Recently, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the establishment of the “Era Military Innovation Technology Park”, which focuses on scientific research, testing and simulation of advanced weapons, military and special equipment. Coincidentally, the US military is also stepping up the development of the “Soldiers Build Intelligence System Military Training Support” project, hoping to better assist officers and soldiers in conducting military intelligence training by providing equipment, simulators and simulation modeling services. The frequently mentioned military simulation technology has attracted attention from all parties. With the rapid development of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies, military simulation technology has made significant progress in equipment construction, military exercises, combat training and logistics support. At present, major military powers have recognized the huge application prospects of simulation technology in the military field and regard it as an “advanced intelligence contest” in modern warfare.
The “virtual battlefield” can also deploy troops
Once upon a time, we all “learned about war from war”. The emergence of military simulation technology has allowed us to learn about future wars from the “virtual battlefield”.
Simulation technology mainly relies on computer and other equipment platforms, and uses mathematical models to conduct scientific research, analysis, evaluation and decision-making on issues that need to be studied. Military simulation systems are simulation systems built specifically for military applications. They can conduct quantitative analysis of combat elements such as land, sea, air, space, electricity, and the Internet, the performance of weapons and equipment, and combat operations, and then accurately simulate the battlefield environment, present relevant battlefield situations, and achieve effectiveness evaluation of the combat system and command decision-making assistance.
At present, military simulation systems have become an effective means of studying future wars, designing weapons and equipment, and supporting the evaluation of tactics, and they run through the entire process of weapons and equipment development and testing. In recent years, military simulation technology has been increasingly regarded as a multiplier for improving combat effectiveness and one of the key technologies for national defense security and troop construction and development.
The United States has always listed modeling and simulation as an important key defense technology. As early as 1992, the United States announced the “Defense Modeling and Simulation Initiative” and established a special Defense Modeling and Simulation Office. The United States also specifically listed the “integrated simulation environment” as one of the seven driving technologies to maintain the US military advantage. At the same time, European countries attach great importance to the development of military simulation technology, and strive to continuously improve simulation methods in the process of developing a new generation of weapon systems, thereby improving the comprehensive effectiveness of weapon equipment construction and development.
In fact, military simulation technology has allowed people to fully learn about future wars in experiments. Before the outbreak of the Gulf War, the US Department of Defense used military simulation technology to analyze and determine the direct consequences of Iraq igniting all oil wells in Kuwait, which had a profound impact on the US military’s formulation of the Gulf War combat plan. In the integrated ballistic missile defense system project carried out by the US military, modeling and simulation methods are specifically used to conduct a preliminary assessment of the ballistic missile defense system. At the end of 2017, the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency invested 12.8 million US dollars specifically for the construction of virtual simulation space battlefields. The US Army also spent 57 million US dollars to develop the Army Infantry Training System – this immersive military virtual simulation training system can provide soldiers with a more realistic battlefield combat simulation environment.
A brainstorming session to plan operations
From artillery simulation, aircraft simulation, missile simulation to today’s various types of weapon system equipment simulation and combat simulation, while simulation technology continues to meet the needs of military applications, it is also rapidly developing in the direction of virtualization, networking, intelligence, collaboration and universalization. In order to continuously improve military simulation calculation methods and improve simulation technology, people are constantly launching a “brainstorming” to plan operations.
Mathematical modeling algorithm. Mathematical model is the basis of simulation. To carry out simulation, we must first build a mathematical model of the object to be simulated. At the same time, the correctness and accuracy of the mathematical model directly affect the credibility of the simulation calculation results. In recent years, the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology has provided new ideas for mathematical modeling. Introducing artificial intelligence to build mathematical models can not only effectively improve the realism, reliability and accuracy of simulation models, but also further improve the efficiency of modeling and simulation.
Virtual reality technology. With virtual reality technology, people can interact with objects in a virtual simulation environment through related equipment, thereby creating an effect of “immersion” in the real environment. The augmented reality technology that has emerged in recent years has further increased the user’s perception of the virtual simulation system, and can superimpose virtual objects, scenes, and information generated by the military simulation system onto the real scene. The U.S. Army is currently relying on virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to develop the future overall training environment to achieve seamless, mixed immersive combat training.
Network grid technology. The realization of military simulation is inseparable from the strong support of computers, local area networks, software engineering and other technologies. The distributed interactive simulation that integrates simulation equipment or systems of different types in different locations into a whole provides a more realistic application environment for military simulation. In recent years, grid technology that can realize the rapid transmission of various types of information and resource sharing has become a research hotspot for military simulation. The US Department of Defense has begun to use the “Global Information Grid” plan to establish a military grid that communicates various information elements on the battlefield and realizes the dynamic sharing and collaborative application of various military network resources.
Winning the war before it starts
The future information warfare is an integrated war that is carried out simultaneously in multiple dimensions such as land, sea, air, space, electricity, and the Internet. Not only is the battle structure complex and the weapons and equipment diverse, but it also places higher demands on the combatants and the use of tactics. Only by building a “virtual battlefield” for future wars with the help of military simulation technology and realizing the scientific coordination of factors such as the scale of war, the course of war, war investment, the number of combatants and weapons and equipment, the targets of attack and the intensity of attack, can we be sure of victory before the war begins.
In the field of combat experiments, the U.S. military has fully reduced the losses caused by improper combat plans and action plans through a large number of computer simulation evaluations and iterative optimizations. The Russian military’s combat regulations and tactics are also “optimal battlefield solutions” obtained through scientific deduction and simulation calculation using mathematical models. Through military simulation analysis and evaluation, battlefield commanders and fighters can quickly understand the trend of war simulations and carry out effective responses according to various changes in the “virtual battlefield”, thereby effectively improving the effectiveness of combat experiments.
In the field of military training, individual soldier training can be carried out through an immersive virtual simulation training environment, which can be as close to the battlefield environment as possible and effectively improve the training effect. In recent years, the US Army has specially opened a “simulated immersion” training course in the “Advanced Course for Officers”. Through the implementation of virtual simulation military training, the organization and implementation of training are not restricted by time and weather conditions. The distributed training simulation system can even enable trainees in different locations to participate in the training together. By modeling and simulating the specific battlefield environment, tactical background and enemy forces, the military training system can also provide trainees with a more realistic battlefield perception.
In the field of equipment demonstration, the technical support of simulation systems is required throughout the life cycle of weapons and equipment development. At present, the United States has extensively adopted simulation technology in new weapon system development projects to fully support the development and testing, live-fire evaluation and combat testing of weapons and equipment. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has further explored effective measures to deal with incoming missile threats through missile threat target modeling and simulation. The U.S. Navy simulates the operation of ship systems and crew members through mission analysis simulation software, and obtains simulation results for determining and optimizing the number of crew members. In the future, military simulation technology may become a new technological highland for the world’s major military powers to compete.
Intelligent victory is a distinct feature of the times in the “quality” of new quality combat power. With the development of science and technology and the evolution of war forms, intelligent joint operations based on “energy mobility and information interconnection”, supported by “network communication and distributed cloud”, with “data computing and model algorithms” as the core, and “cross-domain command and multi-domain operations” as the path, gradually outline a vivid scene of the application of new quality combat power. The intelligent trend of new quality combat power will trigger a chain breakthrough in the military field and become a key variable in changing the rules of war. To enhance new quality combat power and win future wars, we should “knock on the door” of intelligent operations and explore methods and paths to iteratively generate new quality combat power of intelligent joint operations.
Analyzing the characteristics of new quality combat power based on intelligent winning mechanism
Throughout human history, the mechanisms for winning wars have all left clear marks of the era of technological development. To understand and grasp the new quality of combat power of intelligent joint combat, we should keep up with the development of war forms and analyze its key characteristics.
The battlefield environment is distributed in multiple domains. The battlefield environment is the space for the use of new-quality combat power and the space-time framework for understanding the new-quality combat power of intelligent joint operations. Since the emergence of war, the space-time of war has undergone multiple leaps, including plane, three-dimensional, and invisible space. At present, combat confrontation is unfolding in a fusion space with dimensions including physical domain, information domain, and even biological domain and social domain. In intelligent joint operations, the status of virtual space rises and gradually integrates deeply with physical space. Invisible confrontations such as network, intelligence, and psychology constitute a new space. Establishing a virtual battlefield, realizing virtual-real interaction, and achieving virtual-real control have become new driving forces for joint operations.
Multiple integration of constituent elements. Constituent elements are the inherent characteristics of new-quality combat power and the basic elements of new-quality combat power of intelligent joint operations. Mechanized joint operations are platform-centric operations, with firepower and mobility as the dominant forces. The combination of people, mechanized equipment, and tactics is more of a superposition and accumulation, with the goal of carrying energy with objects and releasing energy with objects. Informatized joint operations are network-centric operations, with information power as the dominant force. The combination of network information, people, informationized equipment, and tactics is more of a linkage and interconnection, with the goal of gathering energy with the network and releasing energy with the network. The dominant force of intelligent joint operations is intelligence. The combat elements of cloud, network, people, equipment, and tactics are integrated through models, algorithms, and data to form a complex system with agile reorganization and autonomous adaptation, realizing the control of energy with intelligence and the control of energy with intelligence.
