform a variety of tasks including underwater search, reconnaissance, and mine clearance; on the ground battlefield, robots are responsible for the delivery of ammunition, medical supplies, and food… In future wars, these may become a reality.
On land, various robots that can perform specific tasks are highly integrated mobile strike platforms with mechanization, informatization, and intelligence. For example, unmanned tanks are unmanned tracked armored platforms that are mainly controlled by their own programs. They can be remotely controlled by soldiers, and are dominated by long-range attack intelligent weapons and informationized weapons. They can automatically load ammunition and launch autonomously, and carry out long-range indirect precision strikes, effectively reducing the casualties of soldiers. In the ocean, various unmanned submarines, unmanned warships, etc. can sail thousands of miles and perform various maritime combat missions without the need for onboard personnel to operate. In the air, the human-controlled drone system deployed in actual combat is a drone system platform with its own reconnaissance and judgment, human control, integrated reconnaissance and attack, autonomous attack, and human-machine collaboration.
The use of drone weapons in wars highlights their combat capabilities, which will inevitably lead the armies of countries around the world to form unmanned combat units in full swing. In the Iraq War, the United States began to test the actual combat capabilities of unmanned combat vehicles. In March 2013, the United States released a new version of the “Robotics Technology Roadmap: From the Internet to Robots”, which elaborated on the development roadmap of robots, including military robots, and decided to invest huge military research funds in the development of military robots, so that the proportion of unmanned combat equipment of the US military will increase to 30% of the total number of weapons. It is planned that one-third of ground combat operations in the future will be undertaken by military robots. It is reported that the US military deployed the first future robot combat brigade (including at least 151 robot warriors) before 2015. In 2016, the US military conducted another experimental simulation test of the “modular unmanned combat vehicle” in a multinational joint military exercise. In 2020, the US Pentagon issued a contract with a price tag of 11 million US dollars to form a “combined arms squad” with the ability to cooperate with humans and robots, and plans to complete the construction of 15 future combat brigades by 2030. All squad members have human-like vision, hearing, touch and smell, can send information and attack targets in a timely manner, and can even undertake tasks such as self-repair and vehicle maintenance, transportation, mine clearance, reconnaissance, and patrol. The US Daily Science website reported that the US Army has developed a new technology that can quickly teach robots to complete new crossing actions with minimal human intervention. The report said that the technology can enable mobile robot platforms to navigate autonomously in combat environments, while allowing robots to complete combat operations that humans expect them to perform under certain circumstances. Currently, US Army scientists hope to cultivate muscle cells and tissues for robots for biological hybridization rather than directly extracting them from living organisms. Therefore, this combination of muscle and robot reminds the author of the half-cyborg Grace in the movie “Terminator: Dark Fate”.
On April 21, 2018, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) special forces launched a raid against extremist terrorists in Derbent, Dagestan, and for the first time publicly dispatched armed unmanned combat vehicles equipped with machine guns as pioneers. During the 2018 Russian Red Square military parade, the United States discovered a large number of Russian “Uranus-9” robots and other combat systems that had exchanged fire with Syrian anti-government forces in southern Syria, and showed their appearance characteristics to the audience. In August 2015, the Russian army used combat robot combat companies to carry out position assaults on the Syrian battlefield. The tracked robots charged, attacked, attracted the militants to open fire, and guided the self-propelled artillery group to destroy the exposed fire points one by one. In the end, the robot combat company took down the high ground that is now difficult for Russian soldiers to capture in one fell swoop in just 20 minutes, achieving a record of zero casualties and killing 77 enemies.
According to the British Daily Star website, after the British Army conducted a large-scale combat robot test at an event called “Autonomous Warrior 2018”, it unified drones, unmanned vehicles and combat personnel into a world-class army for decades to come. Future British Army autonomous military equipment, whether tanks, robots or drones, may have legs instead of tracks or wheels. In early 2021, after the UK held the “Future Maritime Air Force Acceleration Day” event, it continued to develop a “plug-and-play” maritime autonomous platform development system, which, after being connected to the Royal Navy’s ships, can simplify the acquisition and use of automation and unmanned operation technologies.
In addition to the development of robots by Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, other powerful countries have also successively launched their own robot warriors. It is expected that in the next 20 years, the world will usher in robots on land, sea, and air to replace soldiers to perform high-risk tasks. The future battlefield will inevitably be unmanned or man-machine integrated joint combat operations. The world’s military powers will launch a human-machine (drone) integrated combat experiment
The style of air combat is always evolving with the advancement of aviation technology. Since 1917, with the successful development of the world’s first unmanned remote-controlled aircraft by the United Kingdom, the family of unmanned equipment has continued to grow and develop, and various drones are increasingly active in the arena of modern warfare.
Since the 21st century, with the large number of drones being used on the battlefield, the combat style has been constantly updated. In the Gulf War, drones were limited to reconnaissance, surveillance and target guidance, but in the Afghanistan War, Iraq War and the War on Terrorism, the combat capabilities of drones have become increasingly prominent, and the combat style and methods have shown new characteristics, allowing countries around the world to see drones as a sharp sword in the air, thus opening the prelude to the integrated combat test of man-machine (drone).
It is reported that the total number of drones in NATO countries increased by 1.7 times between 1993 and 2005, reaching 110,000 by 2006. The United States, other NATO countries, Israel, and South Africa all attach great importance to the development and production of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and multi-purpose drones.
In 2019, more than 30 countries in the world have developed more than 50 types of drones, and more than 50 countries are equipped with drones. The main types are: “password” drones, multi-function drones, artificial intelligence drones, long-term airborne drones, anti-missile drones, early warning drones, stealth drones, micro drones, air combat drones, mapping drones, and aerial photography drones. The main recovery methods: automatic landing, parachute recovery, aerial recovery, and arresting recovery.
On September 14, 2019, after Saudi Aramco’s “world’s largest oil processing facility” and oil field were attacked, the Yemeni Houthi armed forces claimed “responsibility for the incident” and claimed that they used 10 drones to attack the above facilities. On January 3, 2020, Qassem Soleimani, commander of the “Quds Force” under the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was “targeted and eliminated” in a drone raid launched by the United States at Baghdad International Airport in the early morning of the Iraqi capital. At the end of 2020, in the battle between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh (Nagorno-Karabakh region), it was obvious that drones played an important role in the conflict between the two sides. In particular, many military experts were shocked by the videos that the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense kept releasing of the TB-2 “Flagship” and Israeli “Harop” suicide drones just purchased from Turkey attacking Armenian armored vehicles, artillery, cars and even infantry positions and S-300 air defense missiles. In December 2020, local conflicts in the Middle East and Transcaucasus showed that drones are playing an increasingly important role. Based on this, some military experts even predicted that the 21st century will be the “golden age” for the development of drones. Drones are bound to completely replace manned aircraft and become the “battlefield protagonist” of the 21st century.
Currently, the US Air Force plans to expand the teaming of manned and unmanned platforms between drones and manned aircraft, and by 2025, 90% of fighters will be drones. In other words, larger aircraft (F-35 fighters or F-22 fighters) can control a nearby drone fleet. For example, the F-35 fighter is like a flying sensor computer, which can obtain a large amount of data, and communicate, analyze and judge on its own, and finally upload the conclusion to the pilot’s helmet display. The pilot analyzes and processes the information obtained, formulates a combat plan based on the combat plan, battlefield situation, and weapons equipped by the formation, and then issues it to the drone… to achieve the purpose of manned aircraft commanding drones to cooperate in combat. In other words, the mixed formation of manned and unmanned aircraft will change the previous ground control to air control of drones, and the pilot will directly command the combat operations of drones. The US military envisions a modular design so that soldiers can assemble drones after taking out the parts of drones from their backpacks when needed in future battlefield operations, and can also use 3D printing drones. In August 2020, the U.S. Air Force defeated top F-16 fighter pilots in a simulated air battle with AI, which also proved that AI pilots can “think” creatively and quickly, and it may not be long before they surpass the skills of human pilots. The U.S. Navy’s new MQ-25 “Stingray” carrier-based unmanned tanker will be tested in 2021 and have initial operational capability in 2024, which will help expand the combat radius of aircraft carriers.
