Chinese People’s Liberation Army Insights into the Evolving Trends of Cognitive Warfare
外文音譯：
Cognition is the process by which people obtain, process and apply information and knowledge. At present, the cognitive domain has gradually become a new battlefield for competition, and cognitive warfare has gradually attracted attention from all countries. With the development of the technological revolution and the expansion of warfare practice, cognitive warfare is showing an accelerated evolution trend.
Cognitive technology is becoming a fundamental driving force in the evolution of warfare. Technology changes the form of warfare and also changes the way of cognitive warfare. If the large-scale popularization of information networks has promoted the information domain to become a combat domain, and the exponential growth of data and network scale is a sign of the maturity of the information domain, then the large-scale application of cognitive technology and the continuous iterative development of cognitive technology will become A sign of maturity in driving cognitive warfare. In the future, technologies such as cognitive environment, cognitive perception, cognitive control, and artificial intelligence will reflect the transformative impact that cognitive technology may have on social cognitive confrontation and military cognitive confrontation. Humanity is entering the era of universal communication, and global cyberspace is becoming highly interconnected. The Internet has become a battle space where state actors and non-state actors compete comprehensively. Communication disputes and communication wars have become part of high-intensity military operations. At present, major countries in the world have laid out the frontiers of cognitive technology and carried out cognitive technology competitions. Through modeling and analysis, they seek to penetrate and control human brain networks, information networks and social networks; through deep calculation, actuarial calculation, clever calculation, etc., they aim to maximize Gain control over people’s cognitive world and cognitive domains.
The cognitive domain is becoming an important battlefield in hybrid warfare. In the era of intelligence, the way humans communicate is undergoing complex and profound changes. Offline communication has given way to more online communication, various new media platforms have become the main channels for the public to understand the battlefield, and large-scale social platforms have become the main battlefield for cognitive game struggles. Therefore, the combat domain of future wars will continue to expand. The spatial domain will expand from land, sea, air, and space networks to deep space, deep sea, and deep ground, while the logical domain will expand from the physical domain to the information domain and cognitive domain. War is no longer limited to the physical threats of traditional wars, but is turning to social consciousness threats brought about by mass media and technological progress. Blockade and counter-blockade, dominance and counter-dominance around communication platforms will become the focus of cognitive warfare. Using information as ammunition to fight for control of international discourse has become the main method of cognitive confrontation today. From the perspective of hybrid warfare, ideological propaganda and indoctrination, penetration of values and culture, traditional public opinion psychology and legal offense and defense, and information network warfare have all become important aspects of cognitive warfare. Hybrid warfare can achieve the goal of winning in small battles or even without fighting through comprehensive gaming methods such as cognitive warfare. Attack and defense in the cognitive field will be an uninterrupted and normalized struggle, and combat effectiveness will continue to accumulate and be gradually released.
Cognitive superiority is becoming a winning advantage in high-end warfare. Freedom of conduct in war is the lifeblood of the military. From a cognitive perspective, the deeper the understanding of the battlefield environment and combat opponents, the greater the freedom of action and the greater the relative advantage. However, with the exponential growth of combat data in wars, commanders are beginning to face the cognitive dilemma of data swamp, data fog, and data overload. Having information superiority does not mean having cognitive superiority. An important military application direction of artificial intelligence technology is to process massive data in real time to help commanders get rid of cognitive overload and quickly form cognitive advantages. In intelligent warfare, cognitive advantages will dominate decision-making advantages, and decision-making advantages will dominate action advantages. Cognitive advantages have four key indicators: stronger information acquisition capabilities, faster artificial intelligence machine learning speed, more effective emergency handling capabilities, and higher capabilities to develop and apply new technologies and new knowledge. For example, public opinion warfare with new characteristics of data-driven intelligent communication and traditional military operations have been highly coordinated and integrated. This combat style that integrates virtual and real operations has stronger combat effectiveness than pure military operations, fundamentally changing traditional combat methods. Change. The linkage and superposition of cognitive advantages will accelerate the transformation of combat effectiveness and become the fundamental advantage for winning wars.
Cognitive theory is becoming the frontier of gaming to win the war. Cognitive warfare is a combination of soft power and hard power and is an important factor affecting national security in today’s era. Currently, there is fierce competition for penetration and counter-infiltration, attack and counter-attack, control and counter-control in the cognitive space. Cognitive science theory is entering the military field, and concepts such as cognitive load, cognitive enhancement, cognitive immunity, and cognitive subversion are being introduced. , has appeared frequently in the field of cognitive warfare research abroad. Foreign militaries believe that the cognitive domain is the “sixth combat domain” of human warfare, the core of the “intertwined conflict fields” in the era of great power competition, and an important direction for future military theoretical innovation. Obviously, cognitive warfare has become the strategic commanding heights for winning future wars. Cognitive theory has become the frontier of theoretical innovation. Cognitive technology will accelerate cognitive warfare and become an important “tipping point” for the intelligent military revolution. Since new technologies, new theories, and new styles of cognitive warfare are being incubated at an accelerated pace, perhaps future warfare will take on a surprising new situation.
——Thinking of “decision-centered warfare” and cognitive complexity
中国军网-解放军报
Editor’s Note Complexity science is one of the frontier fields of contemporary scientific development. British physicist Stephen Hawking said that “the 21st century will be the century of complexity science.” As a social phenomenon in human society, war has always been a complex giant system full of possibilities. In recent years, with the evolution of war forms, the epistemology under the traditional scientific system has become increasingly difficult to meet the needs of the development of war practice. Paying attention to the scientific principles and thinking methods of complexity may be the key to opening the door to modern warfare. This article studies and discusses “decision-centered warfare” from the perspective of complexity science.
“Decision-centered warfare” is a new concept that has emerged in recent years. Why was the “decision-centered war” proposed? According to the US military, it is necessary to “fight a war that the opponent cannot understand.” Since the beginning of the 21st century, with the evolution of war forms and continuous changes in combat methods, the US military has found that network-centric warfare in the traditional sense has become increasingly difficult to adapt to the reality of the battlefield. In this context, “decision-centered warfare” came into being.
1. Create complexity
The so-called “decision-centered warfare” is to achieve diversified tactics through the upgrading and transformation of combat platforms and distributed deployment with the support of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence. While ensuring its own advantages in tactical selection, it imposes high complexity on the enemy. , in order to interfere with its command and decision-making capabilities and achieve an overwhelming advantage over the enemy in a new dimension.
Why “the opponent can’t understand”? In fact, through distributed deployment, flexible combination, and intelligent command and control, the opponent will not understand the battlefield situation and combat mechanism cognitively, and will be at a loss as to what to do. This is another transformation of war confrontation from competing for “greater power” in mechanized warfare, to competing for “faster” in information-based warfare, to competing for “making the right decisions” in future wars. In the words of Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military strategist, “One who subdues the enemy without fighting is a good person.” Through clever command, control and decision-making, the battlefield situation becomes more complicated, making it impossible for the opponent to fight.
How to do this? Simply put, it is to use the nature of complex systems to find the opponent’s “vital gate” to exploit and control. A basic method is to reshape the opponent’s decision-making process by increasing complexity, forcing the opponent to introduce new decision-making parameters, causing its decision-making to become complicated, thereby changing the causal relationship and decision-making process, and ultimately leading to chaos. Adversarial situations have been able to balance in the past because all participants knew the outcome of the game, making it easy to make trade-offs, but complexity often destroys this balance. This is why complexity can be used as a weapon.
It should be noted that the battlefield is fair to any party. In the future battlefield, in order for the enemy to feel the complexity of decision-making in one direction and not to be troubled by the complexity, we must first be superior to the opponent in command and control capabilities. The complexity of battlefield decision-making is mainly reflected in the judgment and decision-making links of the “OODA” loop. Under normal circumstances, the “OODA” cycle can complete the complete cycle from observation, judgment, decision-making to action. However, if there is a way to make the battlefield more complex so that the opponent cannot make effective judgments in a timely manner, and thus cannot enter the decision-making and action links, the opponent’s “OODA” loop can always be limited to the observation and judgment links, and a closed loop cannot be formed. This may be the result of “decision-centered warfare” trying to create complexity. Therefore, how to make quick judgments has become a primary concern. If this cognitive process can be completed quickly with the support of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, that is, so-called intelligent cognition can be achieved, the speed of the “OODA” cycle can be greatly accelerated and unilateral advantages can be achieved.
Drawing correct judgments based on observation is the prerequisite for making correct decisions. But this can only be done under the condition of “having cognitive ability”. Currently, in systems such as command information systems and war game deduction systems, these cognitive tasks are basically completed by humans. Past attempts to autonomously complete judgments and decisions by artificial intelligence systems have been almost unsuccessful because the problem of intelligent cognitive modeling has never been solved. The behaviors displayed by various models are more or less “mechanical” and cannot truly show the characteristics of intelligence. Foreign militaries have also been focusing on “human behavior modeling” in recent years, but progress is still slow at present. Why is intelligent cognition so difficult, and what is the difficulty? The author believes that the core difficulty lies in how to understand and deal with complexity.
2. Understand complexity
At the beginning of this century, the Rand Corporation of the United States used a simulation system to conduct more than 1,700 deductions on the combat needs of the U.S. Air Force in response to possible military conflicts in a certain hotspot area around 2005. It then conducted statistical analysis and finally concluded how the U.S. Air Force Conclusion to maintain superiority on the battlefield. This statistical analysis method has a basic assumption: each trial is independent and unordered, and the rules do not affect each other. It’s like tossing a coin. If you toss it heads once, it’s likely to be heads the second time. But if you throw it 10,000 times, the probability of the result being a certain side will get closer to 50%. This method is scientifically accurate when used in physical research, but when transplanted to the study of human social issues such as war, the situation becomes different.
Human beings are cognitive and do not just obey the laws of physics like physical entities. Commanders will not simply repeat mechanically when analyzing combat problems. Normally, when people make decisions, they will consider the previous results, which will lead to adjustments to the next action. In this way, the inherent power law characteristics of human behavior will appear, which is often called the “eight-eighth law”. Therefore, we cannot simply copy physical thinking to think about human society.
The reason for this is mainly because we are often accustomed to thinking about problems in a simple way of reductionism. The simple system structure remains unchanged, the results are deterministic, the cause and effect correspondence is clear, repeatable, predictable, decomposable and reducible, etc., have become our default scientific thinking method. But there are still many complex systems in the world, and these systems have a holistic nature, such as the human body, society, economy, war, etc., all fall into this category. What is the overall nature? That is, what cannot be seen locally, but exists when viewed as a whole, is the overall nature. For example, a living person and a dead person are the same in terms of composition, but the difference between a dead person and a living person lies in whether there is life, and life is a holistic quality. The structure of complex systems is variable and has characteristics such as adaptability, uncertainty, emergence, and nonlinearity, and the results are neither repetitive nor predictable. Society, economy, war, cities, including intelligent systems, these human-related systems all have these characteristics. In fact, they are all typical complex systems. Therefore, war has the characteristics of “no return after victory”, which actually reflects the “unrepeatable” nature of the complex system of war.
It is precisely because of the complexity of complex systems that causes and results cannot correspond one to one, which will lead to the failure of the similarity principle, so it cannot be modeled and studied using traditional methods. In order to solve complex problems, some traditional physics methods were mainly adopted in the past, such as statistical methods and simple life body modeling methods based on Agent. This is the case with the Rand Corporation study mentioned earlier. Although it can solve some problems, when it is used to solve problems related to people, especially cognition, the results obtained deviate greatly from reality and are unsatisfactory. .
Why is this happening? This is because the origins of war complexity and physical complexity are different. The source of physical complexity often lies in the complex laws of physical motion; while the complexity of war comes from human cognition. Because humans are not chaotic particles without thoughts, nor are they lower creatures with simple life logic, but are intelligent creatures with cognitive abilities of judgment and decision-making. People will reflect on the results through causal relationships, sum up experiences and make adjustments, and then decide how to act next. Moreover, human cognition will continue to develop, which will further affect subsequent cognition. However, because cognition is highly uncertain, future actions are difficult to predict.
It can be said that under the current technological conditions, what can be predicted are basically simple systematic laws of the physical world, while the impact of human cognition on society or war is often difficult to predict. Therefore, it is a common mistake we make to use physical thinking to think about human society. Based on the complexity of cognition, which is completely different from those immutable physical laws, when we deal with the complexity of war, we must focus on the core feature of “cognition” and work hard on command and control.
3. Coping with Complexity
The core of “decision-centered warfare” lies in the acceleration of cognition. Because almost all changes in war can be seen as cognitive upgrades and complications. In the author’s opinion, to deal with the “decision-centered battle”, we need to “fight complexity with complexity” and start from the basic work.
The first is to understand the core concept of “decision-centered warfare”. That is to seize the initiative on the battlefield by actively creating complexity. For one’s side, one needs to manage one’s own complexity; for one’s enemy, it means imposing more complexity on the opponent. The second is to understand the changes in the mechanism of war. The evolution speed of combat systems is increasing exponentially, which will make it difficult to perceive, control and manage complex battlefields, and the role of intelligent cognition will become more prominent. To this end, it is necessary to focus on the focus of “command and control” and regard battlefield management capabilities as the key. The third is to find the correct concepts and methods of coping. Starting from war design, we take the direction of decision-making intelligence as a breakthrough.