The mode of action is multi-functional and parallel. The mode of action is the energy release path of the new quality combat power and the key to analyzing the new quality combat power of intelligent joint operations. The use of system architecture and distributed coordination in joint operations has made distributed parallelism emerge in war. In joint operations, the speed of information sharing, mobile response, firepower strikes, and command and control decision-making has been greatly accelerated, and the effectiveness of different combat units can act in parallel. In recent local conflicts and military operations, the granularity of command and operations has become smaller and smaller, but the control range, combat effectiveness, and confrontation intensity have increased exponentially, which is the best example of multi-functional parallelism.
Evaluation and feedback from multiple perspectives. Evaluation and feedback is the iterative starting point for the evolution and improvement of new-quality combat power, the dynamic basis for promoting the development of new-quality combat power in intelligent joint combat, and an easily overlooked link in the generation of new-quality combat power. The high-precision and fast-paced characteristics of intelligent joint combat make multi-perspective evaluation and feedback a rigid need. Among them, the cloud-network-group-end link perspective can review the operating status of cloud platforms, networks, “swarms”, terminals, etc.; the manned and unmanned interaction perspective can judge the technical mechanisms of different interaction stages; the multi-domain aggregated space-time perspective is conducive to comprehensive evaluation and understanding of battlefield situations.
Reconstructing the new quality combat power generation model with system concept
At present, technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing are constantly driving the transformation of the basic elements of joint operations. There is a new trend of development from separation to integration, from single equipment to clusters, and from physical to virtual-real interaction between functional modules such as intelligence, command and control, firepower, and network and electronics. The traditional combat capability generation model is no longer able to adapt to the development, and a new quality combat capability generation model should be reconstructed with new thinking.
Create an intelligent warfare system. Outdated military needs will not produce the best system for future warfare. Concept scenarios should be derived from intelligent technology, linking interactive intelligent components with existing personnel, equipment, tactics, etc. to form an intelligent combat system that includes perception, decision-making, offense and defense, support, and virtual-real interaction. An unchanging combat system will also be difficult to adapt to the rapid evolution of the war situation. An innovation chain of rapid iteration and leapfrogging should be formed to run through the entire process of generating new quality combat power and promote the evolution of the combat system from low-level to high-level.
Build agile combat units. The combat system is a high-intensity confrontation system. The faster the iteration speed in peacetime and the more advanced the construction level, the stronger the survivability in wartime. To build an intelligent joint combat system, we should start with cultivating the initiative and creativity of all individuals to form an agile team that can respond quickly and actively deal with battlefield uncertainties. Military training should fully absorb the lessons learned from recent local wars, change the traditional mode of large-scale linear deployment and group operations, highlight the distributed combat exercises of “breaking the whole into parts”, enhance the system’s anti-destruction ability, and improve stability.
Promote disruptive technological transformation. One of the secrets to the success of military revolution is the “surging” transformation of science and technology to the military. We should focus on advancing the basis of combat readiness with scientific and technological progress, transfer and transform the latest scientific achievements such as game theory, complex system science, and software definition, upgrade and transform the basic platforms of combat software and hardware, and explore the mechanism of system victory with innovative thinking, paradigms, and tools. At the same time, we should accelerate the extension of mature technologies such as mobile Internet and cloud computing to the combat system, accelerate the application of new materials, new energy, and advanced manufacturing to combat platforms, and improve the level of unmanned, bionic, and clustered intelligent combat.
Seek asymmetric checks and balances. Since the 20th century, “selective disclosure” and “cost imposition” have led opponents in the wrong direction and disrupted the rhythm, becoming common means in major countries’ military competition. Simply “fighting hard” according to the discourse system and method system dominated by others is often difficult to play one’s own advantages, and may even fall into the trap set by opponents. We should focus on leveraging our strengths and avoiding our weaknesses, scientifically choose our own combat effectiveness development path, and achieve misaligned competition. We should jump out of the leader’s preset, dynamically benchmark, and iteratively develop. Strengthen criticism and falsification to prevent being confused and misled by opponents.
Promoting the iterative development of new quality combat capabilities through continuous evolution
Whoever can take the lead in building new quality combat capability will gain the upper hand. The intelligent joint combat system is a complex and huge system that is constantly evolving. Its elements are constantly expanding and its environment spans multiple domains. It should follow the mechanism of continuous evolution and improvement, and within the scope of strategic management, take demand as the goal, efficiency as the key, and precision as the guide to promote the iterative development of new quality combat capability.
The generation link is included in strategic management. Intelligent joint operations are the new frontier for advancing war preparations and should be promoted in a coordinated manner according to the strategic management link. In the demand link, we should fully consider the gap between capabilities and needs, and scientifically justify the direction and amount of investment in construction resources; in the planning and budgeting link, we should follow the principle of matching goals and tasks with actual resources, focus on efficiency and implement budget control; in the execution and evaluation link, we should not only promote the top-level institutions to relay and coordinate operations vertically, but also regulate, supervise, and correct each field according to their responsibilities one by one.
The generation process establishes a positive cycle. Intelligent joint operations are in an era of change in which science and technology are developing from information networks to artificial intelligence, combat styles are changing from network-centric warfare to cross-domain autonomous parallel operations, and political, economic, diplomatic and military means are integrated and used. The generation process of new quality combat power should establish a positive cycle of iterative development and continuous evolution. It is necessary to pay attention to the balanced development of the capabilities of each system, as well as to clarify the levels and weights, and gradually achieve the best system and the strongest capabilities through hierarchical modeling and positive cycles.
The output of the generation is closely focused on the game confrontation. Only by keeping a close eye on the military game process can the construction of new quality combat power be targeted and in the right direction. We should focus on system competition, form a system of troops, seek system advantages, produce system results, and strengthen system capabilities in combat theory, equipment development, military training, etc., and avoid shortcomings. We should seek asymmetric checks and balances, neither closed and rigid, nor copy and paste, follow the trend, lead opponents in the key areas of building new quality combat power of intelligent joint operations, and create new advantages to check and balance powerful enemies in the process of actively responding to changes and seeking changes.
The generation efficiency is embedded in the inspection and evaluation. The generation efficiency of the new quality combat capability of intelligent joint operations should be included in the inspection and evaluation system. By analyzing strategic tasks to set operational requirements and new quality combat capability indicators, simulating and deducing the effectiveness of the use of new quality combat capability scenarios through major exercise activities, and testing and measuring new quality combat capability indicators through the design of evaluation model algorithms, evaluation and feedback can be used to support the construction of new quality combat capability of intelligent joint operations.
(Author’s unit: Strategic Assessment and Consulting Center, Academy of Military Science)
At the beginning of 2017, Master, known as the evolved version of “AlphaGo”, swept Ke Jie, Park Tinghuan, Iyama Yuta and other top Go players on the Go online platform, winning 60 consecutive games, setting off a “Master storm” and causing many people to worry. What humans are worried about is not that Go, known as the “last bastion of human wisdom”, will be conquered by artificial intelligence, but that artificial intelligence has subverted Go today, what will it subvert tomorrow? This is the concern that hangs in people’s minds.
Master’s consecutive victories over human masters are similar to the nature of computers proving the four-color theorem. They are all victories of computing power and algorithms. There is no need to worry too much that they will dominate and enslave humans. However, artificial intelligence is developing rapidly, and it is generally believed that strong artificial intelligence will come sooner or later. Nowadays, artificial intelligence has penetrated into every corner of life. It is not uncommon to use artificial intelligence in war. Since the arrival of the artificial intelligence era is inevitable, how we use it in future wars will become the key to victory. Whether artificial intelligence brings threats or development to mankind depends on how to use it. “The fake horse is not good at running, but it can reach a thousand miles; the fake boat is not good at sailing, but it can cross the river.” The integration of war technology and artificial intelligence may be the way of the future.
Development History of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence Opens the Door to Intelligent Warfare
Master’s 60-game winning streak makes us think about how artificial intelligence will change our lives. Perhaps the following life scenarios will gradually become a reality:
When driving, you tell the location and the autopilot system takes you to your destination;
In hospitals, you see tug-trailer robots from the United States transporting medical equipment and “Big White” robots caring for patients;
After get off work, you press the “Go Home Mode” on your phone, and when you open the door, you find that the curtains are closed, the temperature is right, the lights are soft, the water is hot, and there is a cute home robot greeting you.
In fact, you can also use an unmanned aerial vehicle to carry a diamond ring and propose to your beloved…
We have been looking forward to this day for a long time.
The era of great development of artificial intelligence is here!
As early as shortly after the first computer came out, scientists predicted that the era of artificial intelligence would come. In 1997, when Deep Blue defeated Kasparov, this beautiful scene seemed just around the corner. However, in the second half of the 20th century, artificial intelligence research fell into a cold winter due to the failure of several attempts at technological innovation. The most recent cold winter, from the end of the 20th century to the first decade of the 21st century, was caused by the bottleneck encountered in the research of neural networks.