Since 2013, Russia has been equipped with a large number of drones, of which unmanned reconnaissance aircraft alone exceeded 2,000 by the end of 2019, most of which are light drones, such as the Kalashnikov drones that participated in the military operations in Syria. In the next step, each brigade or division-level unit of the Russian Army will have a drone company, and the airborne troops will also be equipped with a large number of drones. The Russian Northern Fleet will have a drone regiment, and some modern Russian warships will also be equipped with drones. In addition, from 2021, the “Orion” reconnaissance and strike drone developed by the Kronstadt Group will be equipped with the Russian army. This heavy drone can carry a variety of guided ammunition to perform combat missions. In addition, the Russian army is also testing two heavy drones, the “Altair” and the C-70 “Hunter”. These are enough to show that Russia has made significant progress in the field of drone research and development.
Israel is a true pioneer in the field of drones. The drones it develops are not only advanced, but also exported to other countries. It has equipped its troops with hundreds of drones, including the “Bird’s Eye” series of single-soldier drones, the “Firefly” drone, the light “Skylark-I” drone, the light “Hero” drone, the medium “Skylark-II/III” drone, the “Heron” drone, etc. In the mid-1980s, Israel had developed a land-based launch and patrol drone named “Harpy” or “Harpy”. The Harpy is a “suicide drone” capable of autonomous anti-radar attacks. It weighs 135 kg, can carry 32 kg of high explosives, and has a range of 500 km. Due to confidentiality reasons, the specific number and type of drones equipped by the Israel Defense Forces are not yet known. In order to deal with threatening targets such as enemy ground-to-ground missiles, Israel Aircraft Industries is developing a high-altitude, long-flight stealth unmanned fighter. The aircraft combines stealth technology with long-range air-to-air missiles, can carry Moab missiles, penetrate into the rear of the enemy’s battle zone, and intercept and attack ground-to-ground missiles in the boost phase.
On February 5, 2013, the British army stationed in Afghanistan used a micro unmanned helicopter for the first time to carry out front-line work of spying on military intelligence. This unmanned helicopter is equipped with a micro camera, which can transmit the captured images to a handheld control terminal in real time; it can fly around corners and avoid obstacles to identify potential dangers. Next, the UK plans to enable one manned aircraft to command five unmanned aircraft at the same time. According to a report on the website of the British “Times” on January 26, 2021, the British Ministry of Defense invested 30 million pounds to develop the first unmanned aerial vehicle force in Northern Ireland. According to reports, the contract for the design and manufacture of the prototype has been given to the American “Spirit” Aerospace Systems. The company has a branch in Belfast, and the contract is expected to provide 100 jobs. The British Ministry of Defense plans to start manufacturing the first prototype of this new type of unmanned aerial vehicle by 2025. It will be equipped with missiles, reconnaissance and electronic warfare technology equipment, becoming the British Army’s first unmanned aerial vehicle capable of targeting and shooting down enemy aircraft and avoiding surface-to-air missile attacks. Its partner manned fighters will be able to focus on missions such as electronic warfare, reconnaissance and bombing, thereby reducing costs and the high risks faced by British aircrews.
The French Navy will form its first carrier-based drone squadron at a base near Toulon, the 36F carrier-based aircraft squadron of the French Naval Aviation. The squadron will be equipped with S-100 drones and carried on the Navy’s Mistral-class amphibious landing ship. The formation of this carrier-based drone squadron reflects the French Navy’s desire to integrate drone expertise into a single professional team. Previously, the French Navy discussed the establishment of a dedicated drone squadron and the option of equipping the 31F, 35F or 36F squadrons with drones.
At the Paris Air Show in June 2004, the full-scale model of the NX70 Neuron unmanned combat aircraft displayed by the French Dassault Aviation Company rekindled people’s interest in the development of European drones. Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates…some new countries have disrupted the geopolitical landscape of drones and are writing a new page.
It can be predicted that drones will become the biggest highlight in the development of weapons and equipment in various countries around the world, and become the “trump card” of land warfare, naval warfare, air warfare, and space warfare in the 21st century. It will become a new combat force in offensive and defensive operations. It can not only use the various ground attack weapons it carries to strike enemy ground military targets in frontline and deep areas, but also use air-to-ground missiles or bombs to suppress enemy air defense weapons; it can not only use weapons such as anti-tank missiles to attack enemy tanks or tank groups, but also use weapons such as cluster bombs to bomb enemy ground forces; it can not only detect targets and judge the value of targets and then launch missiles autonomously, but also deceive and interfere with enemy command and control systems, etc. The world’s military powers will set off a battle to form a “man-machine (robot drone)” integrated force
With the deepening of military-civilian integration, the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, and the rapid development of big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things, not only will the development of unmanned weapons and equipment bring about tremendous changes, but it will also subvert the existing military force formation form. The “human-machine (robot-drone)” integrated intelligent army is bound to come.
In December 2015, in addition to sending traditional combat forces to the Syrian battlefield, the Russian army also sent a robot combat company mainly composed of unmanned combat platforms to participate in the battle for the first time. The company adopted a new combat mode of mixed manned and unmanned formations, built an intelligent combat system with the “Andromeda-D” automated command system as the core, and launched an attack on Hill 754.5 using a combination of full-dimensional reconnaissance and saturation attack, successfully seizing the hill. A few years ago, U.S. Navy officials in charge of expeditionary operations mentioned the vision of building a thousand man-machine combined warships, that is, a larger fleet of unmanned ships controlled by humans and coordinated with each other. The U.S. Navy announced that it plans to build an unmanned fleet of 10 large unmanned surface ships in the next five years for independent operations or joint operations with surface forces. According to the conceptual plan currently disclosed by the U.S. Navy, the unmanned fleet composed of large unmanned surface ships will mainly assist the Navy in completing highly dangerous combat missions. By combining with the Aegis combat system and other sensors, the coordinated combat capabilities of manned and unmanned systems will be enhanced. Its deployment will help reduce the demand for the number of large manned warships and reduce casualties in combat. According to the National Interest Network on January 20, 2021, the U.S. Navy Chief of Operations Michael Gilday released the “Navigation Plan of the Chief of Naval Operations” document on January 11, calling for the establishment of a mixed fleet of man-machine ships including large warships, various types of unmanned ships, submersibles and air strike equipment to prepare for all-domain operations in the new threat environment in the next few decades. The document states: “It is necessary to establish a larger fleet of underwater, surface and water platforms that meet the strategic and campaign needs of the troops, and a mixture of manned and unmanned platforms.”
In the “man-machine (robot-drone)” integrated forces, artificial intelligence technology is used to achieve an organic combination of “man-machine”, and cloud computing, new algorithms, and big data are used to formulate “man-machine” collaborative combat plans. Artificial intelligence is like an engine, big data + cloud computing is like a spaceship, and intelligent robots are astronauts. The organic combination of the three will surely add wings to the tiger and integrate man and machine. The future army is a human-machine integrated army. The squad and platoon commanders are gradually replaced by robots. Robots are gradually transformed from human control to autonomous decision-making or mind control through human brain cells. There may also be canteen-free barracks in the military camps. The military management may also be led by one or several military personnel to lead multiple or even dozens of intelligent robot teams with different division of labor tasks to complete the combat training management tasks that were previously completed by squads, platoons, and companies. Or there may be only one military commander in the command and control center for military training, and all intelligent robots in the training grounds may be controlled through video command and control for confrontation training, or remote control robot commanders may issue new training instructions, adjust task deployment, and change training grounds in real time.
The urgent need for the intelligent quality of military talents will also force the readjustment of the setting of the first-level military disciplines in the field of artificial intelligence. In the future, military academies will also open intelligent robot control disciplines, establish relevant human-machine integration laboratories and training bases, and focus on training intelligent professional military talents who understand computer control programs, intelligent design and management, image cognition, data mining, knowledge graphs, and can systematically master intelligent science and technology and have innovative consciousness. Future military talents must be proficient in intelligent technology, big data applications, and cloud computing, especially in the use of 3D or 4D printing technology to make various military equipment at any time, proficient in the control procedures, command methods, command issuance, and adjustment of tasks of intelligent robots, and proficient in the essentials of human-machine integrated autonomous combat coordination, so as to achieve the best combination of human information technology quality and efficient operation of intelligent robots. In addition, it is not ruled out that human-machine integration squads, combat simulation centers, imaginary enemy forces, combat units, intelligent headquarters, unmanned brigades, divisions, etc. will be established. By then, the military chief may also have one human and one machine, or the robot may serve as a hand or deputy.
In recent years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology and its widespread application in the military field, the form of war and combat style have been constantly changing. Some foreign academic articles believe that artificial intelligence is reshaping the form of combat forces, enhancing the effectiveness of combat systems, improving the effectiveness of combat command, and improving the quality of combat coordination, promoting profound changes in combat activities.