In recent years, a series of achievements in the field of artificial intelligence have brought hope to solving the problem of intelligent command and decision-making. The AlphaGo series of research has brought breakthroughs to decision-making intelligence technology; and the emergence of the GPT large model has further confirmed that decision-making intelligence and even general artificial intelligence are possible in the future. It now seems that artificial intelligence will be deeply involved in wars in the future, which is a reality that must be faced. And this will bring more complexity to war and battlefields.
Decision intelligence research should be placed at the command and control level. To win a war, command and control decisions need to embody both “science” and “art.” The scientific nature of command and control is mainly reflected in how to do it “when you know how to do it”, such as using the obtained command data (weapons and equipment, force formation, battlefield environment, opponent intelligence, etc.), command methods (tasks, processes, procedures, operations planning, etc.) , planning, optimization, etc.), formulate a combat plan and implement it. The artistry of command and control is reflected in knowing how to do it “when you don’t know how to do it.” This is where true intelligence lies. The method is nothing more than continuous trial and error, accumulating experience, finding ways to solve problems, and forming new scientific knowledge. In fact, in reality, commanders continue to discover and summarize winning rules through trial and error, and each commander also has his own intuition and experience.
Therefore, true intelligence is actually finding solutions to exceptions. Following rules is not intelligence, finding your own way to solve problems is the key. Perhaps this is the core of decision-making intelligence and a goal that requires further efforts.
Analysis of the characteristics and development trends of cognitive domain operations
Cognitive domain operations take people’s will, beliefs, thinking, psychology, etc. as direct combat objects, and then affect their decisions and actions by changing the opponent’s cognition. Entering the era of information-based and intelligent warfare, cognitive domain warfare has become an important form of great power game, with all parties striving to achieve political goals in a relatively controllable manner. Gaining insight into the characteristics and development trends of cognitive domain operations is of urgent and important practical significance for winning future wars.
At present, the cognitive domain has entered the war stage as an independent domain, and has increasingly become a common domain, a battleground, and a weight for victory in the game between great powers. Analyze the characteristics and development trends of cognitive domain operations, which are reflected in at least the following eight aspects.
The cognitive domain is the key domain for transforming military advantage into political victory.
On the surface, military confrontation is a confrontation between the hard power of both sides. On a deeper level, no matter what the nature of the war is and for what purpose, it is ultimately a contest of human wills. The key to victory is the ability to impose your will on your audience. As long as the enemy’s will to fight is deprived and defeated, the war is won. Cognitive domain warfare uses human will, spirit, psychology, etc. as the target of confrontation, strengthening one’s own will while weakening the enemy’s will, thereby achieving the political goal of conquering the heart and mind. In this sense, the cognitive domain is the key domain for transforming military advantage into political victory. As war accelerates its evolution toward intelligence, cognitive quality advantages bring decision-making and action advantages, which can not only occupy the moral and legal high ground and create a favorable situation of justice and legality, but also realize small wars through hybrid warfare and comprehensive game means. Even the purpose of winning without fighting. Especially in the context of great power competition, the cost of war is high. All parties hope to intensify the competition for cognitive domains and force their opponents to retreat in a “humane” and “economic” manner.
By changing the opponent’s perception, it can change its decisions and actions
The purpose of implementing cognitive attacks is to use an “invisible hand” to control the opponent’s will, making the opponent feel “I can’t” and “I dare not”, and then achieve the effect of “I don’t want to”. Foreign military practice has shown that cognitive attacks on people’s will, beliefs, thinking, and psychology can be long-term cultural implantation, information suppression in the form of “information ocean + covering one’s mouth to silence”, or preemptive speech. Active shaping of political power can also use historical grievances to provoke the outbreak of conflicts. At present, information technology, artificial intelligence technology, and media technology have strengthened their direct effects on the cognitive domain. Using intelligent generation software, a large amount of cognitive “munitions” can be produced to accurately act on the cognitive layer of combat targets, directly imposing “will” “to rivals” and quickly change the strategic situation. Looking forward to the informationized and intelligent battlefield, situational awareness forces and platforms are widely distributed in combat domains such as land, sea, air, and space networks. Cognitive behaviors such as planning, decision-making, and control dominate operations in various combat domains, especially the cognition of human-machine hybrids in future intelligent warfare. Advantages will dominate the battlefield. Cognitive interference, cognitive confusion, cognitive blocking and other means can be used to create a “fog” of war cognition, inducing opponents to misjudge the situation and make wrong decisions and actions.
Cognitive domain operations are full-time offense and defense, full personnel coverage, full use, full domain shaping, and full government action
Cognitive domain operations are all-round, multi-level, hyper-temporal, and cross-domain. They blur the boundaries between wartime and peacetime, front and rear, cross battlefields and national boundaries, go beyond the pure military field, and widely penetrate into politics. , economy, diplomacy and other social fields, showing the characteristics of “five completes”. Full-time offense and defense, there is no distinction between peacetime and wartime, and there is no difference between the front and the rear. It is expressed as being online all the time and in war all the time. Covering all personnel, anyone, including intelligent robots, may become the target of cognitive domain operations. It is used throughout the whole process of joint operations before and during the war. Before the joint military operation is launched, the cognitive shaping operation has begun and will accompany the military operation and will not stop with the military operation. Global shaping, cognitive shaping runs through all levels of strategy, operations, and tactics, and its scope covers all domains of land, sea, air, and space networks. Cross-domain empowerment has an impact on all-domain operations. As a whole-of-government action, cognitive shaping is naturally strategic and requires consistent and coordinated actions across departments, fields, military and localities, and levels to achieve the best communication effect.
The key is to seize control over the right to define the nature of an action or activity, the right to dominate the process, and the right to judge the outcome.
The cognitive game struggle involves multiple opposing parties and seems complicated. The key is to compete for the “three powers” in the cognitive domain. First, fight for the right to define the nature of the event. That is, how to view this incident, whether it is just or unjust, legal or illegal. Usually, pre-emptive definitions, group alliances and forced definitions, information suppression and unilateral definitions, setting issues and applying definitions are usually adopted to guide and shape the public to form qualitative perceptions. Second, compete for dominance over the event process. That is, how to do something, how not to do it, who did it right and who did it wrong, usually by setting up a trap and other methods, trying to dominate the development direction of the target event according to the state that one’s own side expects. Fast and slow, pause, continue and end. Third, compete for the right to judge the outcome of the incident. That is, how to evaluate this matter, who is the gainer and who is the loser, who is the immediate loser, who is the long-term loser, etc. All parties strive to control the outcome of the incident by amplifying their own advantages and amplifying the disadvantages of the enemy. The purpose is to use the extended effect of the incident to continue to harm the enemy and benefit themselves.
Morality and legal principles are the focus of contention between all parties
Military operations have always paid attention to the principle of “discipline and reputation”. Although the shape of war is evolving at an accelerated pace, the essential nature of war as subordinate to politics will not change; the nature of war and the support of people’s hearts are still the key factors that affect the outcome of a war. On the battlefield in the cognitive domain, by occupying the commanding heights of politics, morality, and law, we can win the hearts and minds of the people and moral support, create a public opinion atmosphere in which moral support is abundant, and then seize the opportunity to defeat the enemy. In every war or conflict, whether it is the strong or the weak, whether the attacker, the defender, or a third party, all parties will try their best to seize cognitive dominance and the initiative of public opinion. They will do everything possible to package themselves with morality, focus on declaring a just position, and try to find ways to defend themselves. Qualify the war, justify the action, eliminate resistance, increase support, and create a favorable situation in which “righteousness” defeats “unrighteousness”. The strength balance between the two sides in the war is different, and the cognitive confrontation methods aimed at occupying the moral and legal high ground will also be different. Recent wars have shown that when a party has strong soft and hard power, that is, it has strong military strength, many allies and partners, and a large share of international voice, it often declares war in a high-profile manner; when military actions may trigger chain reactions, it is often handled in a vague manner. The word “war”.
Information is the basic “ammunition” for cognitive attack and defense
In the network information age, the way humans communicate continues to undergo complex and profound changes. On-site interactive interactions have gradually given way to online connections. Some large-scale social platforms have become the main battleground for cognitive games and the main channels for influencing public cognition. Using information as ammunition to fight for the right to block international networks and control discourse has become a common practice today. One of the main actions of confrontation. On these platforms, various short videos have become the “first scene” for the public to understand the war situation, and information travels faster than cannonballs. The use and blocking, dominance and regulation of platforms have become the focus of battles in the cognitive domain. All parties strive to spread and amplify their own propaganda, denounce and suppress the other party’s propaganda by manipulating social platforms, forming a “I say more, you say less” “What I said is right and what you said is wrong” is a situation where “I can only say it and you are not allowed to say it”. As users of large-scale social platforms, the public is influenced by and affects others in the process of “listening”, “speaking” and even “doing”, and unknowingly becomes the agents and attack props of those behind the scenes.
Military operations play a key supporting role in shaping cognition
The history of human war shows that military warfare is always the basic support of political contests, while psychological warfare is the effectiveness multiplier of military warfare. What cannot be retrieved on the battlefield cannot be expected to be retrieved at the negotiation table, let alone in the field of public opinion. In modern warfare, cognitive communication operations always go hand in hand with joint military operations. Mental warfare and military warfare influence and support each other. The trend of military warfare becoming mental warfare and mental warfare becoming military warfare is more obvious. From the perspective of war practice, it is absolutely impossible without military strength, but military actions alone are not omnipotent. Multiple victories on the battlefield are not a sufficient condition for victory in war. In the Vietnam War, although the United States “won every battle, it lost the entire war.” At the beginning of the 21st century, the United States fought successive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, winning battlefield victories but not political victory. By the same token, military victory does not mean winning public opinion, and winning the battlefield does not mean winning strategic victory. In modern warfare, two types of people play an increasingly important role: those who win by writing thousands of lines of code, and those who win by writing thousands of messages. The side with superior quantity and quality of these two types of personnel will often have a higher probability of winning.
Cognitive countermeasures technology is increasingly used directly in warfare
In past wars, the influence and effect on the cognitive domain were mainly transmitted to the cognitive domain level by level through a large number of damaging actions in the physical domain. With the development and breakthroughs of information communications, artificial intelligence, biocrossing, brain science and other technologies, new cognitive warfare tools and technologies are directly targeting military personnel. Cognitive countermeasures use not only traditional information warfare weapons, but also an arsenal of neural weapons that target the brain. By then, machines will be able to read human brains, and human brains will also be able to directly control machines. Intelligent command and control systems can directly provide battlefield situation and decision-making assistance. Realistic cognitive ammunition and precise audience placement will greatly enhance the social impact. Cognitive countermeasures technology is increasingly being used directly in warfare. The indirect cognition implicit in informatization is gradually transforming into a direct influence and control of people’s cognition. It can be said that with the support of advanced technology, cognitive domain operations can achieve political goals more directly and efficiently by building a modern network architecture and developing a data visualization platform to quickly understand the information environment and effectively influence target groups.
(Author’s unit: Institute of War Studies, Academy of Military Sciences)
認知域作戰有一個非常重要的支撐，即主要依靠語言媒介發揮作用，主要通過語篇層面發揮影響，主要通過語篇的敘事性對認知域形成隱性效應，主要 externing influence on the cognitive domain through cultural models 通過跨文化交際所發揮的潛在作用，顯性或隱性作用。 主要體現在以下幾個方面：
Cognitive domain combat refers to the use of multi-domain means such as public opinion, psychology, and law, and the use of modern network, media, text, pictures, video, digital and other multi-dimensional technologies to carry out public opinion propaganda, psychological attack and defense, and The important forms of fighting for people’s hearts, subverting confidence, influencing beliefs, fighting for thinking, and ideological struggle are intended to compete for people’s initiative in thinking, beliefs, values, personal attitudes, emotions, identification, and judgmental tendencies. Cognitive domain warfare is a complex collection of multi-domain warfare such as traditional public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, legal warfare, trade war, diplomatic warfare, technological warfare, and ideological warfare.
At present, combat in the cognitive domain has become an important basis for military struggles and struggles in other fields between countries, and language confrontation driven by goals in the cognitive domain has become an important form of combat in the cognitive domain, which deserves great attention.
A New Frontier for Language Countermeasures to Influence on Objects of Operation
Cognitive domain combat is the accompanying result of the research and development of contemporary cognitive science. It is a new combat field created after people actively explore the cognitive activities of the brain to gain a more complex, abstract and thorough understanding of the brain. Advanced deep covert activities are the high-end form of influence on the object of action. Regardless of whether it is the object of information action, the producer of information, the content of information itself, or the channel of information, operations in the cognitive domain all run through the characteristics of cognition, and highlight actions from the cognitive level from beginning to end.