In recent years, everyone can clearly feel that the theoretical research and perceptible products of artificial intelligence seem to have suddenly “exploded” in a blowout manner: wearable devices have appeared in large numbers, intelligent robots have appeared frequently, the accuracy of machine face recognition exceeds that of the naked eye, companies such as Apple and BMW have worked together to develop driverless cars, and the United States and Europe have successively established projects to tackle the human brain…
The explosion of artificial intelligence projects is not a coincidence, but a leap forward after more than 10 years of silence. Ray Kurzweil, an American scientist who successfully predicted that robots will defeat human chess players, has predicted that the wonderful intersection point when artificial intelligence surpasses the sum of human wisdom will be in 2045.
So, how big an impact will this wave of artificial intelligence explosion have, how long will the impact last, and to what extent will it change human life?
From weak artificial intelligence to strong artificial intelligence. After Deep Blue dominated the chess field in 1997, artificial intelligence did not change the world as expected, and Deep Blue disappeared after more than 10 years of silence. Artificial intelligence has also remained at the stage of weak artificial intelligence and has not made any breakthroughs. This period of nearly 20 years has become the longest artificial intelligence winter to date. Some people joked that the greatest achievement in the field of artificial intelligence in the past 20 years is that Spielberg made the science fiction movie “Artificial Intelligence” that has captivated the world. Spielberg put all the rich fantasies of human beings about the future world into the movie world he created. Subsequently, a series of movies about artificial intelligence such as “Robot Butler”, “Super Hacker” and “Ex Machina” came into being. Artificial intelligence has begun to enter all aspects of human life. The use of artificial intelligence in industries such as medicine, education, services, manufacturing, and even in the military field has become common, which makes many military enthusiasts think about what artificial intelligence means to the military field and where it will go in the future?
“AlphaGo” only represents the latest achievements of artificial intelligence in the fields of deep learning of machines based on neural networks, high-performance computing and big data technology, and is a weak artificial intelligence. However, some military experts predict that the application of strong artificial intelligence in the future will bring about huge changes, just like the entry of big data five years ago. In the military field where competition and game are more intense, artificial intelligence has been increasingly moving towards the battlefield since the emergence of computers in the last century, promoting the advent of the era of intelligent warfare.
Artificial intelligence is taking big steps onto the battlefield
Artificial intelligence is an important branch of modern information technology. The world’s first programmable “Giant” computer was born in Britain during World War II. Its purpose was to help the British army decipher German codes. In recent years, artificial intelligence has been increasingly used on the battlefield, profoundly changing the face of war. In summary, the application of artificial intelligence in the military field is mainly reflected in the following five aspects:
Intelligent perception and information processing. The rapid development of micro-electromechanical systems, wireless sensor network technology, and cloud computing technology has further developed battlefield perception methods in the direction of intelligent perception and information fusion processing. The U.S. military, Russian military, French military, German military, etc. are all equipped with digital soldier systems with intelligent information perception and processing capabilities, such as the U.S. military’s “Night Warrior” and the Russian military’s “Warrior”. In fiscal year 2015, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency added research and development projects such as the “cerebral cortex processor”. This processor simulates the structure of the human cerebral cortex to solve problems such as real-time control of high-speed moving objects. In the future, its application will greatly improve the autonomous action capabilities of robots and drones.
Intelligent command and control assists decision-making. The military of various countries develops various military information systems in order to build a powerful grid network information system and improve intelligent evaluation and decision-making assistance capabilities. The command and control automation systems of major military powers are constantly developing, pursuing stronger information and decision-making advantages than their opponents. In recent years, the US military has established a cyber command to vigorously strengthen its network attack and defense capabilities, focusing on the development of intelligent diagnostic information systems for network intrusions based on cloud computing, big data analysis and other technologies, which can automatically diagnose the source of network intrusions, the degree of damage to one’s own network and data recovery capabilities.
Unmanned military platforms. Western countries began to attach importance to the research and development and application of small drones, remote-controlled unmanned vehicles and unmanned boats during World War I. At present, the armies of more than 70 countries in the world are developing unmanned system platforms. The US military has equipped more than 7,000 drones, and more than 12,000 ground wheeled (or tracked) robots have been put into use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. In the near future, the US military will achieve that ground robots account for one-third of its ground forces, and the carrier-based X-47B drone will account for one-third of the total number of carrier-based aircraft, further promoting the coordinated training and exercise between manned and unmanned platforms.
Bionic robots. Since the 21st century, robot technology has developed rapidly. Various bionic robots such as humanoid robots, robot fish, and robot insects have been continuously introduced and have been increasingly used in the military field. For example, the US military once tested a “big dog” robot on the battlefield in Afghanistan to help soldiers with accompanying support. The US Department of Defense upgraded it in 2013, increasing its load capacity to 200 kilograms, running speed to 12 kilometers per hour, bulletproof and silent. The Russian army recently plans to step up the development of humanoid robots that can drive vehicles and form a robot unit that can fight side by side with human soldiers.
Expanding people’s physical skills and intelligence. The cross-integration of information technology, new material technology and biotechnology will further expand people’s physical strength, skills and intelligence. For example, foreign militaries are developing mechanical exoskeletons to create “mech warriors” with doubled physical strength; and by implanting bioinformatics chips to improve people’s memory and reaction ability, so that human soldiers can better adapt to the highly informationized combat environment in the future.
Artificial intelligence will drive a new round of military reforms
When new military technologies, operational concepts, and organizational structures interact to significantly enhance military combat capabilities, it will trigger new military changes. The increasingly widespread application of artificial intelligence in the military field is becoming an important driver of military change, giving rise to new war styles and changing the internal mechanism of winning wars.
It brings a new impact on the concept of war. The history of human warfare has gone through the era of cold weapons, the era of hot weapons, the era of mechanization, and the era of informatization. The development of artificial intelligence has accelerated the arrival of the intelligent era. Can intelligence be divided into high-level intelligence and low-level intelligence? Do armies with high-level intelligence have an overwhelming advantage over low-level intelligence armies? If the “mechanization” of people and the “humanization” of machines are two inevitable development trends, does it go against the traditional ethics of war for robots that can think to fight instead of humans? Artificial intelligence has unprecedentedly improved battlefield perception and information processing capabilities. Does the “fog” of war still exist on the high-tech battlefield? To understand these issues, the military field must have a brainstorming session.
It brings new inspiration to theoretical innovation. The material and technological basis of war is constantly updated, opening up new space for innovation in strategic theories and operational concepts, and constantly giving birth to new disruptive technologies in the field of artificial intelligence; the combined application of precision strike ammunition, unmanned equipment and network information systems has given birth to new intelligent combat theories such as “distributed lethality”, “mothership theory”, “combat cloud” and “swarm tactics”; relying on one’s own information advantage and decision-making advantage, how to cut off and delay the opponent’s information and decision-making loop in a decentralized battlefield network has become a core issue that must be solved to win in intelligent warfare.
Future Trends in Military Applications of Artificial Intelligence
With the development and application of strategic frontier technology fields such as information technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, new materials technology, and new energy technology, artificial intelligence-related technologies will continue to mature and play an increasingly important role in the military field.
Artificial intelligence technology and equipment continue to make breakthroughs. Major countries have elevated artificial intelligence to the level of national strategy. The Office of the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force has issued the “Unmanned Systems Horizon” technology assessment and forecast report for 2035, which believes that the automation, autonomy and remote control performance of various unmanned systems and combat platforms in the future will continue to make breakthroughs with the advancement of technology. In particular, with the advancement of technologies such as super-large-scale computing, quantum computing, cloud computing, big data, and brain-like chips, artificial intelligence information processing and control technology will be greatly developed, profoundly changing the proportion of artificial intelligence technology in modern warfare.
Artificial intelligence has given rise to the vigorous development of new combat forces. The widespread application of artificial intelligence systems and combat platforms will make artificial intelligence, as an important combat element, permeate the entire process of war and combat preparation, and further enrich the connotation of new combat forces. With the application of drone formations, unmanned submarine formations, battlefield robot soldier formations, and coordinated formations of unmanned and manned combat units on the battlefield, various types of “mixed” new combat forces will continue to emerge. With the construction and application of military Internet of Things, military big data, and cloud computing technology in the military field, artificial intelligence combat forces such as “cloud brain”, “digital staff”, and “virtual warehousing” for information support, command and control, effect evaluation, and logistics support will play an increasingly important role in future wars.
Artificial intelligence is constantly evolving and upgrading through actual combat applications. Artificial intelligence systems and combat platforms, which are supported by information technology, are different from the research and development model of traditional mechanized weapons and equipment. Mechanized weapons and equipment are generally put into use after the technology matures until they are scrapped and eliminated, and have a certain service life; artificial intelligence systems are developed in the mode of system prototype-practical training-evolutionary upgrade. Artificial intelligence systems often use continuous evolution to improve their intelligence level according to different versions. The evolution direction of artificial intelligence is always towards high-level intelligence. This law of development of artificial intelligence systems and combat platforms has revolutionary significance for military training and combat capability improvement. In recent years, the United States and its allies have continued to organize activities such as the “Schriever” space (network) exercise and the “Lockton” cybersecurity exercise, which are repeated tests and upgrades of their artificial intelligence information systems. In the future, upgrading training of artificial intelligence systems and various unmanned combat platforms through continuous confrontation exercises will be an important way to improve combat effectiveness.