Reshaping the combat force
These academic articles point out that combat forces are mainly composed of combat personnel, weapons and equipment, and organizational structures, and are undergoing tremendous changes under the influence of artificial intelligence technology.
From the perspective of personnel structure, with the widespread application of artificial intelligence technology and related equipment systems in the military field, the demand for professionals with the ability to develop, manage, use and maintain artificial intelligence technology has increased significantly, and the proportion of technical personnel in combat forces will continue to increase. Frontline combat personnel are no longer just direct operators of weapons, but are gradually transforming into battlefield monitors, system commanders and key decision makers in human-machine collaborative operations, and the requirements for their scientific and technological literacy and information processing capabilities have been greatly improved.
From the perspective of the equipment system, intelligent weapons and equipment such as drones, unmanned combat vehicles, and intelligent missiles will appear in large numbers and become an important part of the equipment system. These equipment are highly accurate and flexible, with stronger autonomous combat capabilities, and can independently complete tasks such as reconnaissance and strikes, greatly changing the traditional equipment structure and combat mode. In addition, traditional weapons and equipment will also accelerate intelligent transformation by adding intelligent sensors, communication modules, and automatic control systems, so as to have the ability to interconnect and cooperate with artificial intelligence systems. For example, old tanks can be upgraded and transformed to realize functions such as automatic driving, automatic aiming, and intelligent ammunition loading, thereby improving overall combat effectiveness.
From the perspective of combat unit formation, unmanned combat systems will gradually develop from auxiliary combat forces to independent combat units and organize them, relying on their unique advantages in high-risk and high-intensity combat environments. Research reports from some think tanks in Western countries believe that drone swarm combat forces and unmanned combat vehicle battalions will become common combat formations, which can complete a variety of tasks such as reconnaissance and surveillance, intelligence analysis, and firepower strikes. In order to give full play to the respective advantages of artificial intelligence and human warriors, human-machine mixed formations will also become the main form of future combat forces. In this formation, human warriors and intelligent weapons and equipment work closely together to complete combat missions.
Enhance combat system effectiveness
Judging from the evolution trend, intelligent technology will integrate unmanned equipment across domains and empower traditional combat platforms, and will become the “enabler” of future system warfare.
At present, many military experts in Western countries believe that artificial intelligence can conduct a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of various elements of the combat system, identify weak links and optimization space in the system, and provide a scientific basis for the construction and adjustment of the combat system. By optimizing the structure and function of the combat system, the overall effectiveness and stability of the combat system can be improved, making it more competitive when facing a changing battlefield environment and a powerful combat system.
During the combat process, artificial intelligence can analyze the combat systems of both sides in real time, predict the opponent’s possible actions and weaknesses, propose targeted system confrontation strategies, and continuously adjust and optimize according to the actual situation in the combat process to achieve efficient operation of one’s own combat system and improve the quality and effectiveness of combat system confrontation.
Western militaries believe that based on the advantages of artificial intelligence empowerment, they can greatly enhance security risk defense capabilities. By automatically predicting, identifying, discovering, and handling complex security risks, they can autonomously protect personnel, equipment, and materials from various attacks, improve all-domain and all-round defense capabilities, and ensure the safety and stability of the combat system.
Improving combat command effectiveness
At present, artificial intelligence has been deeply integrated into all aspects of combat command, affecting the external manifestations and main activities of combat command. Human-machine intelligent fusion control supported by artificial intelligence technology will become the basic form of combat action control.
Some foreign research institutions have found that artificial intelligence systems can quickly analyze the situation based on real-time battlefield situations and a large amount of historical data, generate multiple combat plans, and timely deduce and evaluate plans, adjust and optimize actions, provide commanders with more scientific and reasonable decision-making suggestions, and efficiently guide the execution of plans, so that combat planning can keep up with the rapidly changing battlefield rhythm. Especially when facing rapidly changing battlefield situations, it can help commanders make accurate judgments more quickly.
With the continuous development of artificial intelligence technology, some intelligent combat systems have a certain degree of autonomous decision-making capabilities. In certain situations, such as facing sudden threats or the temporary appearance of fighter jets, combat command systems assisted by artificial intelligence can make decisions and take actions autonomously within the preset rules and authority range, shorten the decision-making chain, and improve the response speed and flexibility of combat. When the combat terminal has stronger intelligent autonomy, it can even realize the self-generation, self-evaluation, and self-adjustment of combat plans, breaking through the limitations of human reaction capabilities and forming a more adaptive combat command.
Many experiments have proved that based on the accumulation of massive combat data and the enhancement of big data analysis technology, artificial intelligence technology can accurately calculate the entire process of combat planning under simulation conditions, helping commanders to accurately analyze the situation in advance, comprehensively judge trends, and reasonably plan trends. Then, through combat simulation, simulation and deduction, etc., it can virtually carry out activities such as calculation of combat force requirements and optimization of tactics and actions. In the planning process, it can scientifically and dynamically adjust combat plan strategies to form the best option, provide more reliable reference basis for combat command, and improve the accuracy of command and control.
Improve the quality of combat coordination
As artificial intelligence technology is deeply integrated into the combat system, the responsiveness of various combat elements on the battlefield continues to improve, the response time is gradually shortened, the adaptability level is gradually enhanced, and the quality of combat coordination is continuously improved.
Some military experts in Western countries believe that the battlefield of the future will be cross-domain, networked, and nonlinear. Artificial intelligence can break the boundaries between various combat domains and combat elements through efficient algorithms, making the coordination between different combat forces closer and more efficient. Based on artificial intelligence technology, autonomous coordination and cooperation between manned and unmanned combat forces can be achieved, so that manned and unmanned combat forces can complement each other and complement each other, significantly improving combat effectiveness. Moreover, the application of unmanned combat systems is becoming more and more extensive. Artificial intelligence technology can perform cluster control and collaborative management of a large number of unmanned combat platforms, achieve efficient coordination and task allocation between them, and improve the overall effectiveness and safety of unmanned combat.
China Military Network Ministry of National Defense Network
Source: China Military Network-People’s Liberation Army Daily Author: Yang Lianzhen Editor-in-charge: Yang Fanfan
2022-04-22 06:42
Combat management is the foundation for winning modern wars and the core of the modern combat system. It is the planning, organization, coordination and control of personnel, equipment, information, resources, time and space and other elements during the combat process.
Combat management system refers to the command information system used to support combat management activities, including intelligence collection, information transmission, target identification, threat assessment, weapon allocation, mission planning, etc. It has gradually developed with the evolution of war and technological progress.
Combat Management System: The Core of Modern Combat System
Schematic diagram of the combat management system
Past and present life
Implementing timely and accurate command and control of combat operations and making timely and decisive combat decisions are the goals and dreams that commanders have always pursued in different war periods. Before the emergence of scientific management, there was no concept of combat management in war, and naturally there was no combat management system. However, simple combat management activities and systems have always been associated with war and developed in an integrated manner.
The core of combat management is to ensure that commanders and troops can exchange information and instructions smoothly. In the ancient combat command system, gongs, drums, and flags were called the “three officials”. “When words cannot be heard, gongs and drums are used; when sight cannot be seen, flags are used.” Sight and hearing are the primitive means of command and control.
After the invention of the telegraph, telephone, and radio, long-distance and rapid transmission of combat orders and combat information became a reality, and the scope of combat management shifted from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. The war decision-making of “planning and winning thousands of miles away” is no longer a myth. Of course, traditional battlefield management methods are not completely ineffective. For example, in the Korean War, due to limited communication conditions, our army still used bugles to transmit combat orders to the company and below, and there were more than 20 types of bugle calls related to combat. “The sound of bugles from all sides rose up,” and the bugles on the Korean battlefield once frightened the US military. Ridgway wrote in his memoirs: “As soon as it sounded, the Chinese Communist Army would rush towards the coalition forces as if it were under a spell. At this time, the coalition forces were always beaten back like a tide.”