From the perspective of the recipients of the information, this cognition is aimed at the deep cognition of the opponent’s audience, including its people, the army, military commanders or important leaders, important figures in the political and business circles, and even directly including the leaders of the opponent’s country or the military. Specific important generals, etc., can also be specific groups of people or people. It can involve the cognitive preferences, cognitive shortcomings, cognitive habits, cognitive biases, cognitive misunderstandings of individuals or groups; it can also be the beliefs, values, political identity, ethnic identity, social and cultural identity and emotional attitudes of individuals and groups.
From the perspective of the information provider and content, it should be infused with the cognitive design and arrangement of the information producer, which includes the unique cognition of the text, such as the discourse mode of the text, the narrative mode of the text, the perspective of observation of things, the narrative Cognitive focus and depth, organizational form of sentences, tendencies such as value concepts of sentences, acceptability of concepts of sentences, etc.
In terms of channels for information distribution and dissemination, the form of text is closer to the multimedia multimodal form, closer to the needs of cyberspace, closer to the advantages of contemporary smartphones, and closer to the characteristics of the current emerging media era, that is, more in line with the audience The cognitive characteristics of acceptance are cognitive habits and cognitive tendencies. The form of dissemination of the text fully considers the cognitive effect in international communication, especially the cognitive communication across cultures, languages, media, and groups. In this way, the text will better influence the audience from the cognitive level.
Language confrontation responds to changes in combat styles and generates new tactics
Throughout human history, it is not difficult to find that the style of military struggle has been constantly changing. From the initial physical fight with the help of cold weapons, it has developed into a contest of mechanical power with hot weapons, and has also developed into a check and balance of information capabilities under the conditions of high-tech warfare. Every change brings about profound changes in tactics. In the current transitional stage of co-existence of mechanization, informationization and intelligence, people not only pay attention to the struggle for dominance in the physical domain and information domain of the battlefield, but also pay more attention to the control of the main body of war-human cognitive domain, that is, the way of thinking, Cognitive models and styles, values, emotional attitudes, cultural models, communication models, psychological strengths and weaknesses, cognitive preferences, cultural and knowledge maps, and ideological identity. The latter involves the basic situation of social personnel and social existence, that is, the emerging field of cognitive domain operations exerting influence, and its tactics have strong particularities.
Topic flexibility and mobility: Cognitive domain operations can select many topics in the cognitive domain to carry out flexible and mobile combat operations. According to the current situation and needs, the topic can be chosen to involve a relatively macro strategic level (such as the ideology and system of the other party’s entire society, etc.), or a medium-level campaign level (such as social issues in a local area or direction of the other party’s society: Social welfare policies or environmental protection policies, etc.), you can also choose to involve very microscopic tactical issues in society (such as the unfair, unjust, and not beautiful side of society reflected by a certain person or a specific event). The macro, meso, and micro cognitive domains are interconnected and transform into each other. It is very likely that a micro issue will also become a macro strategic issue. The question should be raised according to the relationship with the entire military operation, and the cognitive domain operation must be subordinated to the overall combat operation and serve the needs of the macro political and diplomatic situation. More importantly, the topics should be prepared in normal times, and the data of various topics should be collected in normal times, especially paying attention to various important data in the real society. Once needed, these data can be quickly transformed into arrows, bullets, and shells fired at the enemy’s cognitive domain, and even become strategic weapons that affect the overall situation.
Controllability at the combat level: The important design of cognitive warfare is that at the combat level, it is controllable and adjustable as a whole, and can be upgraded or reduced according to changes in the situation. If the strategic level is needed, the commander can enable the design and force input at the strategic level; if the campaign level is needed, it can also be controlled at the corresponding campaign level; if it is only needed at the specific small problem level, it can also be controlled at the corresponding The niche local level makes the whole operation serve the needs of the overall combat operation. The strategy, campaign and tactics here refer more to combat design and power input. Since the battlefield situation may change rapidly, some issues may also change at the level, from strategic issues to affect the effects of campaign and tactical levels; some issues, due to the particularity of tactical issues, become campaign-level issues that affect the overall situation.
Emerging media dominance: The main influence channel of the cognitive domain has shifted from traditional paper media and print media to emerging media. Traditional media mainly rely on a single medium, such as newspapers, magazines, books, leaflets, posters, etc. to convey information; the later generation of television brought three-dimensional media. In the Internet era, especially the Internet 2.0 era and the birth of smart communication devices, people rely more on multimedia, multi-modality, and short videos and texts to transmit information. The introduction of various advanced devices such as smart phones, smart tablets, and smart players, and the birth of various new social software and tools have made new media the main tool for people to communicate and communicate. Emerging media, emerging social software and tools have become an important space for various forces to compete and struggle in social security, public opinion security, ideological security, social security, and political security. Internet security, especially the ability to grasp the security of new social media, emerging social software and tools, etc., is to some extent the key to the security of a country’s cognitive domain. The information of emerging media tools and new media spaces has become the main battlefield, main position and main space for cognitive warfare in various countries. It is worth pointing out that the thoughts and theories that influence people’s cognition will become the most influential weapons at all levels of cognitive domain operations.
Language confrontation adapts to the age of intelligence, cognitive computing enhances new computing power
In the era of artificial intelligence, on the basis of big data analysis and application, supercomputing ability, intelligent computing ability, natural language processing ability, smart phone dissemination ability and new generation network communication ability, human beings have begun to be able to understand the whole society and the whole network. Carry out precise modeling and analysis of language culture, psychological cognition, group emotion, and social behavior in different domains, local groups, different local groups, and specific individuals. Especially people’s deep understanding and grasp of brain cognition, human brain thinking, thinking mode, habit preference, image schema, cognitive framework, and even neural network, human-computer collaboration, brain control technology, etc., as long as there are enough diverse dynamic data , people can calculate and simulate all people’s psychological activities, emotional activities, cognitive activities, public opinion, and behavioral patterns. Through deep calculations, actuarial calculations, and clever calculations, people can accurately grasp people’s cognitive world and form an understanding of people’s cognitive domain. fine and deep control. This aspect presents the following characteristics:
Computational all-dimensionality: As an emerging field, the cognitive domain can be digitized in all aspects and can be calculated in all directions, the whole process and the whole individual. It can collect various types of information extensively, and then can be reflected as information about Big data with diversified main factors of combat opponents, so that various calculations can be carried out for the whole, groups, groups, and individual data and between them. All kinds of activities can be completed, displayed and accurately grasped through calculation.
Computational cognition: Computation in the cognitive domain embodies strong cognition, and it can reveal more relationships between various things, events, and characters that are difficult to observe with the naked eye, and can reveal the relationship between various concepts in the same event frame. The clustering and hierarchical relationship between concepts reflects the deep cognitive connection between concepts, whether explicit or implicit, direct or indirect, and reveals the complex concept network system between concepts, allowing people to see a deep cognitive world that is completely beyond the ordinary naked eye observation. .
Computing intelligence: Computing in the cognitive domain embodies strong intelligence. This kind of intelligence is manifested in the calculation, and it will draw intelligent conclusions. For example, through the collection of a large amount of text and data mining, we can find the relationship between various themes, viewpoints, tendencies, groups of people, positions, and appeals that cannot be seen due to limited human power, so as to form a more comprehensive understanding of a certain issue. Comprehensive, in-depth, accurate and systematic understanding to make scientific and optimized decisions. This kind of decision-making may be in line with human intelligence, or it may exceed or even far exceed human intelligence. By making good use of the power of cognitive computing, especially by combining the data of the country and the opponent, we can better achieve early prevention, early warning, and early deployment, and can achieve the best, best, fastest and most accurate strikes and counterattacks. It can also better reflect efficient, powerful and targeted protection. Cognitive computing here is more about a possible macro-meso or micro-level issue that may arise in different groups of people, in different time periods, in different backgrounds, in the entire network domain or in a local network domain, or within a specific group. In particular, the analysis and inspection of the active and passive situations that may be presented by both parties when playing games with opponents, and the attack and defense of the cognitive domain, etc.
Give full play to the status of discourse subject and release the new application of discourse power
Cognitive domain combat has a very important support, that is, it mainly relies on the language medium to play its role, exerting influence mainly through the discourse level, forming a hidden effect on the cognitive domain mainly through the narrative nature of discourse, and mainly exerting influence on the cognitive domain through cultural models Potential role, overt or implicit role exerted through cross-cultural communication. It is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Text Discourse Uniqueness: Cognitive Domains Need Information to Influence. Although the information may be displayed by relying on the special visual effects of video pictures, fundamentally speaking, the uniqueness of the integrated discourse expressed by the text becomes the main support for the cognitive impact. Among them, the mode of discourse expression, the skill of discourse expression, the main design of persuasion and appeal of discourse expression, especially the uniqueness of discourse narrative will be the key to affect people’s cognition. This may include narrative perspectives, narrative themes, styles, narrative story frameworks, narrative language innovations, narrative key sentences, narratives contain philosophy, humanities, religion, society, nature, etc., and the identities of different participants in the narrative , the diversified evaluation of narrative, the authenticity, depth and emotional temperature of narrative, the subtle influence of narrative on viewpoints, and the personal emotions, values, ideology, and position evaluation released by narrative. The uniqueness of text discourse is an important reliance on cognitive influence exerted by text in cognitive domain operations. Making full use of the complexity of texts, giving full play to the respective advantages of diverse texts, and giving full play to the implicit and explicit cognitive influences of text connotations have become the key to combat in the cognitive domain of text discourse. The most important thing is to innovate text discourse, to win readers with brand-new discourse, more novel expressions, and more unique expressions, so that readers can understand and feel the thoughts in the text subtly, and accept them silently. The thought of the text.
Potential of cultural models: To fight in the cognitive domain, we must deeply grasp the characteristics and models of different countries and national cultures. Different countries and different nationalities have different cultural models, philosophical thinking, traditional culture, religious beliefs, customs, and ways of thinking are obviously different; citizens of different cultures also have different national psychology and national cognition Models should also have typical cognitive preferences belonging to their own nation and culture, as well as corresponding shortcomings and weaknesses, and some of them obviously have a huge difference from other nationalities in their own country, and even have misunderstandings and hostility. Therefore, at the cultural level, combat in the cognitive domain is to grasp the overall cultural models of different countries, build cultural models for different groups in different countries, build different cognitive models for different things in different countries, and fully grasp a certain country’s cultural models in a series of things. The overall attitude and way of doing things on issues and issues, especially for some typical cases, cultural taboos, religious requirements, spiritual pursuits, general concepts, etc. It is necessary to use existing theories and findings to comprehensively construct the basic performance of different groups of people in the cognitive field on some typical, sensitive, and important issues, so as to provide important reference and guidance for the next step of cognitive operations. Strengthen the research on the cultural patterns of different personnel of the enemy, especially military personnel, personnel in key positions, including the research and construction of basic cultural characteristics and models of generals, officers, soldiers, etc., such as the psychological cognitive behavior of characters and cultural model portraits, It has become the core practice of cognitive domain operations. It is also of great value to analyze the cognitive patterns of ordinary people, especially ordinary citizens and citizens, as well as specific groups of people, including special NGO forces.
Cross-cultural strategic communication: Cognitive domain operations are international language and cultural communication, which need to follow the laws of international communication. To grasp the basic paradigm of international communication, to skillfully combine national stories with international expressions, to skillfully combine the other party’s language and culture with their own stories and ideas; to be good at combining different art forms, including words, pictures, paintings, music (Sound), video and other means or multi-modal means to achieve the international dissemination of information. At the same time, it is also necessary to coordinate multi-dimensional and macroscopic communication at the strategic level: use various means, rely on military-civilian integration, military-civilian coordination, and military-civilian integration to carry out communication; in addition to non-governmental organizations, especially rely on non-governmental forces, experts, opinion leaders, and ordinary people To help the military carry out cognitive domain operations; to set up issues in a unified way, to make multi-point, multi-person and multi-dimensional voices, to form a strategic communication situation, to form a good situation for emergency solutions for major actions, major issues, major crisis management and control, etc., to form a good atmosphere of public opinion, and to create Positive effects, eliminating adverse effects or extinguishing adverse effects. In particular, it is necessary to establish a capable team that is proficient in foreign languages, understands cross-cultural skills, understands the laws of international communication, and can skillfully speak out on international multi-dimensional platforms. These personnel can usually carry out extensive issue awareness, collection and discussion, establish personal connections and fan groups with the help of common or special issues; more importantly, at critical moments, through their fan groups, exert influence and complete strategic communication tasks .
At present, with the popularity of hybrid warfare, multi-domain warfare and global warfare, cognitive domain warfare has become a common method of hybridization and mixing. , The advanced stage of the development of legal warfare, the complex stage and the escalation stage. Its rise is more deceptive, ambiguous, concealed, embedded, implanted and unobservable, especially considering its deep integration with contemporary emerging media, and continuous learning and reference into multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary new ideas, new technologies, and new methods. As a result, combat in the cognitive domain has become a form of combat that we must be highly vigilant against. (Liang Xiaobo, professor and doctoral supervisor of the College of Arts and Sciences, National University of Defense Technology)
[This article is a phased achievement of the National Social Science Fund’s major project “National Defense Language Capacity Building from the Perspective of National Defense and Military Reform”]
Original Chinese Military Source: https://military.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2022/0517/c1011-32423539.html
●Under the intelligent communication environment, people continue to “absorb” information and become the extension of the media, and the media gradually become “persons with the initiative”. Both man and machine have achieved cyclic alternation and real-time interaction, making cognitive attack and defense present uninterrupted and normalized features.