Artificial Intelligence Helps Build Smart National Defense
Data is called a strategic resource in the information age. The emergence of artificial intelligence provides methods and means for humans to deeply mine the wisdom resources of data information, and is leading and reshaping the development trend of the world’s new military transformation. Facing the booming wave of artificial intelligence, how to meet challenges, seize opportunities, accelerate the construction of military informatization, and enhance the core military capabilities to win modern wars are the contemporary issues that our army must answer to achieve the goal of strengthening the army. On the one hand, our army must keep a clear mind and make prudent judgments. We must not be frightened by the seemingly powerful and mysterious appearance of artificial intelligence, nor blindly applaud it, nor be indifferent and lose the opportunity for development, and be attacked by opponents due to lack of technical cognition. Breakthroughs in individual technical fields of artificial intelligence are nothing more than an extension of human intelligence, but they cannot replace the dominant position of human intelligence. People are still the core element of all elements of combat effectiveness, and people’s subjective initiative is still the key to determining the outcome of intelligent warfare. On the other hand, our army should implement the military-civilian integration development strategy and the innovation-driven development strategy, grasp the trend of the times, highlight the characteristics of our army, keep a close eye on the opponent’s layout, boldly absorb and apply the relevant technological achievements of artificial intelligence to promote the information construction of the army, and try to apply artificial intelligence technology to achieve transformation and upgrading in platform construction, logistics support, military training, national defense mobilization and other fields. Actively develop countermeasures against the opponent’s military application of artificial intelligence, and explore the winning mechanism of the game with strong enemies in the field of artificial intelligence in practice.
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The military application of artificial intelligence in the United States, Russia and other countries
United States: In July 2016, the U.S. Marine Corps tested the Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System (MAARS), which uses sensors and cameras to control gun-wielding robots based on artificial intelligence. The “Army Global Military Command and Control System” developed by the U.S. Army has been equipped with Army Aviation Force transport helicopters, allowing helicopter pilots to maintain contact with frontline soldiers and command ground forces.
Russia: The “Wolf-2” mobile robot system being developed by the Russian Strategic Missile Forces uses a tracked chassis and can be controlled via radio channels within a range of 5 kilometers. The shooting accuracy is guaranteed by a thermal imager, ballistic computer, laser rangefinder and gyro stabilizer, and it can hit the target at a speed of 35 kilometers per hour.
Israel: The robot “Dogo” developed by the company is an automatically armed tactical combat robot, which comes with a standard Glock 26 9mm caliber pistol. It can be said to be a little devil.
The arrival of the “Master” makes the combat style develop towards unmanned
The Go account Master has challenged the world’s top players on two major Go platforms, Yicheng Go and Tencent Go, and won 60 consecutive games, which has attracted great attention from the world on artificial intelligence. Few people thought that in the field of Go, machines did not experience a period of “stalemate” with humans, but directly left in the dust.
Engels once said that the application of cutting-edge technology began in the military field. Military struggle is a comprehensive contest covering multiple dimensions, multiple fields, full time domain and high intensity, and the addition of artificial intelligence will accelerate the pace of military reform in various countries like a catalyst. Looking at the entire process of the two industrial revolutions and the two world wars, we will find that there is an inevitable connection between “technology” and “war”. Technology will trigger war, and war in turn will promote the development of technology. At this stage, all countries have made great progress in the development of information and intelligent weapons and equipment, and various precise positioning, precise strike, and precise evaluation weapon systems have emerged in an endless stream. However, humans have not yet been separated from the weapon system, and a large part of the operations still need to be completed manually. The combination of artificial intelligence and weapons and equipment means that in the future, from searching and discovering targets, to threat assessment, to locking and destroying, and then to effect evaluation, this series of processes does not require human participation at all. Machines can help us make decisions and achieve unmanned development of combat styles.
Master quietly disappeared after winning 60 games in a row, but discussions about the future of artificial intelligence are still endless: Will it take away human jobs, or will it be an extension of human functions? Will it eventually surpass human intelligence, or will it merge with humans? The answers to these questions are not as simple as either one or the other. Solving them will accompany the future development of artificial intelligence. In 1997, “Deep Blue” defeated Kasparov, making more use of computer computing expertise such as hardware acceleration and brute force computing. AlphaGo uses new artificial intelligence technologies such as neural networks, deep learning, and Monte Carlo tree search, and its strength has already made a substantial leap. These new technologies make artificial intelligence more competent for tasks such as voice and image recognition and evaluation and analysis, and are therefore an important development direction.
Although the dust has settled on this round of the Go “man-machine battle”, the thoughts it has triggered in various fields are very worthy of study. Among them, “‘man-machine battle’ is the best pre-practice of war” is particularly worthy of serious study in the military field. Whether in the era of cold weapons or the mechanized era, fighting on the front line relies on “human wave tactics”, and solving problems requires “concentrating superior forces”. Informatized warfare no longer uses “human wave tactics”, and the scene of large-scale fighting is difficult to reproduce, but as far as the entire war is concerned, the use of troops is not necessarily less, on the contrary, it may be more, but the number of troops used at the forefront has been greatly reduced, and the position of the troops has undergone a major shift. In the unmanned, networked and non-contact combat mode of future wars, there will be more participants, and sometimes you cannot know who the opponent is or where he is hiding.
Although the competition field and the battlefield have different operating rules, many of the winning mechanisms are the same. In the past, we could only learn about war in war, but now we can learn about war in a computer-simulated, near-actual combat environment, and deduce the offensive and defensive modes and development trends of future wars. “AlphaGo” can easily collect the chess games of many Go masters, but in the military field, it is extremely difficult to obtain relevant data on your opponent’s training, exercises, and even combat! Future wars are carried out with the support of information systems. Only by solving the core problem of human-machine integration can we take the initiative on the battlefield and win the final victory in modern warfare. (Zhu Qichao, Wang Jingling, Li Daguang)
Modern warfare has undergone profound changes. The most fundamental thing is that the winning mechanism has changed. If you want to win the war, you must understand the winning mechanism of modern war. At present, the form of war is accelerating its evolution to information-based warfare, and intelligent warfare is beginning to take shape. What is the winning mechanism of intelligent warfare? What are the new changes and what are the new characteristics? In order to answer these questions clearly, this journal launches a series of articles “Focusing on the Winning Mechanism of Intelligent War”. Readers are welcome to contribute ideas and actively debate, so as to jointly promote the in-depth research on the winning mechanism of intelligent war.
At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation led by artificial intelligence is in the ascendant. “Artificial intelligence is like previous missiles and satellites. Whether you are prepared or not, it will enter the historical stage of human war.” Intelligent warfare has already Coming in stride. To win the intelligent wars that may occur in the future, the core is to clarify the winning mechanism of intelligent wars.
Clarify the unique connotation of the winning mechanism of intelligent warfare
To clarify the winning mechanism of intelligent warfare, we must first define the connotation of the word “mechanism” accurately. The author believes that “ji” can be understood as mystery and doorway, and “reason” can be interpreted as principle and reason. The so-called winning mechanism of intelligent war refers to the methods (paths) and principles for winning intelligent war. In order to further clarify this connotation, it is necessary to accurately grasp the differences and connections between the three pairs of concepts.
Grasp the unique connotation from the relationship between mechanism and laws. Laws are the inevitable connections between the inherent nature of things, and the laws for winning a war are the essential connections and inevitable trends of development of various factors related to winning a war. War is a complex giant system, and winning is also complicated. Many winning laws often work on the battlefield at the same time. If you conduct a detailed analysis of specific battle cases, you will find that in every battle of victory and defeat, there must be a certain law that plays a decisive role, and other laws play an auxiliary but indispensable role. The winning mechanism of war is the link and reason why the winning factors of war trigger the winning rules and play a winning role under certain conditions. The winning mechanism depends on the winning law and reflects the way and basis for the winning law to work. However, the winning law alone cannot become a winning mechanism. To summarize in relatively simple words, the winning law is the basis of the winning mechanism, and the winning mechanism is the application of the winning law.
Grasp the unique connotation from the relationship between mechanism and mechanism. Mechanism is the internal structure, function and interrelationship of things. The combat winning mechanism is the internal mechanism through which the various elements of the combat system interact to form a joint force and achieve victory. For example, gathering effectiveness and parallel linkage are all mechanisms. They are the application methods of relevant winning mechanisms. and implementation methods, and these methods and methods embody certain rules and have certain institutional characteristics. In information warfare, the comprehensive integration of combat elements such as intelligence reconnaissance, command and control, fire strikes and comprehensive support, and the optimization and reorganization of land, sea, air and other combat units will form a variety of winning mechanisms. Most of these winning mechanisms include information winning links that convert events into information, information into situation, situation into cognition, cognition into decision-making, decision-making into action, etc. It can be seen that the winning mechanism is the inner “Tao”, which is more abstract, while the winning mechanism is the “skill” of using Tao, which is more concrete.