At the beginning of the 20th century, the concept of scientific management gradually gained popularity, and the military quickly applied it to combat. The term “combat management” first appeared in the US Air Force, where combat managers provided long-range target indication and voice guidance to fighters based on radar detection. The core combat organization is called the BM/C3 system, namely Battle Management and Command, Control, and Communication. In 1946, the first electronic computer “ENIAC” was successfully developed, and the military began to use computers to store and process various data related to combat. In 1958, the US military built the world’s first semi-automated combat management system-the “Seqi” air defense command and control system, which used computers to realize the automation of part of the information collection, processing, transmission and command decision-making process for the first time. In the same year, the Soviet Army built the “Sky No. 1” semi-automated air defense command and control system. Combat management systems began to appear on the war stage, and human-machine collaborative decision-making gradually became the main form of combat decision-making for commanders. During the “Rolling Thunder” campaign of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military commanded more than 5,000 aircraft to dispatch 1.29 million sorties and dropped 7.75 million tons of bombs, which would have been impossible to achieve by manual command alone.
The combat management system has gone through weapon-centered, platform-centered, network-centered, and system-centered construction stages, and has gradually been able to receive and process information from sensors and other sources in multiple domains, perceive and generate combat situation maps in real time, automatically implement command and control of troops and equipment, and intelligently assist commanders in making decisions, involving the army, navy, air force and other military services.
For example, the Israeli Army’s “Ruler” combat management system uses a single-soldier digital device to connect to a channel state information device to provide real-time situational awareness and command and control information for troops performing tactical operations and fire support. The U.S. Navy’s “Aegis” combat system uses a multi-task signal processor to integrate air defense and anti-missile capabilities, and realizes the integration of shipborne phased array radars, command decisions, and weapon control. The NATO Air Force’s ACCSLOC1 system, based on network distributed deployment, integrates 40 types of radars and more than 3,000 physical interfaces, and undertakes air operations such as mission planning, combat command, and combat supervision. From the launch of the first Gulf War to the Libyan War, the time from sensor information acquisition to firing by the U.S. military has been shortened from 24 hours to 2.5 minutes.
Features
The combat management system is a rapidly developing and constantly improving distributed operating system. It mainly collects and processes sensor data, facilitates the transmission and integration of various types of information, conducts situation identification and prediction, generates combat plans, completes action evaluation and selection, and issues combat orders to weapon platforms and shooters. Its essence is to achieve an efficient combat “observation-judgment-decision-action” cycle (OODA loop).
The combat management system widely uses situation assessment and prediction, combat space-time analysis, online real-time planning, combat resource management and control, and combat management engine technologies, and adopts a “cloud + network + terminal” technical architecture based on information technology.
For example, the U.S. military took the lead in using information technology to build a C4ISR system that integrates command, control, computers, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, laying the foundation for the combat management system. In the Afghanistan War, the C4ISR system achieved near-real-time transmission of combat information to combat platforms for the first time. With the continuous maturity of sensors, networks and artificial intelligence, technologies such as intelligent situation understanding and prediction, intelligent information push, intelligent task planning, intelligent collaborative control, intelligent rapid reconstruction and intelligent parallel command and control are having an increasingly significant impact on combat management systems.
Combat management systems usually support functions such as situational awareness, mission planning, engagement management, communications, modeling, simulation and analysis, and test training. For example, a missile defense combat management system mainly includes command and control, engagement management, and communications. The command and control function enables pre-battle combat planning and battlefield situation awareness; the engagement management function enables auxiliary combat decision-making, allocation of anti-missile weapons, and completion of strike missions; and the communication function enables the transmission and sharing of intelligence and data among the anti-missile units in the system.
The combat management system is an open and complex system. The structure determines the function. Different system structures determine the functional expansion of different systems: the ship’s self-defense combat management system enables the ship to have a strong self-defense capability through automated weapon control regulations, collaborative engagement management systems and tactical data links; the electromagnetic combat management system improves the planning, sharing and mobility of the electromagnetic spectrum by integrating and displaying battlefield electromagnetic spectrum data; the individual combat system enhances the soldier’s mobility, support, lethality and survivability by integrating individual protection, individual combat weapons and individual communication equipment.
Combat management systems generally have the characteristics of integration, automation, optimization, and real-time. The combat mode of modern warfare is complex and the battlefield scale is expanding. The requirements for force control, resource integration, and task scheduling have increased, and system integration must be achieved. The French Army’s “Scorpion” system fully integrates tanks, armored vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles, drones, and attack helicopters into the same combat group, and links all platforms and combat units in the task group.
With the increase of combat elements in modern warfare and the expansion of battlefield perception space, the command automation system that relies heavily on people can no longer fully adapt, and the system must be automated. All operating functions of Pakistan’s combat management artillery control system are fully automated, “providing an automated solution for preparing, coordinating, transmitting, executing and modifying fire support plans and firing plans.”
The pace of modern warfare is accelerating and battlefield data is massive. It is necessary to quickly grasp the situation and make decisions efficiently, and it is necessary to achieve system optimization decision-making. Military powers are combining artificial intelligence, cloud computing, the Internet of Things and big data technologies to facilitate faster decision-making in multi-domain operations.
Future Development
Traditional combat management systems place more emphasis on pre-established engagement sequences and combat rules. However, future wars will emphasize the confrontation between systems, and it is impossible to exhaust all situations in advance. The battlefield information that needs to be mastered is also becoming more complex and massive. For this reason, the armies of various countries have begun to abandon the traditional method of developing combat management systems for each combat domain separately, and are network-centric and supported by artificial intelligence, trying to help commanders make combat decisions more quickly and realize real-time connection between sensors in each combat domain and any shooter.
The combat management system will promote the implementation of combat concepts. The “Advanced Combat Management System” developed by the US Air Force plans to connect all military services and their weapon platforms in real time in a military Internet of Things. Its core is to seamlessly link various intelligence reconnaissance platforms, command and control platforms, strike platforms and combat management platforms with various cross-domain capabilities, convert intelligence and target indication data into timely and usable information, shorten the “discovery-positioning-tracking-targeting-strike-assessment” cycle, and execute combat operations at a speed that opponents cannot keep up. The Russian military proposed the “military unified information space” theory and organized the development of the “automatic control system” for integrated joint operations of land, sea and air networks. By establishing a network-centric command model, it attempts to integrate the command, communication, reconnaissance, firepower, and support of the entire army, realize cross-domain operations in the true sense, and improve battlefield situation awareness and combat command efficiency.
The combat management system will rely on artificial intelligence technology. The application of artificial intelligence will not only multiply the capabilities of weapon systems, but will also fundamentally change the implementation of the OODA loop. In future combat management systems, artificial intelligence technology will become the core support and driving engine, and the key factor is the quality of the algorithm. The system will have built-in upgradeable artificial intelligence, and people will be in a supervisory or collaborative state to minimize manual input, spontaneously identify and classify threat targets in the combat environment, autonomously evaluate and weigh, and automatically allocate weapons, thereby providing adaptive combat advantages and decision-making options.
For example, the “Intelligent Autonomous Systems Strategy” released by the US Navy in July 2021 aims to accelerate the development and deployment of intelligent platforms through a highly distributed command and control architecture, integrate unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving technologies, and realize future combat decisions facilitated by intelligent autonomous systems. The Russian military has more than 150 artificial intelligence projects under development, one of the focuses of which is to introduce artificial intelligence into command and control systems, adapt intelligent software to different weapon platforms, achieve the unification of physical and cognitive domains, and double combat effectiveness through intelligent empowerment.
The combat management system will achieve a breakthrough in cross-domain capabilities. The military’s combat management capabilities are shifting towards full-domain coordination, including land, sea, air, space, electricity, network, cognitive domain, and social domain. To adapt to the full-domain environment, the combat management system needs to have the following functions: a resilient and redundant communication system, flexible and secure data operation; artificial intelligence and machine learning directly extract and process data from sensors, and conduct decentralized integration and sharing; segmented access based on confidentiality levels to meet perception, understanding, and action needs. On this basis, it is also necessary to provide troops with reconnaissance and surveillance, tactical communications, data processing, network command and control, and other capabilities.
The future combat management system will focus on security processing, connectivity, data management, application, sensor integration and effect integration, optimize data sharing, collaborative operations and command and control in the entire combat domain, and support decision-making advantages from the tactical level to the strategic level. Its purpose is only one: to give commanders the ability to surpass their opponents.
(The author is the deputy director and professor of the Training Management Department of the Armed Police Command Academy)
China Military Network Ministry of National Defense NetworkThursday, November 14, 2024
Intelligent warfare is the latest form of warfare development. Under intelligent warfare conditions, the battle rhythm changes rapidly, humans and machines are deeply integrated, and complex elements are interconnected, presenting new characteristics on the battlefield.