●Intelligent communication can shape the relationship between users and information in all dimensions, all time and all domains, making public opinion guidance, concept shaping, and behavior guidance more convenient. It has increasingly become a “brain control weapon” and gradually developed a set of cognitive manipulation methods Practical approach.
With the rapid development of intelligent media and platform technology, intelligent communication has gradually realized the cross-border integration and application of intelligent technology and communication media, which has not only greatly changed the production style and communication mode of information, but also profoundly affected human thinking logic and values. . Intelligent communication provides strong support and broad space for influencing cognition, dominating cognition, subverting cognition, etc., and is triggering iterative upgrades and profound changes in cognitive domain operations. Clarifying the mechanism and means of intelligent communication on cognitive attack and defense is of great significance for innovating combat tactics in the cognitive domain with the help of intelligent communication.
The Characteristics of the Cognitive Domain of Intelligent Communication
Intelligent communication is an activity that applies technologies such as big data, cloud computing, machine learning, and virtual reality to information production and dissemination. Intelligent communication can continuously shape and deeply induce the value orientation and behavioral speculation of the target audience, and has increasingly become a new platform and important field for cognitive attack and defense.
Everything is ubiquitously connected. With the development and evolution of intelligent communication, people and people, people and things, and things and things will all be connected. Any smart terminal can become a tool for users to receive information and a channel for the platform to deliver content, and the push capability is more powerful. The scene is also wider. Affected by this, the role of the communication platform is no longer pure information output, and its ability to shape the content of communication and even people’s thinking, behavior and various relationships will become more and more prominent. Intelligent communication can deeply intervene and promote interpersonal communication, data interaction and information exchange, which invisibly greatly expands the combat space in the cognitive domain and the types of forces participating in the war. The continuous evolution of “Ubiquitous Internet of Everything” makes it possible for all objects to become a tool for media to realize information dissemination, and information is no longer limited by dimensions. The subject of cognitive confrontation is ubiquitous and the space is widely expanded.
Mixture of fiction and reality. Under the multi-communication pattern empowered by intelligent technology, whether it is text, pictures, sound, video and other product forms, it can be easily forged and spread wantonly. With the iterative evolution of deep forgery technology, its production content can be presented to a wide audience in a form that is infinitely close to reality, which can easily affect the public’s attitude towards a certain issue, event, or object. At the same time, social robots driven by codes and algorithms can carry out “sprinkling” dissemination by extracting key information, liking and forwarding comments, etc., so as to continuously spread false information and false information to confuse public opinion and aggravate the public’s irrationality and dissatisfaction with information. Emotional responses, which in turn manipulate cognitive trends. Information dissemination is true and false, and the true and false are mixed. This state of mixed and interconstructed truth and falsehood can easily lead to a tear in group trust, making the situation of cognitive attack and defense more complicated and difficult to control.
Human-machine two-way interaction. Intelligent media not only continuously enriches the input and output methods of information, but also increasingly blurs the original clear boundary between people and media. It can not only simply execute user instructions, but also give more feedback according to the propagation effect. If things go on like this, the public may subtly regard it as an external “brain” and be influenced by it unconsciously. With the support of technology, intelligent media can also obtain human-like perception, computing, and even emotional intelligence. With the help of human-computer interaction, it can reversely affect the user’s way of thinking, and shape the user’s behavior orientation through algorithm recommendations. In the intelligent communication environment, people continue to “absorb” information and become the extension of the media, and the media gradually become “people with subjective initiative”. Both man and machine have achieved cyclic alternation and real-time interaction, making cognitive attack and defense present uninterrupted and normalized features.
The Mechanism of Intelligence Spreading in the Cognitive Domain
At present, intelligent communication has become an effective means to dominate information content and control the direction of public opinion. With the help of an all-round and multi-sensory media system, it can mobilize the immersive experience and subject consciousness of the target audience from the shallower to the deeper, thereby deepening their perception and broadening their horizons. Its scope of cognition and its influence on its value choices have gradually become an important way to infiltrate thoughts and implement mind-boggling.
Cognitive influence is exerted through situational immersion. According to psychological theory, the audience’s body and its interaction with the environment play a key role in cognitive activities. As an artificial sensory system outside the human body, media technology can change and even reshape the way of perception. Smart media can superimpose and merge or simulate complex information that cannot appear in the same time and space at the same time, so as to restore the original appearance of the information to the greatest extent, and provide the public with immersive sensory experiences such as vision, hearing, and touch. As a result, the communication effect is increasingly showing an immersive trend. Intelligent communication enables information to directly hit the sensory channels of the target audience in a more three-dimensional, time-space and shocking way, thus giving birth to the “sensory touch-psychological A series of chain reactions of “touch-emotional resonance” in order to realize the influence and control of its perception on the physiological level.
Influence cognitive orientation through virtual mapping. The development and popularization of smart devices have improved people’s “quantifiability” and “traceability”. Some of these devices exist in the external environment, but in the future they will increasingly form an inseparable relationship with the human body. Thanks to this, the behavior, activities, and physical status of the audience can be mapped in the virtual world in multiple dimensions. Once people can truly experience the process of cognition and its environment through the “virtual entity”, the relationship between the cognitive domain and the cognitive context will no longer be separated into two dimensions: virtual and real. In this process, as the audience, it is not only enhanced, that is, to obtain a new sensory experience, to realize the free extension of cognitive activities; but also constrained, that is, the individual who is digitally mapped is more likely to be observed and manipulated by others.
Using human-machine fusion to strengthen cognitive intervention. At present, social robots can shape a human-like communication object by capturing users’ emotional dynamics and analyzing information content and structure, and promote the main body of communication from “human” to “human-machine symbiosis”. Based on user identity and real-time interaction, social robots can affect the public’s thinking habits and behavior patterns to a certain extent, and have remarkable effects in spreading false information, manipulating public opinion, conducting social mobilization, and inciting public emotions. With the continuous improvement of technology, the image of social robots will be richer and more textured, and can even imitate human emotions. Some time ago, based on the generative AI ChatGPT, the data and information generated by it are easier to be trusted and accepted by users, and the impact on thinking and cognition is more direct and effective. It can change the user’s consciousness subtly and continuously construct The user’s cognitive framework.
The Means of Intellectual Diffusion in the Cognitive Domain
Intelligent communication can shape the relationship between users and information in all dimensions, time and space, making public opinion guidance, concept shaping, and behavior guidance more convenient. It has increasingly become a “brain control weapon” and gradually developed a set of cognitive manipulation practices. technique.
Create information fog and attack cognitive black holes. Under the environment of intelligent communication, deep fake information confuses the boundaries between existence and nothingness, reality and virtuality, memory and forgetting, and can be used to distort the truth, influence the flow of public opinion, and then achieve the purpose of influencing the direction of cognition and strengthening cognitive intervention. In particular, intelligent programs represented by social robots have the ability of automatic recognition, intelligent response and even brain-like thinking. Bombing forms high-intensity thinking and cognitive oppression. Once false opinions or falsified events form a public opinion environment, the individual reaction time will be greatly reduced, and it will be difficult for the audience to think deeply, and it is easy to be driven by the herd mentality, from disbelief to belief, from non-acceptance to acceptance, from The qualitative change from disapproval to identification creates a false collective identity and leads the target audience into the preset issue trap.
Implement targeted attacks and build a cognitive cocoon. In the era of informationization and intelligence, the public’s perception of things is potentially affected by all kinds of ubiquitous push information. The foreign army believes that by grasping the target’s online traces, shopping records, social status, etc., it can quickly collect cognitive data of different dimensions, levels, and modes, and provide support for efficiently grasping its values, public opinion positions, etc. On the basis of accurately drawing the cognitive landscape, it is possible to discover doubts, weaknesses, and needs of the target object’s cognitive system, and to set content themes, narrative methods, and discourse frameworks according to their thinking preferences. Then either select a group with a similar understanding context and the same emotional characteristics, or select a specific individual who is susceptible and has a greater influence value, and through selective recommendation and targeted filtering, differentiated and segmented delivery Related Information. With the help of targeted delivery of content and precise attacks on channels, it can carry out targeted attack and continuous influence on the target object, effectively solidify the scope of their information acceptance, continuously weaken their independent thinking ability, cause them to fall into a cognitive cocoon and mindset, and even forcibly change Its decision-making intention and action deployment.
Penetrate psychological fissures and break down emotional embankments. Different from the previous means of communication, intelligent communication can build an immersive virtual environment. While expanding the user’s sense of space and dimension, it also naturally comes with strong sensory stimulation and perceptual cognitive bias, which wears down the user’s rationality. Cognitive level and value judgment ability. When the audience perceives the truth of the event, they will be more subject to the influence of sensibility. If they want to leverage cognition, they need to rely more on sensibility. Either attract people with gorgeous landscapes, seduce people with entertaining scenes, or frighten people with scary scenes. With the help of tactile, sensible and interactive intelligent communication, it creates a very deceptive, confusing and provocative The information scene strongly stimulates the user’s psychological feelings, making them deeply immersed in it without knowing it. Once immersed in emotional infiltration and scene infiltration, you can use common emotions and common values to incite emotions or impose moral coercion, destroy their emotional dependence, destroy their value support, and then shock, occupy, and even polarize the mind of the target object.
(Author unit: National Security College, National Defense University)
美军网络作战武器装备研发始终按照军商民结合、兼收并蓄的方法进行。网络空间作战装备与常规作战装备不同，其主要是以代码为基础、以设计为核心的研制生产形式，供应链的层级关系并不明晰。如今，美国具有以美国国防部高级研究计划局（Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency，DARPA）为核心的军方研究力量，以诺斯罗普·格鲁曼、雷声、洛克希德·马丁等传统防务公司为主，互联网、电子、软件、信息安全等领域公司兼收并蓄的研制力量。
From the perspective of the construction of cyberspace combat forces in major countries in the world, the U.S. military, as the first army to publicly announce the construction of cyberspace combat forces, has relatively strong strength and has carried out cyberspace combat operations many times in war practice. Organizations and countries such as the European Union and Russia have also launched cyberspace combat force building and carried out some actual combat operations. The study and analysis of the successful experience and practices of the major countries and regions in the world in the construction of military cyberspace combat forces has important reference and enlightenment significance for the development of cyberspace in my country.
With the rapid development of network information technology and its wide application in the military, cyberspace has become an emerging combat domain following the four domains of land, sea, air, and space, and cyberspace operations have also become an inseparable and important component of all-domain joint operations part, and become the key to gaining and maintaining the operational initiative, control and victory. The United States, Russia, Japan and other major countries in the world have formulated cyberspace security and development strategies, established cyberspace combat forces, and developed advanced network technologies and weapons and equipment, stepping up to seize this new strategic commanding height.
The United States leads the construction of cyberspace
Whether it is cyberspace concept and theoretical research, or other related technology research and application practice, the United States is the source and leader of cyberspace development, driving the development of cyberspace in various countries and regions. The U.S. military’s cyber force is the earliest “established” cyber combat force in the world. It has gone through stages such as the establishment of defense during the Clinton era, cyber counter-terrorism during the Bush era, simultaneous deterrence and war during the Obama era, and “forward defense” during the Trump administration. It has developed into a network combat force with 133 network task teams and tens of thousands of people in various services.
1.1 Strengthening the strategic deterrent position
In order to compete for the control and development of cyberspace, the United States actively responds to the new requirements of changes in the shape of future wars, and establishes cyberspace as an emerging combat domain alongside land, sea, air, and space, and places it as a strategic deterrent. Strategic Position.
The important strategic documents related to cyberspace promulgated by the United States are shown in Table 1. In 2011, the United States successively issued three major strategic documents, the “International Strategy for Cyberspace”, the “National Strategy for Trusted Identity in Cyberspace” and the “Strategy for Cyberspace Operations of the Department of Defense”. The use and control of cyberspace has been elevated to a basic national policy.
In recent years, based on competition among major powers, the U.S. military has further enhanced its strategic position in cyberspace, and a combat system structure for cyberspace operations has basically taken shape. In 2018, the U.S. military successively released the new version of the “DoD Cyber Strategy” [1] and the “Cyberspace Operations” joint doctrine, clarifying that cyberspace operations themselves can be used as an independent combat style to achieve tactical, operational or strategic effects, and can also be integrated with other fields. The integration of combat styles improves the effectiveness of joint operations through coordinated operations; in 2020, the U.S. Cyberspace Sunbathing Committee released the “Warning from the Future” report, proposing the “defense forward” strategy, and recommending that the U.S. Department of Defense expand it to the national level , the strategy is a national cyberspace layered deterrence strategy based on continuous confrontation as the main mode of action, and behavior shaping, benefit denial, and cost imposition as the fundamental approaches.