Grasp the unique connotation from the relationship between mechanism and theory. Understanding, grasping and flexibly applying the laws and mechanisms of winning war requires correct guidance from the theoretical and strategic perspectives. Wise military theorists always make theoretical processing and creation after discovering new winning laws and mechanisms, thus forming new military guidance theories. It can be seen that the core of military theoretical innovation lies in revealing and clarifying new laws and mechanisms for winning wars, and then summarizing new war guidance. In the history of world military affairs, Mahan’s “sea power” theory, Douhet’s “air superiority” theory, Fuller’s “mechanized warfare” theory, Tukhachevsky’s “large depth operations” theory, Graham’s “high altitude” theory, etc. “Borderland” theory, etc., have revealed the corresponding laws and mechanisms for winning wars, led the military trend, and changed the face of war. It can be said that the mechanism of winning war is the basis and source of innovation in military theory, and military guidance theory is the smart application and theoretical sublimation of the mechanism of winning war.
Dialectically grasp the multiple implications of the winning mechanism of intelligent warfare
The winning mechanism of intelligent warfare includes the general mechanism of winning war, and at the same time embodies the distinctive characteristics of algorithmic games; there are corresponding winning mechanisms at the strategic, operational, tactical and other levels, and they are also closely related to algorithmic games. Due to various factors, the specific winning mechanism of each war may be different. Here, only a few types of winning mechanisms with certain universality are listed.
The “outwit” mechanism of using “strong” to defeat “weak”. “The strong wins and the weak loses” is a certain universal law for winning wars. Even in those battles in which the weak defeat the strong, it is often necessary to form a strength advantage over the enemy locally and at a specific period of time in order to truly win. According to the law of “the strong defeats the weak”, using the strong to defeat the weak has become a universal mechanism for winning wars. The “strong” here refers to the overall combat effectiveness. In the era of mechanized warfare, the strength of the overall combat effectiveness is mainly reflected in the superiority of troops and firepower. In the era of information warfare, the military’s ability to win wars depends on its information superiority. In the era of intelligent warfare, the contribution rate of intellectual superiority to combat effectiveness is much higher than other factors. In intelligent war confrontations, human intelligence has widely penetrated into the combat field and been transplanted into weapon systems. The side with higher and stronger intelligence can better develop and use the “outwit” mechanism of using the strong to defeat the weak, and even according to the This design war, dominates the development of the battle situation, and achieves final victory.
The “outwit” mechanism of using “high” to defeat “low”. The “high” and “low” here mainly refer to the “generation difference” and “dimensional difference”. Usually, the side that uses more advanced war forms and combat styles can defeat the side that is still using lower dimensional war forms and combat styles. For example, troops who generally use muskets can almost always outperform troops who use swords and spears. If “high” wins and “low” loses is the law of victory, then the methods and reasons for using “high” to defeat “low” become the winning mechanism. In the process of intelligent warfare, attacking the weaknesses of the opponent’s combat system to reduce or invalidate its “intelligence” and implementing “dimensionality reduction strikes” is the specific application of the “high” to defeat the “low” and “outwit” mechanisms. . It should also be noted that in the era of intelligent warfare, there are likely to be multiple stages of development from low to high. Try to keep yourself in an advanced stage and attack the opponent to a low-dimensional stage. This is also to use “high” to attack “low” The application of the “outwit” mechanism.
The “outwit” mechanism of using “fast” to defeat “slow”. With the strong promotion of science and technology, the connotation of “fast” in war is constantly being refreshed. During World War I, tanks could only maneuver at 4 to 8 miles per hour. By World War II, armored groups were able to conduct blitzes. In recent years, we have thought that supercomputers are already very fast, but quantum computers can process “Gaussian Bose sampling” one hundred trillion times faster than the fastest supercomputers. Quantum algorithms have achieved exponential acceleration compared to classical algorithms. Artificial Intelligence will achieve a qualitative leap. In future intelligent warfare, with the support of algorithms, early warning time will be advanced, decision-making time will be shortened, combat operations will be extended forward, the “observation-judgment-decision-action” cycle will be greatly compressed, and “instantaneous destruction” will be upgraded to “instantaneous destruction”, truly entering the future. The era of “instant kill” when discovered and destroyed.
The “outsmarting” mechanism of defeating “clumsy” with “skill”. In some classic battle cases, we can often see commanders using flexible strategies and tactics, turning passivity into initiative, and turning disadvantages into advantages, which embodies the law of victory that “skillful” can defeat “clumsy” and “skillful” can defeat “clumsy”. “Clumsy” winning mechanism. The “cleverness” in intelligent warfare, relying on the advantages of algorithms, began to come out of the commander’s brain and was endowed with “intelligent” weapon systems. When intelligent warfare develops to a certain stage, all-domain, multi-dimensional and various types of intelligent combat platforms can quickly couple combat forces, build a combat system based on mission requirements, independently implement collaborative operations, and quickly return to the state of readiness for war after the mission is over, showing a trend of intelligent autonomy. . In the future, intelligent warfare will expand to the polar regions, deep sea, space and other fields. The mechanism of “outsmarting” by using “skill” to defeat “clumsy” will also expand accordingly, and more and newer “outsmart” paths will be developed.
Prospectively explore and develop the winning mechanism of intelligent warfare
In today’s world, the scientific and technological revolution and the military revolution influence each other, the form of war is accelerating the evolution, and the mechanism for winning war is constantly updated. In the context of the slowly opening of intelligent warfare, we must pay close attention to the development trend of the winning mechanism of intelligent war, change from passive to proactive, change from follow-up to leading, proactively explore and develop the winning mechanism of intelligent war, and firmly control the winning mechanism of intelligent war. Take the initiative to win intelligent wars.
Develop new winning mechanisms. History and reality show that once advanced science and technology are applied to the military, it will profoundly change the mechanism for winning wars, thus causing changes in existing combat guidance, doctrines, regulations, and troop formations. Today, with the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, the development of military intelligence is limitless, and the specific winning mechanism of future intelligent warfare will inevitably exceed current expectations. We should actively explore the potential of existing advanced technologies in intelligent warfare and explore their possible winning mechanisms. Comprehensively analyze the weak points of the opponent’s unmanned combat system and our advantages, work backwards from the target points to determine the winning mechanism, propose military innovation needs, accurately develop strategic, cutting-edge, and disruptive technologies, and promote the “rules of the game” of war. A change of direction in my favor.
Validate new winning mechanisms. Whether the research results on the winning mechanism of intelligent warfare are effective or not needs to be tested in practice. In times of relative peace, we should strengthen the testing of actual combat training and targeted combat experiments, discover problems during testing, revise understandings, and make the new winning mechanism as scientific and thorough as possible. When the time and conditions are ripe, promote the new intelligent war winning mechanism to become the basis for the all-round reform and overall improvement of military training. We must persist in leading training with war and promoting war with training, so as to train according to the actual requirements of intelligent war and achieve Integration of operations and training. We must put ourselves first, learn from foreign militaries appropriately, break the limitations of more qualitative analysis and less quantitative analysis, vigorously build and improve intelligent warfare laboratories, open up innovative links from winning mechanisms to operational concepts to experimental platforms, and promote the elimination of the dross and the essence. Eliminate the false and preserve the true, and improve the scientificity and authoritativeness of the research results on the winning mechanism of intelligent warfare.
Sublimate new winning mechanisms. The new mechanism for winning wars is the deep basis for promoting innovation in military theory. When we discover new specific “outsmarting” mechanisms such as using “strong” to defeat “weak”, using “high” to defeat “low”, using “fast” to defeat “slow”, and using “skillful” to defeat “clumsy”. , in line with this mechanism, core combat concepts, combat principles, and war guidance can be put forward, and a new military theory on intelligent warfare can be formed through systematic processing. Some people say, “Rich imagination and deep insight are far more important than 100% accuracy.” It is necessary to moderately encourage “whimsical ideas” in war design, and guide creative researchers to propose new “war ideas” based on a deep understanding of military intelligence “technical creativity” and the winning mechanisms derived from it. Based on the research on the winning mechanism of intelligent warfare, we must deepen military theoretical innovation and accelerate the formation of a contemporary, leading and unique military theoretical system.
(Author’s affiliation: National Security College, National Defense University)
An analysis of the use of strategies in intelligent warfare
■Chen Dongheng, Zhong Ya
Reading Tips: “Warfare is the art of deception”. War is a competition of comprehensive strength. Ancient Chinese military strategists have always attached great importance to “strategizing in the tent and winning thousands of miles away”, and all of them regard strategy as the way to victory. War practice shows that as long as war is a confrontation between humans, smart strategies will not withdraw from the battlefield. Today’s battlefield competition is about intelligent skills, and what is fought is smart strategies.
“The best military is to attack the enemy’s strategy, the next best is to attack the enemy’s alliance, the next best is to attack the enemy’s soldiers, and the worst is to attack the city.” Strategy, as a component of combat power and a weapon to win the war, runs through ancient and modern times and transcends national boundaries, and has an important function of influencing and determining the outcome of the war. Although the role of science and technology is more prominent in intelligent warfare, it does not exclude the use of strategy. With the support and guidance of strategy, the combat system is more efficient. In-depth research and mastery of the use of strategy in intelligent warfare will be more conducive to winning the initiative in intelligent warfare.
The status and role of the use of strategy in intelligent warfare
The essence of strategy lies in the intelligent release of power. Scientific strategy application can often defeat the majority with the minority, the big with the small, and the strong with the weak. The battlefield of intelligent warfare presents more transparency, more extended combat space, more diverse means of confrontation, and more complex winning mechanism. This provides a solid material foundation and technical support for the implementation of strategy, and the status and role of strategy are becoming more and more important.