The combat tempo changes rapidly. The combat tempo refers to the phenomenon that in the course of combat, different participating forces, under different combat missions, actions, and spaces, synchronously complete their respective established tasks at specified time nodes according to the combat phase division. In essence, the combat tempo is the effect of the confrontational interaction between the military systems of all parties in a common external environment. It is a regular phenomenon that appears periodically or non-periodically. It is objective due to the interaction, and uncertain due to the active role played by the opposing parties based on their respective perspectives. In war, the combat tempo represents not only the speed of time and speed, but also the embodiment of the comprehensive effect of multiple factors such as time, space, purpose, goal, and opponent. With the continuous expansion of the battlefield and the improvement of battlefield cognitive decision-making capabilities, the future intelligent battlefield may gradually change from the simple “quick kill” type of simple use of the one-dimensionality of time to a comprehensive game and mixed confrontation in multiple dimensional fields such as politics, economy, diplomacy and multiple time and space cycles. Combat is a game between the enemy and us, and the quality of our combat rhythm depends largely on the opponent as a reference system. The combat rhythm should always focus on the opponent, and by changing the enemy and our power comparison in various forms in various dimensions, we can gain an “asymmetric” advantage, so that the battlefield situation can continue to develop in a direction that is beneficial to us in a variety of states between the active “using our own capabilities to control the enemy’s inability” and “suppressing the enemy’s capabilities when we are unable to do so.”
Humans and machines achieve deep integration. In a broad sense, human-machine integration refers to the state and process in which all humans and machines work closely together based on their respective characteristics and advantages. With the emergence of artificial intelligence technology, especially multimodal large models represented by ChatGPT, the foundation has been laid for the knowledge-level interaction between humans and machines, which has brought new opportunities for combat planning and combat command invisibly. As intelligent creatures, humans have creativity and thoughtfulness that other objects cannot match. Compared with humans, machines have obvious advantages in storage, computing and other capabilities, and have the characteristics of fast response speed and strong environmental adaptability. Under current technical conditions, the dominance of humans in human-machine fusion intelligence determines the basic mode of human-machine fusion operations. Machines are only tools and means of implementation for operations. To a certain extent, they become the main body of operations together with operators. The interactive output is also limited to the predictable changes defined by several major variables, and is closely related to the professional ability and experience of the operators themselves. As technology continues to improve, the positioning of people may gradually shift to macro-control, focusing on controlling strategic key contents and nodes such as the timing of launching a war, the scale level, the style intensity, the process development, and the ending time. The combination of human and machine does not mean a hard coupling between the two in terms of spatial position and physics, but through the mechanism and engineering of business processes and operating procedures, they play to their respective strengths and achieve dynamic adaptive operation.
Complex elements are interconnected. Modern warfare is a complex giant system, especially in the current era of global, cross-domain, and distributed operations. Focusing on the construction of the “kill network” and element-level coordination, the widely distributed combat force entities, combat platforms, sensors, weapons, etc. are further decoupled, and the combat system is gradually developing towards “decentralization”. Focusing on the combat purpose and combat objectives, in the combat system, various functional combat elements that are three-dimensionally networked are quickly reorganized and aggregated in a self-organizing and self-adaptive manner to dynamically form a closed kill chain. It is difficult to discover, identify, and calibrate the landmark nodes of the opponent’s system one by one in the various links of “detection, control, attack, and evaluation” as before, and then achieve system destruction. This “black box” state in the organization and operation of forces makes the logical causal relationship of the combat behaviors of all parties more “inexplicable” and the “incomprehensible war” effect more prominent. War is largely a confrontation of human thinking, and thanks to the help of intelligent decision-making systems, the uncertainty of combat intentions in future wars will be further increased in the fierce confrontation of broader cognitive and information domains. From the initial combat purpose to the final combat means, combat methods, and force application, “misalignment” may occur. Therefore, future wars will place more emphasis on finding a balance in active changes at the battle tactical level, which puts higher demands on better realizing “you fight yours, I fight mine” and exerting one’s own advantages.
The opening of each combat domain will inevitably lead to a new round of changes in combat methods. Driven by the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial revolution characterized by intelligence, ubiquity and integration, emerging combat domains such as space, cyberspace, electromagnetic spectrum, and cognitive space have an increasing impact on future operations. The concept of “multi-domain combat” has emerged through cross-domain collaboration with traditional land, sea, and air combat domains to achieve complementary advantages and system efficiency, and is becoming a new combat theory that adapts to the evolution of war forms.
The concept of “multi-domain combat” was first proposed by the US military. Subsequently, the United Kingdom, France, and other NATO member states have developed the concept of “multi-domain combat” in different forms. Israel was the first to apply the concept of “multi-domain operations” in actual combat. The Russian army innovatively proposed its own “multi-domain operations” theory from the perspective of its opponents. At present, the concept of “multi-domain operations” has become an important concept that triggers a new round of changes and transformations in foreign military operations.
The concept of “multi-domain operations” is a new operational concept first proposed by the US Army and jointly promoted by other services based on the changes in operational methods in the information age.
The US military believes that the winning mechanism of the concept of “multi-domain operations” is to form multiple advantages in a specific time window through the rapid and continuous integration of all war domains (land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace) and force the enemy into a dilemma. The U.S. Army proposed to be guided by the idea of ”global integrated operations” and the concept of “cross-domain collaboration”, and strive to form an asymmetric advantage in future wars through “multi-domain operations”. The multi-domain task force (brigade level) will be the core combat force of the U.S. Army to implement multi-domain operations, integrating artillery, land-based tactical missiles, land aviation, cyberspace, electromagnetic spectrum, space and air defense forces, and forming multi-domain combat capabilities through cross-domain mixed formations. The U.S. Air Force actively responded to the concept of “multi-domain operations”, focused on building a joint combat command and control system, proposed the concept of multi-domain command and control, and focused on developing advanced combat management systems, sinking multi-domain operations to the tactical level to improve the agility and cross-domain collaboration capabilities of future operations. The U.S. Navy has absorbed the core idea of the “multi-domain combat” concept, proposed to build an “integrated global maritime military force”, focused on developing the “distributed lethality” combat concept, and proposed to strengthen the design and exercise of global combat.
The U.S. Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have gathered the ideas and mechanisms of the new combat concept of “multi-domain combat” of the military services, and proposed the top-level concept of “global combat”, aiming to form a new round of asymmetric advantages, lead the transformation of combat methods and military transformation. The global combat concept is centered on joint global command and control, aiming to integrate traditional combat domains with space, cyberspace, electromagnetic spectrum, air defense and anti-missile and cognitive domain capabilities, and compete with global competitors in a full-spectrum environment. It is reported that the concept is still in its infancy and is undergoing theoretical deepening, experimental verification, exercise evaluation and doctrine transformation, and is constantly enriching its conceptual core through multiple work lines. Among them, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff leads the transformation of concepts into policies, doctrines and requirements; the Air Force promotes the concept to maturity by developing advanced combat management systems, the Army by implementing the “Convergence Project”, and the Navy by launching the “Transcendence Project”. The US theater supports the development of multi-domain combat concepts and multi-domain combat modes through war games, project demonstrations and joint exercises.
Based on the perspective of reference and integration, NATO countries such as the United Kingdom actively participated in the development and testing of the US military’s “multi-domain operations” concept, and revised the operational concept in combination with actual conditions.
The British Ministry of Defense proposed the concept of “multi-domain integration”, which is consistent with the concept mechanism of the US military’s “multi-domain operations”, focusing on integrating operations in different domains and at different levels, preparing for the development of a joint force and maintaining competitive advantages in 2030 and beyond. The British Ministry of Defense pointed out that “integrating capabilities in different domains and at different levels through information systems, creating and utilizing synergies to gain relative advantages is the winning mechanism of the multi-domain integration concept.” The concept emphasizes gaining information advantages, shaping strategic postures, building a multi-domain combat environment, and creating and utilizing synergies. The concept raises four specific issues: how to provide an advantage over rivals by 2030 and beyond through “multi-domain integration”; how to achieve cross-domain integration of the Ministry of Defense in cooperation with allies, governments and civilian departments; how to solve the policy issues involved in the concept of “multi-domain integration”; how to promote research on defense concepts, capabilities and war development. With this as a starting point, the British Army has launched a multi-faceted, step-by-step, and systematic military transformation.