1.2 The leadership system has a clear division of labor
The United States divides its national cyber security business into four parts: homeland security business, national defense business, intelligence business, and law enforcement business, as shown in Figure 1. Among them, the homeland security business is dominated by the Department of Homeland Security, which is mainly responsible for coordinating the cyberspace security of important infrastructure and protecting government and commercial networks and systems; the national defense business is dominated by the Department of Defense, led by the US Cyber Command, and various military services provide troops It has three major functions of attack, defense, and military information infrastructure operation and maintenance management. It is the core of the US cyber security force; the intelligence business is dominated by the National Security Agency, which is mainly responsible for detecting malicious activities in foreign cyberspace. The Ministry of Defense provides capability support; criminal law enforcement involves multiple departments including the Department of Justice and its subordinate agencies.
Table 1. Important strategic documents related to cyberspace promulgated by the United States
Figure 1. Management and coordination framework of cyberspace organizations in the United States
The U.S. Cyber Command was established in 2009 and was originally affiliated to the U.S. Strategic Command. In August 2017, the U.S. Cyber Command was upgraded to the 10th independent U.S. Joint Operations Command, and the responsibility for combat command was assigned to the Cyber Command. And the director of the National Security Agency also serves as the commander. For the U.S. military’s network operations, especially operations with high real-time requirements, this move straightens out the command and control relationship. The organizational relationship between the upgraded U.S. Cyber Command and other agencies is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. The organizational relationship between the upgraded US Cyber Command and other agencies
The U.S. Cyber Command is under the command of the President and Secretary of Defense of the United States, and has operational control over the headquarters of the National Cyber Mission Force, the Headquarters of the Joint Cyberspace Forces, the Headquarters of the Cyberspace Forces of the Services, and the Headquarters of the Joint Forces of the Department of Defense Information Network; Mission detachments, combat detachments, protection detachments and support detachments have operational control.
During the operation, the U.S. Cyber Command conducts cyber operations in accordance with the instructions of the U.S. President and Secretary of Defense, implements operational control over its subordinate forces, and provides customized force packages to the Joint Operations Command for support. The force package is composed of cyber combat forces, combat support personnel and other cyberspace forces under the Cyber Command. Cyber Command maintains operational control of force packages and delegates operational control to subordinate commands as appropriate. The commander receiving the force package has tactical control over the timing and tempo of cyberspace operations.
1.3 Large scale of organizational strength
The U.S. military’s cyber force is the first established “organized” cyber combat force in the world. It has long recruited cyber talents, formed a cyber force, and held secret exercises. At present, the U.S. military has basically formed a general pattern in which the Cyber Command is responsible for operations, and the military services and the Defense Information Systems Agency and other Ministry of Defense business bureaus are responsible for the construction. Different from the land, sea, and air combat domains, the particularity of the cyberspace combat domain requires that the two chains of management (military administration) and operations (military orders) must cooperate more closely.
The U.S. military’s cyberspace strategic combat force is mainly composed of 133 cyber mission teams under the Cyber Command, with about 6,200 active duty and civilian personnel. According to the instructions of the Ministry of National Defense in 2013, the force was formed by drawing forces from various services (41 from the Army, 40 from the Navy, 39 from the Air Force, and 13 from the Marine Corps). It mainly performs tasks such as the operation and maintenance protection operations of the Ministry of National Defense information network, offensive cyberspace operations, and defensive cyberspace operations. The 133 cyber mission teams are organized into three types of troops: national cyber mission troops, combat mission troops, and network protection troops, according to the different types of tasks they undertake. Currently, the U.S. Cyber Task Force is expanding its scale. By 2024, 21 cyber protection teams will be formed, increasing the number of cyber task teams to 154.
The cyberspace tactical combat force of the U.S. military is mainly composed of the cyberspace forces of the four major cybercommands of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps under the U.S. Cyber Command (the total number is about 80,000 people), and they are responsible for network protection and combat support of various services. The mission provides support for the offensive, defensive, and operation and maintenance operations of the cyber mission force in joint operations. The network commands of various services are also stepping up the expansion and integration of network combat forces to provide support for the operations of network mission forces and the network protection of various services.
1.4 Comprehensive combat capability system
In terms of equipment research and development, the U.S. military adheres to the principle of “building while using, and integrating construction and use”, continuously intensifies the research and development of cyber warfare weapon systems and equipment, and conducts research on key technologies for cyber warfare. A number of research programs have been carried out in early warning, command and control, and training and evaluation, and tens of billions of dollars have been invested in the research and development of various cyberspace combat equipment, thereby promoting and improving the level of network combat technology, enhancing service support capabilities and operational capabilities. efficiency.
The most representative equipment for network defense includes “network deception” system, “cyber wolf” software system, network attack alarm system and network vulnerability scanner. At the same time, the US military also attaches great importance to the application of the concept of “active network defense”. It has promoted the rapid development of network attack traceability technology. Cyber attacks include a variety of powerful computer viruses such as “Stuxnet” and “Flame”; battlefield cyber attacks are more representative of the Air Force’s “Shuter” system and the Navy’s EA-18G “Growler” aircraft. Reconnaissance perception has the ability to obtain information such as enemy communications, content, network protocols, hardware addresses, passwords, identity authentication processes, and network vulnerabilities. Programs such as “Einstein” and “Prometheus” have formed large-scale intelligence production capabilities and are trying to build a global cyberspace situational awareness system.
1.5 Equipment research and development forces are all-inclusive
The research and development of the U.S. military’s network combat weapons and equipment has always been carried out in accordance with the method of combining military, commercial and civilian, and inclusive. Cyberspace combat equipment is different from conventional combat equipment. It is mainly a code-based, design-centric development and production form, and the hierarchical relationship of the supply chain is not clear. Today, the United States has a military research force with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as the core, and traditional defense forces such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin. The company is the mainstay, and the company has an eclectic research and development force in the fields of Internet, electronics, software, and information security.
The cyberspace research directions of the U.S. military, government scientific research institutions, and traditional defense companies usually cover one or more aspects of cyberspace reconnaissance (situational awareness), surveillance, attack, defense, test verification, and comprehensive integration; while the Internet, electronics, Companies in the fields of software and information security carry out cyberspace technology research and equipment development and production in their respective fields. In addition, since the research and development products of cyberspace combat equipment are mainly software, which is a logical layer product, this has led to a blurred boundary between basic research in cyberspace and equipment development and production. Teams and individuals are also an important part of the US cyberspace industry. Figure 3 shows the main power structure of cyberspace R&D and production capabilities.
Figure 3 The main force structure of US cyberspace R&D and production capabilities
Among them, large and medium-sized military enterprises are the backbone of the research and development of the US cyberspace equipment subsystem/subsystem/technical field. In recent years, the traditional large and medium-sized military enterprises in the United States have rapidly entered the field of network security through “mergers and reorganizations” as the main means, and formed several companies such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin. Comprehensive companies are the leading network security defense industry. In the bidding of DARPA and various military cyberspace projects, these large and medium-sized military enterprises usually occupy the position of main contractors.
2 Europe follows closely behind
The European cyberspace industry started later than the United States, mainly focusing on research on cyberspace defense and cyberspace security issues. In recent years, European governments and national defense/electronic companies have also invested in the field of cyberspace security. Through the gradual improvement of strategic policies, public-private alliances, and guidance of cyberspace technology research and development, a network that spans the entire Europe and other countries and regions has been initially formed. Cyberspace defense system. Specifically, it is manifested in the following levels.
At the level of research and development, European countries not only follow the lead of the United States, but also rely on NATO, the European Union and other transnational platforms to achieve integration and complementarity within Europe and between Europe and the United States, and finally formed a cyberspace security capability with both commonality and characteristics, second only to the United States .
At the level of organization and management, since most European countries are small in scale and easy to manage, they have achieved a relatively efficient, integrated, and powerful cyberspace management mechanism. At the same time, due to the large number of European countries and the existence of competition, there are sometimes obstacles to the implementation of national-level cooperation on cyberspace security.
At the level of system research and development, due to the very high level of digitalization, softwareization, and networking in many European countries (even higher than the United States), they are facing great pressure in cyberspace defense just like the United States. Therefore, their cyberspace development is to ensure cyberspace Safety first. In recent years, under the guidance of cyberspace thinking that focuses on defense, the research and development of cyberspace technology, especially cyberspace security technology, has been gradually strengthened. Expand investment and deployment in the field. When countries are investing in the cyberspace security market one after another, the cyberspace security products of some major European countries have already occupied a relatively large market share and opened up a certain scale of global market.
Russia’s cyberspace development ideas are unique
Compared with Western countries, Russia has always paid attention to comprehensive and large-scale information space, and has not conducted in-depth and systematic research on cyberspace as a subdomain of information space like the United States. However, due to Russia’s long-term attention to the field of information security and industrial accumulation, it has a good foundation in the field of cyberspace. Specifically, it is manifested in the following levels.
At the level of strategic planning, Russia has issued a series of legal documents aimed at protecting information security in all aspects of the country, such as the “Russian Federation Information Security Doctrine”, “Russian Social Information Development Strategy”, etc., but in the existing legal documents, it does not cover The relational system between information space and cyberspace, the term “cyber security” is not separated from the concept of “information security”. With the continuous increase of network security risks, Russia has focused on the protection of cyberspace security on key information infrastructure since 2010, and successively promulgated “Conceptual Viewpoints of Russian Federation Armed Forces in Information Space Activities” and “2020 Legal documents such as the National Policy Framework in the Field of International Information Security of the Russian Federation, the Strategic Conception of the Russian Federation Network Security (Draft), the Doctrine of Information Security of the Russian Federation (Second Edition) and the Law on the Security of Key Information Infrastructures of the Russian Federation It expounds Russia’s strategic goals to promote the development of cyberspace at multiple levels, as well as the important measures implemented to protect key information infrastructure and guide the development of cyberspace. At the organizational level, in August 2013, the Russian government announced the formation of a specialized information warfare agency under the Russian Armed Forces, and decided to form a cyber security command and a new agency of the armed forces, with the aim of improving the country’s cyber combat capabilities.
At the level of application practice, the “Network Commander’s Handbook” published by the United States in 2010 shows that the only example of global network operations is the information network attacks that occurred in Estonia, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan from 2007 to 2009. These three small-scale attacks They are all done by Russia. It can be considered that Russia has unique practical experience in the field of network security.
In terms of research and development capabilities, Russia has a network security defense company with outstanding strength. For example, Kaspersky Lab is an important company in the field of global information security, and the “Russian Technological Information” company under the Rostec Group is also a core network security company in Russia. because
Transparency is limited, and it is difficult to find Russian companies capable of researching and developing cyber attack equipment from public channels, but this does not mean that Russia does not have such capabilities. In addition, Russian hacker organizations enjoy a “famous reputation” around the world. Research, production and trade of equipment.
4 Japan set off a wave of cyberspace development
Japan is one of the countries with the most advanced information technology in the world. At the same time, it is also subject to more and more cyberspace threats ranging from targeting individuals to public sectors and infrastructure. Therefore, Japan has long paid attention to cyberspace security issues. Japan classifies these threats under the umbrella of “information security” and established the National Information Security Center in 2005 to address the threat. As the concept of “cyberspace” proposed by the United States has been widely accepted, Japan also began to emphasize “cyberspace” at the national level around 2010, and regarded cybersecurity as an important issue affecting national security. Specifically, it is manifested in the following levels.
At the level of strategic planning, in 2013, the Japanese government issued the first “Network Security Strategy”, which promotes the construction and development of network security at the national level, and clearly proposes to build Japan into a powerful country in network security. In August 2015 and July 2018, the Japanese government successively issued two upgraded versions of the “Cyber Security Strategy”, mainly to prepare for the network security protection of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
At the organizational level, in 2010, the Japanese Defense Agency established a “cyber warfare force” of about 5,000 people composed of computer experts from the land, sea, and air self-defense forces to specialize in the attack and defense of network systems. The main task of Japan’s “cyber warfare forces” is to develop transnational “cyber weapons” that can destroy the network systems of other countries, and undertake tasks such as self-defense force computer network system protection, virus removal, and program repair; develop tactical “cyber weapons” “, and study the relevant tactics of cyber warfare; support the anti-hacking organization and anti-virus intrusion tasks of the “Network Special Attack Team”. International researchers pointed out that from the Japanese “cyber warfare forces”, we can see the shadow of the US military’s “super hacker force”.
At the level of application practice, Japan pays more attention to the actual combat background in network offensive and defensive exercises, so as to improve the practicality and pertinence of the exercises. In the “March 18” exercise in 2014, the preset scenario was that Japan’s key infrastructure encountered cyber attacks during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In the “Yamazakura” joint exercise held by Japan and the United States in 2019, the preset scenario was that Tokyo and the southwest region of Japan were attacked by missiles and other events concurrently. The exercise aimed to test the operation of the command and control system under cyber and electromagnetic attacks situation and study countermeasures.