The internal driving force of the army construction and development planning. Demand is the order of the army, and use is the commander of the weapon. How science and technology are innovated, how weapons and equipment are developed, and how the national defense forces are built are often driven by demand and forward-looking planning. For example, in order to make up for the gap between Russia and the United States in terms of overall air defense and anti-missile strength, Russia used “asymmetric” strategies to focus on penetration technology and developed the “Zircon” and “Dagger” hypersonic missiles before the United States. Facts show that the application of strategies mainly focuses on “Tao” and “Fa”. The more reasonable the design and the more scientific the application, the more it can stimulate the motivation, vitality and potential of innovation and creation, and trigger a revolution in science and technology, weapons and equipment, and military construction and combat methods. Only when intelligent warfare, scientific and technological innovation and weapons and equipment development are closely connected with the needs of scientific war strategies can they adhere to the correct direction and be better transformed into actual combat power.
A multiplier of the actual combat effectiveness of the combat system. In the combat power spectrum, strategy, as an important soft power, has the value and significance of providing scientific methodological guidance, appropriate time and opportunity selection and correct path support for the use of military hard power. For example, Iran once used the “dislocation” tactics to launch a large-scale retaliatory air strike against Israel, first using hundreds of cheap drones to attract the consumption of Israel’s expensive air defense system, and then using more advanced high-value ballistic missiles to penetrate, which improved the hit rate to a certain extent. Facts show that when facing an opponent with superior hard power, if the strategy is used properly, it can also achieve miraculous results; and the same hard power may have very different combat effectiveness when using different strategies and tactics. In intelligent warfare, although the “blade” of military hard power is faster, in order to make it more effective, it still needs to rely on more sophisticated strategic “sword skills”.
Dependent variables of hybrid warfare operations. Strategy can not only empower military hard power, but also has a strong direct combat function, and can even defeat the enemy without fighting by “soft killing”. For example, the United States once spent a lot of money to capture the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, but he seemed to have disappeared from the world, and technical means could not determine his exact hiding place. He was finally tracked down by targeting his messenger through strategic use. The United States’ “live broadcast” “Spear of Poseidon” operation attempted to show the strength of the US military by killing Bin Laden to shock the international community. Intelligent warfare is a hybrid warfare, which has entered a new era of global live broadcast, universal participation, and full coverage. More and more countries are adopting strategic methods to enhance their own confidence and strike the opponent’s will to resist, and the strategic “soft kill” combat function is becoming more and more apparent.
Basic mechanism of intelligent warfare strategy application
Intelligent warfare, high-level development of artificial intelligence, rapid iteration, full spectrum penetration, and high-efficiency release, make the application of strategy have more dimensional support and stronger drive, showing a unique operation mechanism.
Cluster operation of strategy application. The application of strategy is based on the underlying logic of war operation and follows the law of evolution of the subject from individual to team and then to system. From a historical perspective, the application of strategy warfare in the cold weapon era relied more on the wisdom and experience accumulation of generals. Natural factors such as geography and weather are the main grasps of strategy operation. The burning of Red Cliff and borrowing arrows from straw boats are vivid footnotes. In the mechanized era, in order to adapt to the increasingly complex composition of military branches and the needs of fast-paced operations, the “General Staff” of senior military institutions dedicated to war planning services came into being. The “General Staff” in the two world wars is a typical representative. In the information age, the use of war strategies mainly relies on the control of information, and information power has become the main support behind strategic planning. In intelligent warfare, the comprehensiveness of technology application, the systematic nature of force planning, and the platform characteristics of game confrontation are more prominent, and the internal requirements are that the subject of strategy implementation should shift to a more powerful systematic platform.
Algorithm-driven strategy application. Strategy is based on strategy. The essence of planning is calculation, calculation of the world situation, calculation of military situation, calculation of development trend, calculation of strength and weakness, calculation of winning advantage… Whether it is calculation by human brain or machine, calculation by generals or calculation by teams, calculation is always the most critical supporting factor. Generally speaking, whoever has stronger computing power, more precise algorithms, and faster calculations can grab the “calculation” machine and win the victory. In the era of intelligent calculation, artificial intelligence participates in strategic decision-making with human-machine hybrid algorithms or machine algorithms, which greatly enhances the efficiency of calculation. It is based on this that major countries have focused on breakthroughs in artificial intelligence to win the future competition. These artificial intelligences, characterized by strong computing power, have great application potential in simulating battlefield situations, simulating war processes, and assisting decision-making and command. Only by guarding against the opponent’s technical aggression, vigorously improving our computing power, and adding the wings of algorithms to traditional strategies can we be invincible in the strategic game confrontation.
Intelligent support for the use of strategies. In intelligent warfare, strategies are based on the rapid development of artificial intelligence and its extensive military applications. It is a two-way “rush” of human strategic wisdom and “technical” wisdom. Now, the generals’ ingenuity and traditional staff work have become increasingly difficult to adapt to the needs of intelligent warfare. Comprehensive intelligent command and decision-making platforms have become an important support for the implementation of strategies. The command and decision-making system of the US military has developed into a large platform that integrates four-layer structural functions, including “intelligence support, information fusion, mission coordination, autonomous decision-making, action deployment, force allocation, situation adjustment, and real-time tracking”, and has become the brain of its “decision-making center warfare”. The Russian Federation Armed Forces Combat Command Center can dispatch and monitor the training and exercises of the entire army in real time, and undertake combat command tasks in low-intensity small-scale conflicts. It can be seen that intelligent support for strategic planning and strategy implementation has gradually taken shape. Intelligent strategic confrontation has put forward higher requirements for the professional integration of strategic subjects, and promoted the deep integration of human biological intelligence and artificial intelligence, which is “human-like intelligence”.
Main ways to use strategies in intelligent warfare
In intelligent warfare, the era background, supporting conditions, and action mechanisms of strategy application have undergone profound changes. The way of implementing strategies must keep pace with the times, strive to combine traditional strategic advantages with new technologies and new forms of warfare, innovate and expand scientific paths to effectively release strategic energy, and strive to plan quickly, plan carefully, and integrate strategy and attack.
Intelligent technology integration releases energy. That is, make full use of intelligent technology to empower and release energy for strategies. Generally speaking, the effective implementation of strategies is inseparable from accurate information perception, rapid personnel mobilization, and efficient force strikes. The innovative application of artificial intelligence enables people to see farther, hear more closely, know more, and calculate faster, making the army gather and disperse more quickly, move more covertly, and release power more rapidly, which is more conducive to the generation of strategies and the achievement of effectiveness. On the one hand, with the help of the rapidity and autonomy of artificial intelligence, the enemy situation can be quickly grasped through intelligent reconnaissance, the decision-making time can be greatly shortened by using machine algorithms, and the optimal strategy can be selected with the help of simulation deduction; on the other hand, relying on artificial intelligence to release and enhance the efficiency of strategies, modern brain control technology, deep fake technology, information confusion technology, public opinion guidance technology, etc., have greatly expanded the space and means of implementing strategies.
Human-machine complementation releases energy. That is, the strengths and weaknesses of human intelligence and machine intelligence complement each other and enhance efficiency and release energy. The biggest advantage of machine intelligence over human intelligence is that it can fight continuously without being affected by biological factors such as will, emotion, psychology, and physical strength. However, the “meta-intelligence” of human intelligence and its ability to adapt to changes are not possessed by machine intelligence. The two intelligence advantages complement each other and aggregate to form a powerful hybrid intelligence, which strongly supports the use of strategies in war. On the one hand, the “machine brain” safely and efficiently makes up for the shortcomings of the human brain; on the other hand, the human brain responds to special situations on the spot. Facts show that the biggest advantage of human intelligence over machine intelligence is that it can make decisions and deal with different situations on the spot, which just makes up for the shortcomings of machine intelligence. Only by combining the two can we form the optimal solution for intelligent calculation and gather the strongest strategic application.
The platform releases energy as a whole. It is to create a modular intelligent system, an integrated intelligent decision-making command action platform that integrates strategy generation and release. Intelligent warfare, every second counts, improves the time sensitivity of target strikes. The intelligent platform comprehensively uses intelligent computing and command automation technology to efficiently process massive data and complex battlefield situations, creating a “super brain” for commanders. It has significant advantages of good functional connection, high stability, fast operation speed, and high combat efficiency. It is a new quality combat force for strategic planning. Relying on the intelligent command and control system, it can make real-time decisions, form a list of time-sensitive targets, and independently solve the combat units and strike platforms that can be summoned and struck the fastest and best. The hardware and software can accurately strike the targets, and accurate strikes on time-sensitive targets can be achieved in real-time decisions, providing more options for assisting war decision-making and command.
At present, the widespread use of unmanned equipment in the military field is accelerating the evolution of war forms towards intelligence, and unmanned combat has also developed into an important combat style of intelligent warfare. However, it should be clearly seen that unmanned combat, from technical development to combat application, cannot be separated from the role of people, and people are still the “master switch” of the entire chain of unmanned combat. Therefore, unmanned combat is essentially still manned, and more attention should be paid to the construction of manned combat in unmanned combat.
From the perspective of operational design, the mission task is assigned by the mission tasker.