Other NATO countries are also jointly developing and innovatively applying the concept of “multi-domain operations” to varying degrees, and promoting the transformation and implementation of the concept of “multi-domain operations” in the form of joint exercises and allied cooperation. In 2019, the US Army led the “Joint Operational Assessment (2019)” exercise, which aimed to assess the combat capabilities of the Indo-Pacific Command’s multi-domain task force. Forces from France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries formed a multinational task force to participate in the exercise, which assessed the multi-domain combat concepts, formations and capabilities in the combat environment from 2025 to 2028. In October 2019, the NATO Joint Air Power Competition Center held a meeting on “Shaping NATO’s Future Multi-Domain Combat Posture”. In order to shape NATO’s future multi-domain combat posture, it explored and studied military thinking, multi-domain combat forces, multi-domain combat operations and training joint forces. In June 2020, the NATO Command and Control Center of Excellence released a white paper on the Multi-Domain Operations Command and Control Demonstration Platform, which aims to respond to threats and challenges in multiple operational domains with a decentralized, data-driven integrated environment by bridging the command and control gap between technology and operators, tactics and campaign levels, and academia and the military.
Based on the perspective of its opponents, the Russian army seeks a way to crack it on the one hand, and on the other hand, based on the winning mechanism of “cross-domain operations”, it combines its own characteristics to innovate combat theories
After the US military proposed the concept of “multi-domain operations”, the Russian army actively sought a way to crack it based on its own security interests. In December 2020, the Russian magazine “Air and Space Power Theory and Practice” published an article titled “Argument for the Use of Aviation Power to Break the Enemy’s Large-Scale Joint Air Strikes in Multi-Domain Operations”, which stated that large-scale joint air strikes are the initial stage for NATO countries to implement multi-domain operations. Large-scale coordinated operations will be carried out against Russia’s most important key facilities, creating conditions for subsequent decisive actions by NATO joint armed forces. The Russian army must comprehensively use the reconnaissance and strike system composed of the aviation forces of the theater forces to cause unbearable losses to the enemy, break its large-scale joint air strikes, and force NATO’s initial stage goals of multi-domain operations to fail to be achieved, causing NATO’s political and military leadership to abandon the attempt to continue to implement multi-domain operations.
On the other hand, the Russian army proposed the “military unified information space” theory for the new combat method of “cross-domain combat”. Its core idea is: to use modern information technology to establish a networked command and control system to achieve the deep integration of the army’s command, communication, reconnaissance, firepower, support and other elements, thereby improving the battlefield situation perception capability and combat command efficiency. The Russian military continues to promote theoretical development around the realization of cross-domain combat capabilities: first, relying on the unified information space of the army to establish a network-centric command model; second, introducing artificial intelligence into the command and control system to achieve the unification of the physical domain and the cognitive domain; third, developing network, space and underwater combat forces to gain advantages in emerging combat fields; fourth, establishing a unified military standard system to enhance the interoperability of forces and weapons. The Russian military has not completely absorbed the Western concept of “multi-domain combat”, nor has it completely denied the beneficial elements of the Western “multi-domain combat”, but has combined its own absorption of some advanced combat ideas of “multi-domain combat” to enrich its own unique combat theory.
Based on the perspective of combat needs, Israel took the lead in applying the concept of “multi-domain combat” on the Gaza battlefield, and used the multi-domain combat force “Ghost” as the main combat force.
The Israeli army believes that multi-domain joint combat is an inevitable trend in the development of future wars. For Israel, which mainly relies on ground combat, by integrating land, air, cyberspace, electromagnetic spectrum and sea elite forces, it can quickly identify, track and destroy enemy targets, and further improve the lethality of the Israeli army. This concept is in line with the concept of “multi-domain combat” proposed by the US Army. Under the guidance of this concept, the Israeli army formed the “Ghost” force and took the lead in actual combat testing on the Gaza battlefield. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in May 2021, Israel used the “Ghost” combat battalion for the first time to implement multi-domain operations in the code-named “Wall Guardian” operation against Hamas, which was called the world’s first “artificial intelligence war”. The Israeli army mainly relied on machine learning and data collection in this war, and artificial intelligence became a key component of combat and a force multiplier for the first time. In the operation to clear the Hamas tunnel network, the Israeli army used big data fusion technology to pre-identify and target, and then dispatched 160 fighter jets to carry out precise strikes, which greatly destroyed the Hamas tunnel network and achieved air control over the ground; in the attack on Hamas rocket launchers, the Israeli fighter pilots, ground intelligence forces and naval forces used command and control systems to quickly find targets and carry out real-time precise strikes, quickly shaping a favorable battle situation.
According to the Israeli army, the “Ghost” force is very different from traditional forces in terms of combat organization, weapon configuration and combat methods. The unit is temporarily organized under the 98th Paratrooper Division of Israel, including the brigade reconnaissance battalion, the ground forces of the Paratrooper Brigade, the armored brigade, the engineering corps, the special forces, the F-16 squadron and the Apache helicopter, as well as the “Heron” drone and other multi-domain combat forces. Through the use of multi-domain sensors and precision strike weapons, cross-domain maneuvers and strikes are achieved, “changing the battlefield situation in a very short time”. The battalion was established in July 2019. Although it is a ground force, it integrates multi-domain combat forces such as air strikes, network reconnaissance, precision firepower, electronic confrontation, intelligence interconnection and maritime assault. It is a battalion-level combat unit with division-level combat capabilities. After its establishment, the unit has continuously improved its multi-domain integration and cross-domain strike capabilities through exercises, and has quickly exerted two major functions with the support of the newly developed artificial intelligence technology platform: one is to serve as an elite weapon on the battlefield and fight in an asymmetric manner; the other is to serve as a test unit to continuously innovate and develop new combat concepts, combat theories and technical equipment, and to promote successful experiences to other units at any time.
The combat window refers to the time and space range that is chosen to stimulate the effectiveness of the system’s combat cycle and is conducive to the joint combat force’s implementation of cross-domain coordinated operations. The concept of combat window comes from fighter jets. It is an innovative development of the theory of joint combat command under the new situation. It will be more widely used than fighter jets in combat command activities. Whether the selection of fighter jets in the confrontation of the joint combat force system can be regarded as a form of “combat window” directly affects the commander’s vision. In the complex and changeable information battlefield environment, the combat window has gradually become a new basis for the joint combat force to implement cross-domain coordinated operations, which is of great significance for seizing the initiative on the battlefield and shaping a favorable situation.
Constructing a combat window to highlight the comprehensiveness of cross-domain collaborative combat preparations
The theater joint command should closely follow the combat missions, opponents, and environment, firmly grasp the strategic and campaign initiative, strengthen the pre-positioning of joint combat resources, actively optimize the battlefield environment, and create conditions for establishing combat windows.
Carry out careful and continuous joint reconnaissance around the operational window. The time and space scope of the operational window includes the time interval and the strike area for attacking enemy targets. Among them, the strike area is generally centered on the strike target, which refers to a relatively closed space that can regulate the system combat forces to maintain comprehensive control over the local battlefield and is suitable for attacking enemy node targets. In order to ensure the smooth implementation of operations in the operational window area, its periphery can be divided into warning patrol areas, interception and annihilation areas, and defensive combat areas to provide support and guarantee for it. The joint command agency should focus on the reporting needs of priority intelligence and warning information in the operational window, and comprehensively use the reconnaissance and early warning forces and means of various services to implement careful, continuous and focused joint reconnaissance to obtain intelligence and warning information in the operational window area and its peripheral areas. If necessary, strategic reconnaissance and early warning forces can be coordinated to provide intelligence support, eliminate reconnaissance and early warning blind spots in the time and space of the operational window, and ensure that the flow of intelligence and warning information from acquisition to use is efficient and stable.
Predict the combat window and timely adjust the cycle plan of the combat readiness training of the task force. The scale and intensity of the high alert state maintained by the task forces of various services and arms greatly restricts the time and space scope of the combat window. Periodically maintaining a high state of alert requires the task forces of various services and arms to manage and operate in accordance with the state of war, which is an important indicator of the combat effectiveness of the task force. At present, the task force should carry out daily management and training in accordance with the three states of combat readiness, training, and preparation. The purpose is to ensure that a considerable number of combat-capable forces can carry out combat window tasks at any time and continuously improve their actual combat level. Non-combat-capable forces should coordinate resources and concentrate on training to generate system combat capabilities. The preparation period is in the interval between combat readiness training. The combat personnel should be flexibly organized to rest, repair equipment and conduct necessary training to create conditions for transitioning to the training cycle or combat readiness cycle. By predicting the combat window, the theater joint command timely adjusts the cycle plan of combat readiness training for large-scale task forces, so that they are rhythmically and regularly in a high state of alert, providing a force basis for implementing window operations.