At the level of system research and development, Japan emphasizes “both offense and defense” in building a network combat system, allocates a large amount of funds to invest in network hardware and “network warfare troops”, and establishes a “defense information communication platform” and a “common computer system platform” respectively. It facilitates the mutual communication and resource sharing of various organs and military network systems of the Self-Defense Force.
5 Apocalyptic Suggestions
From the perspective of the construction of cyberspace combat forces in major countries in the world, major countries and organizations in the world, such as the United States, Russia, Japan, and the European Union, have continuously strengthened military cyberspace operations through strategic planning guidance, organizational structure construction, combat force formation, and system equipment research and development. This has certain reference significance for the development of my country’s cyberspace.
5.1 Deepen the top-level design and enhance the strategic position of cyberspace
Cyberspace has greatly extended and expanded the boundaries of national interests. The Internet has increasingly become the basic platform for national political, economic, cultural and social activities, the lifeblood of the real economy and the nervous system on which the entire society depends. It can be seen that network security is not only a security issue of the network itself, but its impact has radiated to all aspects of national security and national interests. Therefore, it is necessary to plan and deploy the country’s network security issues from the national strategic level. my country should learn from the experience of foreign cyberspace strategies, formulate cyberspace strategies at the national level, strengthen cybersecurity legislation, build an international cooperation system, and plan and deploy national cybersecurity development as a whole at the national level.
5.2 Consolidate the foundation of capabilities and develop cyberspace countermeasures
In recent years, with the advancement of my country’s informatization construction and the comprehensive popularization of national network infrastructure equipment, network security threats from home and abroad have shown a trend of diversification, complexity, and frequent occurrence, posing a major threat to China’s cyberspace security, leading to my country’s Important information systems of government agencies and critical infrastructure may face security risks such as large-scale leakage of sensitive information and paralysis of information systems. In order to ensure the integrity and availability of cyberspace information infrastructure, it is necessary to improve its survivability, respond quickly to cyber threats, and initiate attacks at the right time. Based on this, our country must proceed from the aspects of theory, technology, and talents to consolidate the foundation of cyberspace capabilities and provide guarantees for possible cyberspace confrontation and defense in the future.
5.3 Strengthen strength building and build a cyberspace support system
Today, cyberspace has become an emerging combat domain. It is necessary to build a powerful cyberspace combat force and seize control of this emerging combat domain in order to effectively maintain national security and development interests in cyberspace. Since the establishment of the U.S. Cyber Command in June 2009, the U.S. military has made great achievements in the construction of cyber military power, forming a strong military guarantee for U.S. cyber security, and at the same time posing a huge threat to the cyberspace of other countries. We must speed up the construction of cyberspace forces, continuously improve the cybersecurity awareness and information protection capabilities of the whole people, strengthen national defense mobilization, cultivate reserve forces, and build a network combat force system with sufficient combat capabilities, so as to effectively contain and counter the opponent’s attack on our country. cyber threat.
6 Conclusion
Cyberspace has become an important combat force for the military to seek development because of its characteristics such as not being restricted by time and space, not being constrained by combat objectives, having a wide range of sources of support for combat forces, and strong mutations in the combat process. In recent years, major countries and organizations in the world, such as the United States, Russia, Japan, and the European Union, have been committed to promoting the construction of cyberspace combat capabilities in order to seize the dominant position in this field. my country should accelerate the construction of military cyberspace forces and enhance our country’s cyberspace combat capabilities in order to seek the right to win future information warfare.
Citation format: Li Shuo, Li Zhenjing, Wang Shizhong, et al. Analysis and Enlightenment of the Development Situation of Foreign Military Cyberspace Combat Forces [J]. Information Security and Communication Secrecy, 2022(5):90-99.
Chinese Military Perspective on the New Development Trends in Foreign Military Network Warfare
After decades of development, cyberspace has become an important field of production and life in human society, and has become the fifth-dimensional battlefield after “land, sea, air, and sky.” In recent years, the United States and other developed countries have rushed to introduce cyberspace strategies, build (expand) cyber warfare forces, and implement cyber offensive and defensive operations. The moves in the construction, development, and application of cyber warfare deserve the attention of the world.
Pay attention to cyberspace security, and accelerate the establishment of supporting strategies and regulations
Since cyberspace security is a security issue in an emerging field, most countries lack supporting strategies and systems of laws and regulations. In recent years, major countries in the world have positioned it as a major security field, and the pace of promulgating network security strategies and regulations has been significantly accelerated. For example, since the first national network security strategy was proposed in 2000, the United States has continuously formulated, expanded, and updated various policies, strategies, regulations, and regulations in the field of network security. The network strategy alone includes the “National Network Strategy”, “International Cyberspace Strategy”, ” The Cyber Strategy of the Ministry of National Defense and the cyber strategy of the military services, etc., are used to standardize and guide the development and application of cyber warfare. In October 2014, the U.S. military also issued the world’s first joint doctrine “Cyberspace Operations”, which elaborated and standardized the concepts, actions, and tasks of cyberspace operations. In response to cyber attacks by the United States and NATO, Russia announced the “Russian Federation Cyber Security Strategic Concept” in 2014, and promulgated a new version of the “Information Security Doctrine” in 2016, proposing to ensure network information security. In order to strengthen the overall guidance of network security affairs, India issued the “National Cyber Security Policy” in 2013 and plans to issue a “National Cyber Security Strategy”; the Indian military has formulated policies such as the “Army Cyber Security Policy” and “Navy Information Security Policy” regulations.
Strengthen the professional construction of cyber warfare forces, and pay attention to the use of non-governmental network forces
In recent years, the establishment, integration, and expansion of specialized cyber warfare forces have become a trend among foreign militaries. The United States was the first country to propose the concept of cyber warfare, and it was also the first country to form a professional cyber warfare force. The U.S. military established the Cyber Command in 2010, and upgraded it to a first-level joint operations command in 2018. The number of cyber task forces under its jurisdiction has reached 133, with about 6,200 personnel. Russia established a professional information warfare unit in 2013, and cyber warfare is an important function of it. The Japanese Self-Defense Force established the Cyber Defense Team in 2014, initially with more than 100 members, and has now increased to nearly 300, and plans to expand to a thousand in the future. The United Kingdom also announced in 2020 that it will soon create a national cyber force. On this basis, foreign militaries have generally carried out systematic design and layout of cyber warfare forces. In the field of cyber warfare, forces such as network attack, network defense, and network operation and maintenance are inseparable; externally, network warfare forces are integrated and integrated with information warfare forces such as signal reconnaissance and electronic warfare. For example, the commander of the U.S. Cyber Command also serves as the director of the National Security Agency, and the network attack and defense are integrated with signal intelligence and reconnaissance. The Japanese Self-Defense Force has set up a special first-level command to oversee space, network, and electronic warfare affairs.
It is worth noting that foreign military forces constitute the “regular army” of cyber warfare forces, and private cybersecurity companies, technology companies, hacker organizations, etc. have also become important cyber offensive and defensive forces and have attracted much attention. The notorious “Eye of Sauron” and “Equation Group” and other hacker organizations are inextricably linked to the US military. In recent years, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela have encountered cyber attacks, all of which have the shadow of “Equation Group”. The Indian Army is also considering absorbing its rich IT talents to form a cyber warfare reserve force to further strengthen its cyber warfare capabilities.
Actively develop and build a network arsenal, and intelligent weapon systems are beginning to emerge
Cyber weapons are special weapons used for network attack and defense. They can be viruses, loopholes, denial of service attacks, phishing attacks and other offensive and defensive technologies, or network attack and defense system platforms. Anatoly Smirnov, chairman of the International Information Security Association of the Russian Federation, disclosed in 2019 that many Western countries were developing cyber weapons; the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan also made no secret of possessing cyber weapons. According to the disclosures of Snowden and WikiLeaks, U.S. intelligence agencies and the U.S. military have built a systematic offensive cyber arsenal, some of which can be called “weapons of mass destruction” in cyberspace. In 2020, Patrick Saunders, commander of the British Strategic Command, took the initiative to declare that the UK has developed a “destructive” cyber weapon, which can effectively kill the enemy’s power grid and other facilities and equipment.
In terms of network system platforms, the U.S. military has built the most complete network warfare system platform in the world, including accusation management systems such as joint network command and control and unified platform, basic systems for network warfare planning and execution such as the IKE project, and network warfare and network warfare systems such as “Shute”. A weapon system with integrated firepower. In terms of network monitoring and defense, India has developed and built system platforms such as a central monitoring system, network traffic analysis system, and network security monitoring and evaluation system.
Cyber weapons have a natural “kinship” with smart technology. At present, weapon systems in the fields of network situation monitoring, network attack and defense, and password deciphering have already taken shape in intelligentized countries in cyberspace dominant countries. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, the trend of intelligent network weapons will become more and more obvious.
Focus on enhancing the actual combat capabilities of network attack and defense, and innovate network training methods
In view of the reality and destructiveness of cyber threats, foreign militaries attach great importance to testing the security of information network systems and improving the cyber offensive and defensive capabilities of military and government agencies through cyber exercises and training activities in the context of actual combat.
In terms of participating forces, it covers the military, government agencies, reserves and civilian cyber forces. In the method mode, opponents are generally set to ensure the confrontation of the exercise. Some also innovatively use the method of offering rewards to attract hackers to “legally” attack specific target networks and help find network system defense loopholes. In terms of the training environment, actively build a network shooting range to simulate the information network environment of one’s own side and the opponent’s. The United States, Britain, Japan, Canada and NATO have all established professional cyber ranges. As the world’s largest multinational cyber exercise, NATO’s “Lock Shield” exercise simulated a country’s information network environment in 2019. The content of the drill includes responsiveness testing, defense vulnerability inspection, and election interference analysis. India regularly holds “Cyber Fortress” exercises. It is said that in the “Cyber Fortress-8” exercise organized in 2015, the Indian Army’s cyber brigade used remote penetration and other means to successfully obtain the administrator authority of a certain network system of the Indian Army, and found that 13 major categories of security vulnerabilities were identified. In addition, the U.S. military has begun to practice the integration of cyber warfare and operations in other fields. In the U.S. military’s “Schriever” exercise, the integration of space operations and cyber warfare is one of the important contents.
At present, some countries have regarded some serious cyber attacks as acts of war. As the international rules of conduct in cyberspace restrict and deter cyber attacks more and more, cyber exercises may replace real network operations and become foreign military training and upgrading. The primary path to network offensive and defensive capabilities.
Emphasis on pre-emptive offensive operations, actual combat tends to integrate deterrence and multi-domain integration
The hugeness, complexity, and fragility of the network system make network defense difficult and costly. For this reason, the United States and other countries have gradually changed their network security policy and operational thinking from the initial comprehensive defense to preemptive offensive operations, emphasizing Conduct pre-emptive offensive operations in hostile networks to eliminate potential or actual threats.
Driven by offensive thinking, cyber warfare is common in international conflicts, and the targets of attacks are no longer limited to military targets. The United States is the first country to apply cyber warfare to actual combat. In 2009, the U.S. military used the “Stuxnet” virus to carry out cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, causing more than 1,500 centrifuges to be scrapped and the Iranian nuclear process to be paused. In 2020, after the assassination of Soleimani, the U.S. military launched cyber attacks on the command and control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, missiles, and air defense systems to deter and prevent Iran from carrying out military retaliation. Of course, the idea of offensive cyber warfare does not require absolute cyber superiority. Some non-cyber powers have also proposed the idea of using asymmetric cyber capabilities to carry out preemptive attacks on the enemy’s weaknesses, and then achieve the goal of using the small to gain the big and the weak in the network game. Mandatory.
It is worth noting that in recent international conflicts, the trend of multi-domain integration in the fields of cyber warfare and firepower warfare, electromagnetic spectrum warfare, and cognitive domain warfare has become very obvious. For example, when armed conflicts broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Naka region in 2020, the two sides launched cyber offenses and defenses in cyberspace on the one hand, and on the other hand launched fierce confrontations in the cognitive domain around international and domestic public opinion, military morale, legal principles and morals.
At present, the low-intensity and ambiguous nature of cyber warfare attracts some international actors to frequently carry out cyberspace operations regardless of the consequences, and the risk of conflict escalation out of control is constantly accumulating. To this end, all countries in the world should start consultations and negotiations on international rules of conduct in cyberspace and cyber arms control as soon as possible, jointly restrict military activities in cyberspace, create a new pattern of cybersecurity, and build a community of shared future in cyberspace.
Chinese Military Exploring the Strategy of Winning Superiority in Information Warfare
來源：中國國防報
In the era of information warfare, due to changes in the mechanism of winning wars, the strategy of winning with the inferior to the superior has also changed accordingly. Under the new situation, exploring the new characteristics, new laws, and new strategies of informatization warfare to win the war with the inferior has very important practical significance for winning future wars.