Equipment is the material basis of war, but people are the initiators and controllers of war. The role of any equipment in war is given by commanders and fighters at all levels. From the overall perspective of combat design, war involves multiple fields such as politics, economy, diplomacy, culture, and multiple levels such as strategy, campaign, and tactics. Winning a war requires the support of advanced equipment and technology, and more importantly, it requires all-round control of the war situation. Unmanned equipment is suitable for undertaking persistent and high-risk tasks because of its characteristics such as long-lasting endurance, concealed action, high mobility, low cost, and its advantages such as adaptability to extreme environments and flexible use. However, when encountering extremely complex combat environments, extremely fierce confrontations, and rapid changes in fighters that require real-time comprehensive weighing and decision-making, unmanned systems still need to be human-led, implement complex command and control, and control unmanned equipment to complete designated combat tasks. Therefore, although unmanned equipment has become a development trend in modern warfare, its dependence on and obedience to people will not change. It is necessary to accurately grasp the advantages and disadvantages of unmanned equipment, increase research in unmanned command and control theory, unmanned combat knowledge system, etc., to form a rich and complete combat theory system, drive the development of unmanned equipment, promote the formation of unmanned combat systems, and play a greater role in limited combat scenarios, thereby playing a good role as a “multiplier” of combat capabilities.
From the perspective of equipment research and development, unmanned systems are designed by humans.
Humans are the designers of unmanned equipment, especially in the intelligent software that empowers unmanned equipment. It is the core of unmanned equipment’s ability to perform various tasks, and it is also the embodiment of the designer’s wisdom. Although the artificial intelligence algorithms used in many core software have a certain self-learning ability and improve the autonomy of unmanned equipment, the choice of such self-learning strategies is still set by humans according to task requirements and specific scenarios. At present, various types of drones, unmanned ships, unmanned submarines, etc. have a certain ability to “think like humans”, but they are subject to the limitations of artificial intelligence algorithms, big data, and existing computer architectures. They cannot be separated from human thinking and input points set by humans. For a long time, the role of humans will still be the decisive factor in the development of unmanned equipment and warfare. Therefore, no matter to what extent informatization and intelligence develop, intelligent systems cannot completely replace humans, and the development of unmanned equipment is still dominated by humans. Manned/unmanned collaboration, human-machine coexistence, and intelligent integration are inevitable and feasible stages in the development of intelligent warfare. We must give full play to the “machine”‘s fast speed, high precision, fatigue resistance, and structured “computing” advantages, and give full play to the “human”‘s creativity, flexibility, initiative, and unstructured “calculation” advantages, integrate machine intelligence with human intelligence, learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses, complement each other, and produce collective wisdom.
From the perspective of combat use, there are people everywhere in the circuit
The intelligent system of unmanned equipment can fully support command and control, combat operations, combat support and other aspects, so that the combat system capabilities can be rapidly improved. However, if we look deeply into the entire unmanned system operation process, it completes the “man-unmanned platform-man” loop, and achieves the combat purpose through the complementary advantages of man and machine. Any advanced unmanned equipment requires combatants to plan tasks in advance, and operators to monitor and control online to ensure that its technical characteristics are brought into play. In other words, the beginning of the loop comes from human program design and thinking introduction. The task process requires human decision-making, control, monitoring and intervention. The completion of the task requires people to evaluate the applicability and combat effectiveness of unmanned equipment and constantly adapt to new combat needs. Therefore, people are still the dominant players in the entire combat use process. If the effectiveness of unmanned equipment is to be maximized, it is necessary to implement systematic professional training for the pioneers of manned/unmanned integrated operation-people. For new combat force talents, especially unmanned combat personnel, we should set up professional training institutions, integrate teaching resources, improve supporting teaching equipment, increase artificial intelligence courses, and improve talent retention mechanisms in accordance with the concept of diversified channels, integrated design, multi-functionality, and hierarchical training. At the same time, we will draw on advanced training concepts and methods from foreign militaries, and comprehensively use simulation, computer networks, virtual reality and other technologies to carry out practical military training to cultivate compound unmanned combat talents with solid theoretical foundation, high equipment technology level, and excellent practical operation skills.
From the perspective of innovation in tactics, capability improvement depends on people.
The development of technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, unmanned and anti-unmanned systems, and hypersonic weapons has led to new characteristics of modern warfare, such as great depth, long distance, and non-contact. Unmanned, invisible, and silent warfare have begun to emerge, and the future combat concepts and combat styles will undergo profound changes. The maturity of unmanned equipment has accelerated the development of new combat concepts such as wide-area distributed combat, cross-domain collaborative combat, and unmanned cluster combat into actual combat. The advantage of unmanned equipment is that there is no one on the front-end platform, but the limitation is that there is no one, and it is impossible to independently design and summarize new combat concepts and tactics. In fact, it is all done by people to study the essence and laws of a certain type of combat problem, extract common characteristics and abstractly summarize them, and then guide the solution of such combat problems. Specifically, the new combat concept is based on the research and judgment of combat conditions such as historical, current and future technological development, threat judgment, geopolitical situation, combat opponents, battlefield environment, etc., and all of these are the condensation and crystallization of human wisdom. Therefore, in the face of the complex and changeable future battlefield environment, in order to make unmanned equipment play the best combat effectiveness, it is inseparable from the innovation of combat concepts and tactics. Based on changes in the battlefield environment and targeting different combat styles, we should conduct forward-looking designs on force deployment, timing of use, methods of action, and support methods, scientifically predict the development trend of unmanned combat, promote the mutual development of equipment technology and changes in combat methods, and explore and form a combat capability construction path that is mutually verified, closed-feedback, and rollingly developed through “conceptual design-combat experiment-equipment research and development.”
From the perspective of technological development, unmanned technology is controlled by humans.
At present, people generally believe that unmanned and intelligent applications can be competent for various tasks as long as the technology is mature, but in fact, the operating rules of computers are still limited to the von Neumann serial computing architecture, and there has not yet been a revolutionary product combining biotechnology and artificial intelligence. For example, “AlphaGo” with deep learning capabilities can quickly generate astronomical numbers of various response plans in the game with human Go masters, and is almost invincible, but its intelligent foundation is Go with relatively simple rules; the US Department of Defense’s ground-based simulated air combat project, the air combat intelligent agent it developed defeated human ace pilots in human-machine confrontation, but it can only be achieved in the simple battlefield environment of the simulator. It can be seen that the current development of the intelligent field is to be able to perform tasks purposefully in terms of selection and decision-making, while war is a dynamic game process. The intelligent solutions used by unmanned equipment are only in the background assumption situation, and the “water has no constant shape” war mode requires soldiers to respond more flexibly. Therefore, we must attach great importance to the decisive role of people in scientific and technological progress, scientifically grasp the development trend of informationized and intelligentized warfare, clarify the ideas of technological development, and actively explore and form an unmanned equipment technology research and development system and development path suitable for the characteristics of the military in accordance with the methods and steps of overall demonstration, key research, pilot verification and promotion and application.
From the perspective of war law, war is dominated by people.
With the continuous updating and iteration of unmanned equipment technology, unmanned combat has become more and more intelligent, which has led to the relative blurring of the boundaries between peacetime and wartime, front and rear, soldiers and civilians. In the Libyan conflict, drones relied on algorithms to select targets, automatically tracked and attacked armed personnel without the control of operators. It can be predicted that if unmanned equipment develops to a certain extent in autonomous calculation, autonomous decision-making, and autonomous action, and completely autonomously selects, identifies, and attacks targets, and humans do not restrain it, it will have a profound impact on morality, law, and war ethics. In fact, there are “reasons”, “laws”, and “people” behind unmanned combat. No matter what stage unmanned combat develops to, it still belongs to the category of war and is still subject to the rules of war. Whether it is international law or humanitarian law, the focus has always been on human issues, such as restrictions on combat methods and means, treatment of prisoners of war, protection of civilians, etc. All principles, rules and systems are based on the perspective of people and are solved through people. Therefore, in order to avoid humanitarian and war ethics issues caused by unmanned combat, from a technical perspective, humans need to supervise and manage the operation of unmanned systems, guide arbitration, and handle emergencies, grant them limited “right to fire”, reserve “start-stop” intervention interfaces, and be able to take over unmanned systems at any time; from a legal perspective, establish war rules between humans and weapons, enhance humans’ ability to apply the rules of war, and always play a leading role in war.
(Author’s unit: Naval Research Institute)(Editors: Dai Xiaoling, Wan Peng)
An important task in studying intelligent warfare is to accurately position humans in intelligent warfare.
No matter how high the “kite” of intelligent weapons and equipment flies, it can only be controlled by humans and autonomously by machines. Humans must have a strong enough kite string and hold it tightly at all times.
”Synchronous development of man and machine” should be regarded as a basic principle for the development of military intelligence. Intelligence should integrate both “things” and “people”.
At present, the research on intelligent warfare is in the ascendant. Some people believe that intelligent warfare will be unmanned as the core form of expression, and unmanned equipment such as drones, unmanned submarines, and robot soldiers will become the protagonists of war. The form of war will also develop from the co-starring of “human-machine collaborative warfare” to the one-man show of “machine vs. machine war”. People seem to have become bystanders in intelligent warfare, with the meaning and trend of “intelligent warfare makes people go away”. What is the status and role of people, who have always been the main body of war, in intelligent warfare? This is the first problem that should be solved in the study of intelligent warfare.