Focus on the operational window and roll out the linkage operation of cross-domain collaborative combat plans. Since the operational window is often fleeting, the completeness of the cross-domain collaborative combat plans of various services and arms formulated around the operational window may be greatly reduced. Therefore, the theater joint command should gather the collective wisdom of commanders and their command organs, rely on the command information system, and roll out the formulation of cross-domain collaborative combat plans through systematic, procedural, and professional fast command linkage operations. Command linkage operations involve linkage operations of superior and subordinate command agencies, linkage operations of the entire process of reconnaissance, control, attack, protection, and evaluation, and human-machine interaction linkage operations. The implementation of command linkage operations should unify operational intentions, focus on operational windows, use the command operation platform for situation sharing, carry out parallel operations in a coordinated manner, conduct periodic operational planning, conduct situation analysis at any time, follow up on operational concepts, enhance the credibility of simulation and evaluation, and simultaneously formulate and improve cross-domain collaborative combat plans. The implementation of linkage operations helps to shorten the formulation time of cross-domain collaborative combat plans, improve the feasibility of plans, and seize the opportunity of operational windows as soon as possible.
Applying combat windows to highlight the effectiveness of cross-domain collaborative combat system confrontation
The theater joint command should make decisive decisions to launch operations based on careful planning and comprehensive preparation in response to different combat objectives and tasks, different attributes of combat opponents, and different combat types and styles, and quickly seize the initiative on the battlefield in the combat window.
Superimpose the effectiveness of the combat system. The task forces of various services and arms work closely together within the time and space of the combat window, work together as a whole, and focus on combat tasks to form a system combat effect. At present, with the rapid development of military science and technology and the continuous adjustment and optimization of new combat forces, precision, automation, intelligence, and unmanned weapons and equipment are being used more and more widely. Within a specific combat window, almost every service and arms has more or less the means to accurately strike enemy targets in multiple domains over long distances. Even land-based task forces have the ability to accurately strike enemy targets at long distances and the ability to project troops near the coast, which enables the task forces of various services and arms to carry out compound strikes within the combat window, becoming the preferred method for joint operations to strike enemy targets. Compared with a single service and arms, compound strikes of multiple services and arms will produce more powerful, more accurate, more stable, and faster compound strike effectiveness. The compound strike effectiveness of the task forces of various services and arms focuses on combat targets within the combat window, which will cause the value of cross-domain collaborative combat effectiveness to increase sharply, and the superimposed effect will be more obvious.
Converge combat support resources. Combat support resources are material factors that affect the selection and application of combat windows, involving many resources such as reconnaissance and intelligence support, information support, and rear-end support. Implementing converged support and support for the theater in wartime is the key to applying the combat window. The combat support of friendly theaters will enable the task force to maintain a high level of combat readiness, and commanders will have more combat options; the aerospace information support and network combat support provided by the strategic support force will be an important support in the field of joint reconnaissance and intelligence, and information operations; and the joint logistics support force is the main force for implementing joint logistics support and strategic and campaign support, and the volatility of the combat capability of the theater task force is largely restricted by this. In this regard, by clarifying the mission and tasks, command authority, institutional mechanisms, and laws and regulations of the combat support force, we will actively gather combat support resources around the combat window, implement integrated, comprehensive and efficient support, and greatly improve the system effectiveness of cross-domain collaborative operations.
Regulate the operational fluctuation cycle. The joint command command command of the task forces of various services and arms to carry out strike operations against enemy targets. Before the operation, it is necessary to convert the combat readiness level, conduct coordinated exercises, and deploy to the standby area. Even if the task force is faster in preparation for strikes, more skilled in strike methods, and more optimized in strike processes, it needs to be completed within the corresponding time period. At the same time, commanders and combatants will be affected by combat fatigue, resulting in a significant reduction in command decision-making efficiency and strike effectiveness, which greatly restricts the extension of combat duration and makes the fluctuation cycle of the combat capability of the task force more obvious. After the strike operation, the replenishment and rest of combat personnel, the maintenance and repair of weapons and equipment, and the summary and review of combat experience and lessons all require an adjustment cycle. Commanders need to timely regulate the fluctuation cycle of the task force’s strike capability according to the different combat methods and weapon and equipment damage mechanisms of various services and arms, clarify the combat threshold of the task force, and minimize the interference of combat fluctuations as much as possible, thereby greatly improving the cross-domain collaborative combat capability.
Maintain the operational window and highlight the stability of battlefield control in cross-domain collaborative operations
The theater joint command should strictly control the scale and intensity of window operations, strengthen joint management and control, strictly control combat costs, improve combat effectiveness, actively create a favorable battlefield situation, avoid combat passivity, and prevent window operations from expanding into full-scale operations.
Strengthen battlefield linkage control. Battlefield control by various services plays an important role in shaping a stable combat situation, strengthening multi-domain space control, and maintaining combat windows. Strengthen the control of cross-domain collaborative combat battlefield space, including battlefield spaces such as land, sea, air, space, and network, as well as electromagnetic spectrum and time-space reference battlefield space. Among them, the battlefield control area is mainly divided into combat window areas, strategic support areas, alert isolation areas, frontier warning areas, and friendly support areas in various fields. Under the unified command and control of commanders and command agencies, the task forces of various services and arms clarify the primary and secondary relationships of cross-domain collaborative control, clarify control rules, mechanisms and disciplines, adopt a variety of control methods, and comprehensively use command information systems and other advanced technical means to vigorously strengthen the timeliness and accuracy of battlefield linkage control.
Comprehensively evaluate the combat effectiveness. The command organization should closely follow the formulation process of the cross-domain collaborative combat plan of the combat window, closely follow the collaborative control instructions, closely follow the collaborative actions of the task force, and closely follow the actual collaborative support, and implement rapid, efficient, and continuous performance and effectiveness evaluation during the window operation. Focusing on the achievement of combat objectives, adapting to the characteristics of window operations with full-domain linkage, comprehensively using a variety of combat evaluation tools and means, integrating system evaluation algorithms, data and capabilities, optimizing the evaluation system dominated by combat effectiveness, process management, information support, and human-in-the-loop, forming an evaluation model that matches combat orders, actions, and effects, and combines combat performance with effectiveness indicator judgment, thereby improving the accuracy and timeliness of combat window effect evaluation.
Actively shape the new battlefield situation. After continuous preparations for military struggle against the enemy, interactive deterrence and control, and limited strikes within the combat window, the state and situation formed by the enemy and us in terms of combat force comparison, deployment and action are relatively stable, thus forming a battlefield situation under the new situation, and its development trend is also predictable and expected. Commanders and their command organs continue to have a deep understanding of the characteristics and laws of the enemy situation, our situation and battlefield environment in this strategic direction, and have a clear understanding of the basic outline of the future struggle situation. They can clarify future combat objectives and measures, and their confidence in winning will gradually increase, creating conditions for determining the next round of combat windows.
Focus on anti-AI operations in intelligent warfare
■ Kang Ruizhi and Li Shengjie
introduction
The extensive application of science and technology in the military field has caused profound changes in the form and mode of warfare. The military game between major powers is increasingly manifested in technological subversion and counter-subversion, surprise and counter-surprise, offset and counter-offset. To win the future intelligent war, we must not only continue to promote the deep transformation and application of artificial intelligence technology in the military field, but also strengthen dialectical thinking, adhere to asymmetric thinking, innovate and develop anti-artificial intelligence combat theories and tactics, and proactively plan anti-artificial intelligence technology research and weapons and equipment research and development to achieve “breaking intelligence” and win, and strive to seize the initiative in future wars.
Fully understand the inevitability of anti-AI operations
Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in “On Contradiction”: “The law of contradiction of things, that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the most fundamental law of dialectical materialism.” Looking at the history of the development of military technology and its combat application, it has always been full of the dialectical relationship between attack and defense. The phenomenon of mutual game and alternating suppression between the “spear” of technology and the “shield” of corresponding counter-technology is common.