Information has become the dominant factor in winning a war, and the victory of the inferior is concentrated in seizing information superiority
As information technology is widely used in the military field, informationized weapons and equipment have become the main weapons on the battlefield. Information flow will determine material flow, force flow and energy flow, and become the dominant element of combat effectiveness, penetrating every corner of the battlefield. Competing for information superiority and linking multidimensional forces such as land, sea, air, space, and electricity have become the focus of confrontation in informationized warfare. Taking the information combat system as the primary target of using troops, finding the weak parts of the opponent’s information system, concentrating on destroying them, and making the opponent’s intelligence information system and command and control system paralyzed or unable to operate normally has become an important way for the inferior equipment to defeat the strong enemy. By striking information targets, one hair can affect the whole body and even directly achieve the purpose of war.
The more the party has the advantage of information technology, the more afraid the disadvantaged party will adopt asymmetric means of confrontation. As someone pointed out: our practice of using information as the focus of operations can become our strength, but it is also easy to become a vulnerable weakness. Therefore, aim at the weaknesses and weaknesses of the powerful enemy’s informationized combat platform, concentrate elite weapons and trumpet weapons and equipment, avoid the enemy’s sharp edge, take a slanted sword, and attack its weak links, such as comprehensively using information attack, navigation countermeasures, photoelectric interference and other means to destroy enemy information Even if only one or two of the network system, reconnaissance and early warning system, command and control system, and navigation and positioning system are successful, it can disrupt its overall structure and combat order, effectively paralyze its combat system, and finally achieve the effect of four or two.
System confrontation has become the basic law of victory in war, and the superiority of the inferior is highlighted by the weakening and deprivation of the enemy’s systematic combat advantages
In informationized warfare, the integration, complementarity, and interdependence of the various services and arms have increased, and the confrontation between the combat systems of the two hostile parties has become increasingly prominent. War is no longer a confrontation of single functions between combat units, but a systemic confrontation based on the comprehensive integration of various combat units and combat elements. The overall function of the combat system has a major impact on the success or failure of a war. In the face of an enemy with systemic advantages, it is very difficult to rely on a single force and a single means to achieve victory over the superior. Whether it can weaken and deprive the combat advantages of a powerful enemy system has become a key link in information warfare to achieve victory over the superior.
The practice of several local wars in recent years has proved that the party with inferior equipment can effectively destroy the key targets of the enemy’s combat system by developing and using some advanced weapons and combining them with other weapons and equipment when there is a “generational difference” in the overall combat capability. It is entirely possible to cause a powerful enemy’s overall operational dysfunction or paralysis. The larger and more sophisticated the combat system of a strong enemy in information technology, the easier it is to expose its vulnerable side. Once it is destroyed, it will often cause serious consequences. During the Iraq war, the U.S. military was shocked by the fact that GPS precision-guided weapons lost their accuracy after being interfered by the Iraqi army’s GPS jammers. During the Kosovo War, the soldiers and civilians of Yugoslavia used flexible and diverse computer network warfare, which also caused NATO’s computer network system to be attacked and paralyzed many times.
Quick decision has become the basic requirement for winning a war, and more emphasis is placed on immediate linkage to form a local advantage over the enemy by using the inferior to win the superior
The depreciation of the space factor and the sharp increase in the value of the time factor in the informationized battlefield lead to the acceleration of the combat rhythm, the shortening of the duration of the war, and the significant enhancement of the quick decision of the war. Although the basic combat procedures and information flow have not undergone fundamental changes, the processes of discovering targets, making decisions, issuing orders, and troop actions are carried out almost simultaneously in real time. The U.S. military’s book “Awe and Fear–The Way to Quickly Conquer the Enemy” pointed out that when talking about the quick victory of information warfare: “From a technical point of view, the speed here includes the formulation of combat plans, combat determination, and deployment and use of troops. Everything requires the troops to respond quickly in the shortest possible time.” In the Afghan war, it took about 19 minutes for the U.S. military to go from the “discovery-location-aiming-attack-assessment” kill chain, while it only took 10 minutes in the 2003 Iraq war about.
At the same time, various information-based weapons can carry out rapid and deadly long-range precision strikes, making the disadvantaged party form a passive situation where they cannot be seen, relied on, grasped, or hit. In exchange for room for maneuver in battles and battles; through long-term local gathering of superior forces and annihilating the enemy, accumulating small victories into big victories, it becomes more difficult to finally realize the growth and decline of the enemy and our forces. We must pay attention to the function of network aggregation, select and deploy new quality and elite forces, adopt modular organization, building block combination, task combination and other force formation methods, use multi-dimensional distribution, network chain combat configuration, and use link cycle linkage and leapfrog Response methods such as direct linkage, synchronous parallel linkage, sequential connection linkage, etc., realize network aggregation efficiency, system linkage, and multi-dimensional response to obtain local strength advantages against the enemy.
Technological factors are becoming more and more important in war, and the victory of the inferior depends on the close integration of people and technology
Information technology, especially disruptive technology, has triggered revolutionary changes in weaponry, organizational structure, and combat styles, and has become a direct driving force for the transformation of information warfare. Information warfare relies on the combination and application advantages of weapon platforms to realize domain linkage and cross-domain control. The proportion of technology-intensive arms and new-quality combat forces continues to increase. The concept of inferior superiority is facing challenges. However, information-based weapons and equipment put forward higher requirements for the quality of personnel. The organic combination of information-based weapons and equipment and high-quality personnel has become a key factor in winning a war. When the disadvantaged party confronts a strong enemy, it is even more necessary to do more in terms of human subjective initiative. enough articles.
In the man-machine system composed of man and weapon, the scientific and technological content of weapons and equipment is increasing day by day, and the trend of intelligence is becoming more and more obvious. The political, theoretical, military and technological literacy of commanders has become the key factor for winning an information war. General Sullivan of the U.S. Army once said: “Even in the information age, it is still people who dominate war operations. Changes in technology, equipment, and force structure will not lead to the disappearance of courage, selflessness, camaraderie, and leadership. “Information warfare has not changed that people are the decisive factor in the outcome of a war. How to make full use of strengths and avoid weaknesses for the party with inferior weapons and equipment, give full play to the effective combination of people and technology, and make up for technological disadvantages has become a key factor in defeating an enemy with superior equipment.
The contest of intelligence and strategy has become an important aspect of winning a war, and the strategy of using the inferior to win the superior exists in the active role
If a weak army wants to defeat a strong enemy, simply competing in military strength is tantamount to hitting a rock with an egg – there is no advantage at all; simply competing in equipment technology is tantamount to using its own strengths to defeat the enemy’s strengths – always being passive; Competing with external support is tantamount to discarding the decisive role of internal factors-willing to seek defeat with inferiority. What ultimately depends on the inferior to the superior? Relying on the active role of self-consciousness, relying on intelligence and strategic competition, this is the fundamental factor to realize the transformation from weak to strong, and the inferior to the superior.
Subjective initiative is manifested in many aspects for “surviving the superior with the inferior”. Although the “potential” here has a certain relationship with the strength of the opposing sides, it still depends on the degree of the commander’s subjective initiative. Those who plan well gain power, and those who do not plan lose power. The second is to actively plan a series of strategies to actively seize the advantages of opportunities. War is a vigorous confrontation between two sides fighting wits and courage. If the weaker side can make a superior move and make a living in a row, it will surely win the first opportunity. The third is to actively create local advantages and actively establish overall victory. Global strength does not mean local overall superiority, and overall global weakness does not mean local overall inferiority. Concentrating forces to form local advantages will eventually break the comparison of advantages and disadvantages and lay the foundation for overall victory. The fourth is to make the best use of the situation and actively innovate and adapt tactics. Water is impermanent, and soldiers are impermanent. According to changes in the enemy’s situation, we can flexibly innovate and change our own tactics, and constantly change the situation of both the enemy and ourselves, so as to gradually provide conditions for our own side to change from weak to strong.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Actively Responding to the Challenge of Intelligent Warfare
In recent years, the wave of intelligence has surged and has been widely used in the military field. Major countries in the world attach great importance to the construction and application of military intelligence, and various unmanned combat platforms and intelligent weapons and equipment continue to appear, and they are installed in troops and put into actual combat. In the face of the accelerated evolution of intelligent warfare, only by seizing development opportunities, actively responding to challenges, accelerating the development of military intelligence, and accelerating the forging of intelligent combat capabilities can we seize the strategic initiative of intelligent warfare and win future intelligent warfare.
Focusing on designing wars to create intelligent theory
Military theory comes from combat practice and is used to guide combat practice. Restricted by various conditions in the past, military theory research was mostly “looking backwards”, that is, summarizing battle examples to form combat guidance. With the rapid development of modern technology, especially big data, cloud computing and other disruptive technologies, the research on combat theory has got rid of the traditional follow-up and inductive reasoning mode, and has entered a new era of experimental warfare and design warfare. New disruptive technologies in the field of intelligence have opened up new space for military theory innovation. To this end, we should create a basic theory of intelligent warfare in accordance with the idea of ”proposing concepts-needs analysis-innovating theories”, and conduct in-depth research on the concept connotation, essential characteristics, war guidance, combat styles, offensive and defensive actions, winning mechanisms, etc. of intelligent warfare. Features and laws, etc.; innovate intelligent combat methods and methods, give full play to the overall effectiveness of the intelligent combat system, strengthen research on new intelligent combat methods and methods such as man-machine collaborative intelligent combat, intelligent robot combat, and intelligent unmanned swarm combat, as well as intelligent Combat command, the process and methods of intelligent combat support, etc.; focus on effectively responding to the threat of intelligent combat, and research strategies to defeat the enemy, such as intelligent interdiction warfare and intelligent disruption warfare. These theories are the cornerstone of the theoretical system of intelligent warfare. In the future, the theory of war centered on strengthening “controlling intellectual power” and competing for “algorithm-centric warfare” will most likely replace the theory of warfare centered on “network-centric warfare.”
Focus on cross-domain interconnection and explore intelligent forms
The military organization is the link connecting military technology and combat theory, and the lever to exert the overall combat effectiveness of the military. Modern combat places more emphasis on “elite combat under the support of a large system”, that is, supported by the joint combat system, “fine front and strong back”, according to the idea of ”integrated design, modular formation, and combined application”, the formation is more precise and more accurate. The powerful combat module enables the maximum release of combat energy. The organization of the future intelligent warfare system will be based on strategies, campaigns, and tactics at different levels and different arms and arms, and will form different types and purposes of small, multi-functional and intelligent new joint combat forces. According to the requirements of reconfigurability, scalability and self-adaptation, the intelligentized combat network can seamlessly link and flexibly organize individual weapon platforms according to changes in the enemy situation and battlefield environment, and then aggregate them to form System advantages, forming a combat module integrating offense and defense. The intelligent new combat force system is a comprehensive product of the development of artificial intelligence technology, the formation of new combat capabilities, and the evolution of war forms. new growth point.
Focus on the integration of man and machine to develop intelligent weapons With the development of information technology and intelligent technology, whoever can win in the field of artificial intelligence is expected to have the initiative in future military confrontation. We should focus on the dual needs of intelligent warfare system operations and intelligent weapon equipment system construction, do a good job in top-level design and overall planning, compile a road map for the development of intelligent weapon equipment systems, and develop high, medium, low-end, low-end, and Large, medium and small, long-range and short-range, covering space fields such as land, sea, air, space, electricity, and networks, and an intelligent unmanned combat equipment system that matches combat and support, and establishes a “human-led, machine-assisted, mixed formation, joint “Operation” manned-unmanned cooperation system, enhance the system integration of various military arms and various intelligent weapons and equipment such as operations and support. Intelligent unmanned combat system is a new trend in the development of future war equipment. Its core is to aim at the requirements of “zero casualties”, “full coverage” and “fast response” in future wars, and make full use of new theories, new materials, new processes, new energy, and new technology development achievements in two aspects: man-machine collaboration and autonomous action. Continuously make breakthroughs, build a three-level unmanned equipment sys
tem of strategy, campaign, and tactics, build a new type of intelligent unmanned division on a large scale, and realize the systematic and coordinated operations of unmanned combat systems. At the same time, we should focus on the needs of unmanned and anti-unmanned, intelligent and anti-intelligent operations, and focus on the development of anti-enemy intelligent unmanned combat weaponry systems to ensure effective intelligent unmanned offensive and defensive confrontation with the enemy.
Focus on ability compound innovation intelligent training
The professional division of labor in modern warfare is becoming more and more detailed, and the entire combat system is becoming more and more complex, which promotes the transition from manpower-intensive to technology-intensive operations, requiring combatants not only to have good physical fitness, but also to have good technical literacy and intellectual advantages , to meet the needs of different combat missions, combat environments, and combat opponents. Military intelligence puts forward higher requirements on the quality of people. Correspondingly, intelligent military talents should have the characteristics of group talents, sophisticated skills, complex knowledge, innovative thinking, and intelligent decision-making. Intelligent warfare will be a war carried out by the combination of man and machine, and the combat force with the intelligent unmanned combat system as the main body will play an increasingly important role. The effective combination of high-quality personnel and intelligent weapons can maximize combat effectiveness. It is necessary to adapt to the new characteristics of the intelligent warfare force system, innovate and develop the concept of intelligent training, and explore a new model for the generation of intelligent warfare combat power. At present, artificial intelligence technology can create a more “real” weapon operation experience and battlefield environment, and can realistically interpret the combat process, assist decision-making and command, and evaluate combat concepts. To this end, adapt to the new characteristics of the intelligent warfare force system, focus on the improvement of the self-command, self-control, and self-combat capabilities of the intelligent combat system, and make full use of the characteristics of the intelligent system that can self-game and self-growth, forming a special strategy for intelligent warfare. Combat system training system, training environment and training mechanism, strengthen “human” control of intelligent system training, and explore a new training mode with “machine” as the main object. In this way, the intelligent combat system can obtain a leap in combat capability after short-term self-intensive training, so as to cope with the test of disorder, complexity and uncertainty in the future combat environment.
Focusing on Accurate and Efficient Improvement of Guarantee Mode
Intelligent battlefields and the degree of realization of comprehensive support for joint operations are important factors that directly affect the generation of combat effectiveness of troops. The development of intelligent technology will surely trigger a revolutionary change in the construction of the joint combat support system and realize intelligent comprehensive support. Comprehensive support is the foundation of combat effectiveness and a bridge that transforms national economic strength into military combat capability. With the continuous maturity of the Internet of Things technology, intelligent warfare puts more emphasis on integrated guarantee, precise guarantee, and distribution guarantee, that is, the required amount is delivered to the required place at the required time. Relying on the integrated support system, the dispersedly deployed support forces and resources are grouped according to functional modules such as supplies, supplies, maintenance, ammunition, and management, so that they cover all areas of combat service support. Relying on visualization technology, the entire process of combat supply is tracked and mastered According to the current situation, according to the real-time development of the battle situation, information control, reception and distribution of personnel flow and material flow are carried out to achieve point-to-point direct support. Through the use of technologies such as the Internet of Things, drones, smart cars, remote surgery, and 3D printing, upgrade and build an intelligent after-installation support system covering intelligent warehousing, intelligent delivery, intelligent maintenance, and intelligent medical treatment, so as to realize automatic, fast and accurate supply of after-load materials on the battlefield , Rapid diagnosis and maintenance of equipment failures, timely rescue of battlefield personnel, changing passive support into active service, and improving the overall support efficiency and effectiveness of aftermarket.
Focus on both military and
civilian use and deepen intelligent integration
Breakthroughs in the core and key technologies of artificial intelligence are the “country’s most important weapon” to deal with the threats and challenges of intelligent warfare. The rapid development of intelligent technology has become an accelerator of military intelligence. In the information age, the boundary between military technology and civilian technology is becoming more and more blurred, and the transferability is becoming stronger and stronger. Actively establish a military-civilian collaborative innovation mechanism, continuously strengthen the driving force for the innovation and development of intelligent core technologies, build an open industry-university-research collaborative innovation system for the whole society, plan forward and support investment in core cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, and give full play to the innovation power of the entire society. Promote the rapid and sustainable development of military intelligence. Accelerate technological breakthroughs in key areas. It is necessary to focus on relevant key technical fields and break the technical bottleneck that restricts the development of military intelligence. Strengthen research on the basic support fields of military intelligence, such as military big data, military Internet of Things, etc.; start from combat requirements, strengthen research on intelligent application technologies in various operational elements, especially intelligent command and decision-making, intelligent weapon platforms, Research on intelligent battlefield perception and intelligent countermeasure technology. The research and development of the core key technology of military intelligence not only requires interdisciplinary and cross-field collaborative innovation, but also integrates the development of social intelligence and military intelligence. Intelligent technology is quickly embedded in operational elements and operational processes. To accelerate the development of military intelligence, we should explore the rules of cultivating relevant talents, make full use of military and local education resources, increase the intensity of training relevant talents, and provide solid intellectual support and talent guarantee for promoting the construction of military intelligence.
Chinese Military Higher Education in the Age of Intelligent Warfare
“Military academies are born for war and built for war.” At the opening ceremony of the 2019 military academy principal training, Chairman Xi proposed the military education policy for the new era, pointing out the direction for the military academies to cultivate high-quality, professional new military talents. At present, the form of war is accelerating towards informationization and intelligence. What kind of soldiers are needed to win future intelligent wars, and how military higher education can cultivate talents suitable for intelligent warfare are major issues before us.
The form of war is accelerating towards intelligent development
The form of war is the expression form and state of war history staged mainly marked by the technical attributes of the main battle weapon. So far, after experiencing cold weapon wars, hot weapon wars, and mechanized warfare, the form of warfare is accelerating its development towards informationized and intelligentized warfare. The increasingly widespread application of advanced technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and brain science in the military field is becoming an important driver of the new military revolution, giving rise to new forms of unmanned, autonomous, and intelligent warfare, changing the Traditional war winning mechanism. In 2014, a foreign military think tank released a research report titled “20YY: War in the Robot Era”, arguing that a storm of military transformation marked by intelligent armies, autonomous equipment, and unmanned warfare is approaching. Platforms, information systems and decision support systems, as well as new weapons such as directed energy, hypersonics, bionics, genes, and nanometers, will initially establish an intelligent combat system by 2035, and will develop to an advanced stage by 2050, fully realizing combat platforms, information Systems, command and control are intelligentized and even unmanned, new weapons such as bionics, genes, and nanometers are on the battlefield, and the combat space is further expanded to biological space, nanospace, and intelligent space.
In recent years, with the continuous deepening of research on the human brain, the brain-computer interface technology is becoming more and more mature. In the future, the information exchange between human beings and the outside world will no longer be limited to the senses, and the direct information exchange between the brain and the outside world can also be realized through chips. People and people, people and things are fully interconnected, and human beings may surpass the Internet and the Internet of Things and enter the era of intelligence supported by the Internet of Brains. In the era of the Internet of Brains, soldiers’ brains are directly connected to combat platforms, information systems, and decision-making support systems, and decisions are made with the assistance of technologies such as quantum computing and cloud platforms. Information and mind merge. Some domestic experts believe that under the influence of artificial intelligence technology, the winning mechanism of future wars will change from “information dominance, system confrontation, precise strikes, and joint victory” in information warfare to “intelligence dominance, independent confrontation, and traceability” in intelligent warfare. Following the transformation of “strike, cloud and brain winning”, following matter, energy, and information, cloud intelligence that integrates man and machine has become the key to determining the outcome of a war. This transformation of the form of intelligent warfare is accelerating, and any hesitation may bring unimaginable consequences.
But it should be noted that no matter how the war develops, people are always the most fundamental element. The form of intelligent warfare will lead to changes in the functions and roles of soldiers, and will put forward higher requirements for the ability and quality of soldiers. Cognitive ability may surpass knowledge and skills and become the core ability of soldiers.
Intelligent warfare requires the upgrading and reconstruction of the comprehensive quality of soldiers.
According to the talent growth cycle, soldiers who are currently receiving higher education will become the main force of combat training in more than 10 years, and will also become the first main force to meet the challenges of intelligent warfare. At present, there are still some deficiencies in the design of personnel training goals in our military’s higher education, and insufficient attention is paid to the ability to adapt to the ever-changing intelligent battlefield in the future. There is still a certain gap between the personnel training objectives and the needs of intelligent warfare. On July 23, 2020, when Chairman Xi inspected the Air Force Aviation University, he emphasized that we must persist in cultivating people with morality, educating people for war, strengthening m
ilitary spirit education, strengthening fighting spirit, and comprehensively strengthening the ideological and political, military, scientific and cultural aspects of pilot students. , Physical and psychological quality foundation. To implement President Xi’s important instructions and meet the needs of future intelligent warfare, it is urgent to build a higher-level military talent training goal with thinking as the core, and accelerate the upgrading and reconstruction of military personnel’s comprehensive quality.
Intelligent warfare is a complex giant system integrating multiple fields. Its intelligence-based characteristics and iterative and changeable development trend are changing the role of soldiers in warfare. Soldiers may gradually move from the foreground of the war to behind the scenes, from direct face-to-face combat to man-machine collaborative combat, from front-line charging to back-end planning and design of war. In order to be competent in man-machine coordination, planning and designing wars and other functional roles, in addition to ideological, political, physical and psychological requirements, in terms of military profession and scientific culture, soldiers should focus on improving the following five aspects of knowledge, ability and quality: First, multidisciplinary integration Master the core principles of multiple disciplines related to intelligent warfare, such as nature, military, cognitive psychology, and network intelligence, and be able to integrate knowledge across disciplines to guide military practice; the second is strong cognitive ability, with logical thinking, judgment Thinking and system thinking ability, able to use scientific methods to analyze and reason to solve combat problems; the third is human-machine collaboration ability, deeply grasp the characteristics and laws of intelligent warfare, skillfully use combat platforms, command and control systems, and decision support systems, and be able to control diversified intelligent weapons The fourth is the ability to innovate, with a keen sense of technology and strong creativity, able to grasp the frontiers of science and technology, innovate combat styles, and grasp the laws of war development; the fifth is the ability to self-growth, to be able to accurately recognize oneself , rationally plan military careers, freely use information means to acquire new knowledge, new technologies, and new methods, constantly improve the knowledge structure, enhance cognitive ability, and better adapt to the complex and changeable military revolution development.
Identifying the Emphasis Points of Military Higher Education Reform
At present, the superposition of informatization and intelligentization has brought greater complexity to the personnel training work of military academies. It is necessary to meet the actual needs of informatization operations and at the same time lay the foundation for adapting to intelligent warfare. We should focus on The following work.
Restructure the curriculum system. The curriculum system supports the formation of talent knowledge structure. In order to cultivate military talents that meet the needs of intelligent warfare and achieve the training goals of military majors, science and culture, it is necessary to break the practice of designing a curriculum system with a single major as the background and establish a curriculum system of “general education + direction”. The general education course is based on the existing natural science and public courses, adding courses such as mathematical logic, mathematical modeling, critical thinking, network foundation, artificial intelligence, cognitive neuroscience, system engineering, etc., to establish cross-field and interdisciplinary courses System, expand the knowledge of students, build a knowledge structure urgently needed for intelligent warfare, and lay a broad knowledge foundation for their lifelong growth. Orientation courses are to establish a discipline and professional direction, set up a vertical curriculum system of mathematical science, professional foundation, and professional positions, build a solid professional background, and cultivate students’ ability to use professional theories to solve complex combat training problems. The curriculum system of “General Education + Orientation” helps build a “T”-shaped knowledge structure and meets the needs of military personnel to adapt to diverse and intelligent warfare.
Deepen classroom reform. Educational neuroscience believes that education is the reshaping of students’ brains, and the classroom is the main position for reshaping students’ neural networks, especially for the formation of high-level cognitive abilities required for intelligent warfare. Continuously deepening classroom reform is the key to military Critical tasks for higher education today. It should be seen that a classroom with only knowledge and understanding is far from a good classroom. All human behaviors, though
ts and emotions are all controlled by the brain, and every knowledge, thought and emotion corresponds to a specific neural network of the brain. Therefore, classroom reform should center on students’ learning, follow the cognitive laws of the human brain, and Attract and maintain attention as the starting point, establish a scientific thinking framework, and mobilize students to think proactively. Usually, teaching methods aimed at higher-level abilities have a general model—problem-driven heuristic teaching, and the commonly used problem-based teaching methods, project-based teaching methods, and inquiry-based teaching methods all belong to this model. Therefore, the main path to promote classroom reform is to develop unknown, novel, and interesting questions and stories for students, design a thinking framework that points to logical reasoning, critical thinking, reflection, creativity, and learning ability, and inspire students under the guidance of the framework. Active thinking, supplemented by the output process of speaking and writing, finally achieves the goal of internalizing knowledge understanding and forming high-level abilities.
Promote comprehensive education. Modern educational theory not only regards the classroom as an important position of education, but also regards all time and space outside the classroom as an important resource for cultivating students. The time and space outside the classroom not only support classroom teaching and promote the formation of knowledge and ability, but also an important place to cultivate non-intellectual ability. Colleges and universities should make full use of these time and space, clarify specific training objectives, focus on going deep into the army, close to actual combat, highlighting practicality and creativity, and scientifically design education and training programs. Focus on giving full play to the advantages of military academies in management and education, explore the establishment of a student management model, and promote the cultivation of students’ leadership and management capabilities; continue to enrich the second classroom, build an innovative platform, create more opportunities for independent practice, and improve students’ innovation capabilities; make full use of various Large-scale activities to cultivate students’ competition awareness and teamwork ability; strengthen the construction of management cadres, improve scientific management and training capabilities, and effectively guide students to carry out time management, goal management, emotional management, psychological adjustment, habit formation, etc., to help students improve self-management and self-learning ability.
All in all, education is a systematic project. The above are only three aspects to break through the shortcomings of talent training in the era of intelligence. To truly solve the problem, military academies need to carry out systematic reforms, such as strategic planning, quality management, personnel quality, teaching conditions, etc. All aspects can effectively support the achievement of the goal of personnel training, and this requires us to continuously explore and innovate, continuously improve the level of running schools and educating people, and strive to create a new situation in the construction and development of military academies.