In the era of cold weapons, people not only invented eighteen kinds of weapons such as “knives, guns, swords, and halberds”, but also created corresponding “helmets, armor, and shields”. In the era of hot weapons, the use of gunpowder greatly increased the attack distance and lethality, but also gave rise to technical and tactical innovations represented by defensive fortifications such as “trench” and “bastion”. In the mechanized era, tanks shined in World War II, and people’s development of technical and tactical related to “tank armor” and “anti-tank weapons” continues to this day. In the information age, “electronic attack” and “electronic protection” around information control have set off a new wave of enthusiasm, and electronic countermeasures forces have emerged. In addition, there are countless opposing concepts in the military field such as “missiles” and “anti-missiles”, “unmanned combat” and “anti-unmanned combat”.
It should be noted that “anti-AI warfare”, as the opposing concept of “intelligent warfare”, will also gradually emerge with the extensive and in-depth application of intelligent technology in the military field. Prospective research on the concepts, principles and technical and tactical implementation paths of anti-AI warfare is not only a need of the times for a comprehensive and dialectical understanding of intelligent warfare, but also an inevitable move to seize the high ground of future military competition and implement asymmetric warfare.
Scientific analysis of anti-AI combat methods and paths
At present, artificial intelligence technology is undergoing a leapfrog development stage from weak to strong, and from special to general. From the perspective of its underlying support, data, algorithms, and computing power are still its three key elements. Among them, data is the basic raw material for training and optimizing models, algorithms determine the strategic mechanism of data processing and problem solving, and computing power provides hardware support for complex calculations. Seeking ways to “break intelligence” from the perspective of the three elements of data, algorithms, and computing power is an important method and path for implementing anti-artificial intelligence operations.
Anti-data operations. Data is the raw material for artificial intelligence to achieve learning and reasoning. The quality and diversity of data have an important impact on the accuracy and generalization ability of the model. There are many examples in life where artificial intelligence models fail due to minor data changes. For example, the face recognition model in the mobile phone may not be able to accurately identify the identity of the person because of wearing glasses, changing hairstyle or changes in the brightness of the environment; the autonomous driving model may also misjudge the road conditions due to factors such as road conditions, road signs and weather. The basic principle of implementing anti-data operations is to mislead the training and learning process or judgment process of the military intelligent model by creating “polluted” data or changing the distribution characteristics of the data, and use the “difference” of the data to cause the “error” of the model, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the military intelligent model. Since artificial intelligence models can conduct comprehensive analysis and cross-verification of multi-source data, anti-data operations should pay more attention to packaging false data information from multi-dimensional features to enhance its “authenticity”. In recent years, foreign militaries have conducted relevant experimental verifications in this regard. For example, special materials coating, infrared transmitting device camouflage and other methods are used to simulate the optical and infrared characteristics of real weapon platforms and even the engine vibration effects to deceive intelligent intelligence processing models; in cyberspace, traffic data camouflage is implemented to enhance the silent operation capability of network attacks and reduce the effectiveness of network attack detection models.
Anti-algorithm warfare. The essence of an algorithm is to describe a strategy mechanism for solving a problem in computer language. Since this strategy mechanism has a limited scope of adaptation, it may fail when faced with a wide variety of real-world problems. A typical example is Lee Sedol’s “God’s Move” in the 2016 man-machine Go match. After reviewing and analyzing the game, many professional Go players said that the “God’s Move” was not actually valid, but it worked for AlphaGo. Silva, the developer of AlphaGo, explained that Lee Sedol had hit an unknown loophole in the computer; there are also analyses that it may be that “this move” contradicts the Go logic of AlphaGo or is beyond its strategy learning range, making it unable to cope. The basic principle of implementing anti-algorithm warfare is to conduct logical attacks or logical deceptions against loopholes in the algorithm strategy mechanism and weaknesses in the model architecture to reduce the effectiveness of the algorithm. Anti-algorithm warfare should be combined with specific combat actions to achieve “misleading deception” against the algorithm. For example, drone swarm reconnaissance operations often use reinforcement learning algorithm models to plan reconnaissance routes. To address this situation, irregular or abnormal actions can be created to make the reward mechanism in the reinforcement learning algorithm model less effective or invalid, thereby achieving the goal of reducing its reconnaissance and search efficiency.
Anti-computing power operations. The strength of computing power represents the speed of converting data processing into information advantage and decision-making advantage. Unlike anti-data operations and anti-algorithm operations, which are mainly based on soft confrontation, the confrontation method of anti-computing power operations is a combination of soft and hard. Hard destruction mainly refers to the attack on the enemy’s computing power center, computing network facilities, etc., by cutting off its computing power to make it difficult for its artificial intelligence model to function; soft confrontation focuses on increasing the enemy’s computing power cost, mainly by creating a “fog” of war and data noise. For example, during combat, a large number of meaningless data such as images, audio, video, and electromagnetic are generated to contain and consume the enemy’s computing power resources, reducing the effective effect rate of its computing power. In addition, attacks can also be carried out on weak links in defense such as the support environment and supporting construction of computing power. The computing power center consumes huge amounts of electricity, and attacking and destroying its power support system can also achieve the effect of anti-computing power operations.
Proactively plan the construction of anti-AI combat capabilities
In any war, the right tactics are used to win. In the face of intelligent warfare, while continuing to promote and improve intelligent combat capabilities, it is also necessary to strengthen preparations for anti-AI operations, proactively plan theoretical innovations, supporting technology development, and equipment platform construction related to anti-AI operations, and ensure the establishment of an intelligent combat system that is both offensive and defensive, and integrated with defense and counterattack.
Strengthen the innovation of anti-AI combat theory. Scientific military theory is combat effectiveness. Whether it is military strategic innovation, military scientific and technological innovation, or other military innovations, they are inseparable from theoretical guidance. We must persist in emancipating our minds, broadening our horizons, strengthening dialectical thinking, and using the innovation of anti-AI combat theory as a supplement and breakthrough to build a theoretical system of intelligent combat that supports and serves to win the battle. We must insist on you fight yours and I fight mine, strengthen asymmetric thinking, and provide scientific theoretical support for seizing battlefield control through in-depth research on anti-AI combat concepts, strategies and tactics, and effectively play the leading role of military theory. We must persist in the integration of theory and technology, enhance scientific and technological cognition, innovation, and application, open up the closed loop between anti-AI combat theory and technology, let the two complement and support each other, and achieve deep integration and benign interaction between theory and technology.
Focus on the accumulation of anti-AI military technology. Science and technology are important foundations for generating and improving combat effectiveness. Once some technologies achieve breakthroughs, the impact will be subversive, and may even fundamentally change the traditional war offense and defense pattern. At present, major countries in the world regard artificial intelligence as a subversive technology and have elevated the development of military intelligence to a national strategy. At the same time, some countries are actively conducting research on technologies related to anti-AI operations and exploring methods of AI confrontation, with the intention of reducing the effectiveness of the opponent’s military intelligence system. To this end, we must explore and follow up, strengthen the tracking and research of cutting-edge technologies, actively discover, promote, and stimulate the development of technologies such as intelligent confrontation that have anti-subversive effects, seize the technological advantage at the beginning of anti-AI operations, and prevent enemy technological raids; we must also carefully select, focus on maintaining sufficient scientific rationality and accurate judgment, break through the technical “fog”, and avoid falling into the opponent’s technical trap.
Research and develop weapons and equipment for anti-AI operations. Designing weapons and equipment is designing future wars. What kind of wars will be fought in the future will determine what kind of weapons and equipment will be developed. Anti-AI operations are an important part of intelligent warfare, and anti-AI weapons and equipment will also play an important role on future battlefields. When developing anti-AI weapons and equipment, we must first keep close to battlefield needs. Closely combine combat opponents, combat tasks, and combat environments, strengthen anti-AI combat research, accurately describe anti-AI combat scenarios, and ensure that the demand for anti-AI combat weapons and equipment is scientific, accurate, and reasonable. Secondly, we must establish a cost mindset. The latest local war practices show that combat cost control is an important factor affecting the outcome of future wars. Anti-AI operations focus on interfering with and confusing the enemy’s military intelligence system. Increasing the development of decoy weapon platforms is an effective way to reduce costs and increase efficiency. By using low-cost simulations to show false targets to deceive the enemy’s intelligent reconnaissance system, the “brain-breaking” effect can be extended and amplified, and efforts can be made to consume its high-value strike weapons such as precision-guided missiles. Finally, we must focus on upgrading while building, using, and upgrading. Intelligent technology is developing rapidly and is updated and iterated quickly. We must closely track the opponent’s cutting-edge military intelligent technology applications, understand their intelligent model algorithm architecture, and continuously promote the application and upgrading of the latest anti-artificial intelligence technology in weapon platforms to ensure its efficient use on the battlefield.