The Marxist view of war holds that weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor. The decisive factor is people, not weapons. Although people no longer directly control weapons in advanced intelligent warfare, the following factors still determine that people are the main body of war and the key to winning.
First, war is the continuation of politics. The launching of war and the control of the war process must be decided by people according to political needs. The game outside the battlefield has a decisive influence on the progress of the war. For example, the results of diplomatic negotiations, the focus of international public opinion, and the support of the domestic people all depend on the decisions of politicians and military strategists, which cannot be replaced by any intelligent machines.
Secondly, war planning and command can only be implemented by commanders at all levels. Military command is both a science and an art, but it is more of an art. Any successful battle or campaign in the world is the result of commanders breaking routines and stereotypes and using troops creatively. The history of our army’s growth and development has repeatedly proved that correct military strategic guidance and flexible strategies and tactics are the magic weapon for our army to defeat the strong with the weak and defeat the many with the few, which enables our army to move from victory to victory. It is also something that intelligent machines cannot imitate or create. For example, in the battle, the comparative analysis of enemy and our combat forces, the real-time control of the combat situation, the real-time evaluation of the overall damage effect, the combat psychological analysis of enemy commanders, and the prediction of the next combat action, etc., intelligent machines can only provide auxiliary decision-making information and suggestions. Commanders at all levels must make decisions, make combat decisions, and issue combat orders.
Third, the level of intelligence of weapons and equipment ultimately depends on humans. Artificial intelligence originates from human intelligence. One of the major factors restricting the development of intelligence is that the scientific understanding of human intelligence is still superficial, and the understanding of the cognition, memory, thinking, decision-making and action mechanism of the human brain is still insufficient. The “Wuzhen Index: Global Artificial Intelligence Development Report 2016” pointed out that over the years, the proportion of biological research in the four sub-fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and robotics, has been the lowest. Due to the lack of attention to the basic and decisive influence of brain science on artificial intelligence, the current artificial intelligence can only stay at the stage of superficial understanding and primary imitation of brain functions. Once there is a major breakthrough in the understanding of human intelligence, artificial intelligence will also be reborn and enter a leapfrog development stage.
Fourth, only humans can control intelligent weapons and equipment and combat platforms. Although the final intelligent weapons can be operated without human on-site control, when to put intelligent weapons and equipment into battle, when to change the direction of attack, how to control the rhythm of the war, when to withdraw from the battle, etc., can only be decided by humans in the end. This is the basic principle that must be grasped when designing intelligent weapons and equipment, that is, one of Asimov’s three laws of robotics: robots must obey human orders. Once intelligent weapons and equipment are out of human control, it will be a disaster for the entire human race, not just the enemy. This also determines that no matter how high the “kite” of intelligent weapons and equipment flies, it can only be controlled by humans and autonomous control functions of machines. The autonomous function of machines can only be effective within the scope limited by humans. Humans must have a strong enough kite line and hold it tightly at all times.
Fifth, only humans can crack and control the enemy’s intelligent weapons and equipment. The development of military history has proved that any weapon and equipment has its “Achilles’ heel” and will eventually be defeated. There has never been and will never be perfect and impeccable weapons and equipment in history, and intelligent weapons and equipment are no exception. The magic weapon to defeat the enemy is humans with infinite wisdom. For example, drones seem advanced, but they can be interfered, trapped or controlled by radio waves of a specific frequency. The same is true for other intelligent weapons and equipment, and finding and studying methods, technologies, and equipment to crack, control, and destroy intelligent weapons and equipment is where human wisdom comes into play.
Therefore, “synchronous development of man and machine” should be taken as a basic principle for the development of military intelligence. Intelligence should be applied to both “objects” and “people”. As soldiers in the era of intelligent warfare, they must master the working principles and weak links of intelligent weapons and equipment, be familiar with and master the “thinking mode” and “conventional actions” of intelligent weapons and equipment, as well as the abnormal “abnormal thinking” and abnormal “extraordinary actions” that may appear, and understand their technical and tactical indicators and performance. Especially in the stage of man-machine collaborative operations, soldiers are required not only to be able to coordinate actions with machines, but also to communicate with machines without obstacles in cognitive ability and intelligence. This not only relies on intelligent knowledge reserves, but also relies on the “brain reading” and “brain strengthening” of intelligent equipment. Scientific research shows that the normal human brain usage rate is only 3%-5%, which shows that there is still a huge room for improvement and release of human intelligence. When studying intelligent warfare, we should also study how to improve human intelligence.
In the face of intelligent warfare, we should prepare for the future, establish intelligent troops suitable for intelligent warfare as soon as possible, study the way to defeat the enemy in intelligent warfare, and establish and improve the theory of intelligent warfare; repair, maintain and improve intelligent weapons and equipment; study the methods, techniques and equipment to decipher the control keys of enemy weapons and equipment; study effective means to attack the enemy’s intelligent weapons and equipment, rewrite their combat rules and targets, and make them turn against us in the face of battle, or use high-energy lasers and high-power microwaves to directly destroy the enemy’s communication networks and weapons and equipment, demonstrating the way to win in intelligent warfare.
In short, in intelligent warfare, people are still the main body of war and the decisive factor in the outcome of war. An important task in studying intelligent warfare is to find the correct position of people in intelligent warfare. Otherwise, it is easy to fall into the idealistic quagmire of “seeing things but not people”, “only weapons” and “only technology”.
With the rise of the global Internet and the development of emerging media, the world’s major military powers are now paying great attention to the strategic issue of cognitive space security. The recently published monograph “Brain Control: The Laws of War and National Security Strategy in the Global Media Age” focuses on the future development trend of war and the issue of national cognitive space security in the global media era. It puts forward the concept of “brain control” in cognitive space, which has attracted the attention of the military academic community. On this topic, the reporter interviewed the main author of the book, Professor Zeng Huafeng, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the National University of Defense Technology.
“Subjugating the enemy without fighting” is the highest realm of information warfare
Reporter: The concept of brain control is inseparable from the understanding of cognitive space. What is cognitive space and what is brain control?
Zeng Huafeng: Information warfare is the unity of material and spirit, concept and reality. It is not only the manifestation of the development of material form, but also the inevitable result of the action of spiritual factors. Information warfare has enabled human warfare to truly have three combat spaces for the first time: one is the natural space composed of land, sea, air, and space; the second is the network electromagnetic space based on physical principles, which is essentially a technical space; the third is the cognitive space composed of human spiritual and psychological activities. To win the future information warfare, we must grasp the initiative of the war, obtain the control of the war domain, and dominate the discourse of the war. Seizing the control of the brain in the cognitive space and “defeating the enemy without fighting” is the highest realm of information warfare.
Cognitive space refers to the scope and field of human cognitive activities. It is an invisible space that reflects people’s emotions, will, beliefs and values, and exists in the minds of participants in the struggle. The national cognitive space exists in the subjective world of each individual, and is composed of the superposition of the cognitive spaces of countless individuals in the whole society. National interests exist not only in physical form in natural space and technological space, but also invisibly in cognitive space. “Brain control” is to use the spiritual information carried by propaganda media, national languages, cultural products, etc. as weapons, to infiltrate, influence and even dominate the cognition, emotions and consciousness of the general public and national elites, and ultimately manipulate a country’s values, national spirit, ideology, cultural traditions, historical beliefs, etc., to prompt it to abandon its own theoretical understanding, social system and development path, and achieve the strategic goal of winning without fighting.
Reporter: At present, with the advent of the global media age, especially the development of emerging social media, the political game between major powers continues to intensify, and “cognitive domain symptoms” such as human psychological confusion, moral crisis, and loss of faith continue to emerge. What do you think are the characteristics of cognitive space confrontation?
Zeng Huafeng: I think there are three main characteristics: First, the security boundary of the national cognitive space is ambiguous. The national cognitive space is a boundless, invisible, shadowless, but not negligible space of interests and confrontation. Social public opinion and ideology are the main areas of competition in the cognitive space, and spiritual information is the main weapon. Wherever spiritual information can be spread, it can become a battlefield for cognitive space competition. Second, the information attack and defense of the national cognitive space is manipulable. The reception, processing and feedback of spiritual information are not only closely related to the function of the human brain, but also have distinct national and ethnic characteristics. At the same time, spiritual information is prone to distortion in the process of dissemination and diffusion. In the era of global media, individuals are both recipients and publishers of information. Theoretically, any individual or group can instantly spread the specific information they process and produce in the world and have an impact on specific target objects. Third, the strategic confrontation in the national cognitive space is persistent. The role of spiritual information needs to be carried out step by step, and we cannot expect to produce immediate results. For example, during the Cold War, Western countries led by the United States gradually infiltrated Western values into socialist countries such as the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe through cultural exchanges and other activities, achieving the goal of peaceful evolution. Today, Western hostile forces seek to instill and infiltrate Western “democratic” and “free” ideas and values through various academic exchanges in politics, economy, science, culture, etc., in normal information interaction activities.
The main way the West seizes national cognitive space and competes for “brain control”
Reporter: What are the main ways the West seizes national cognitive space and competes for “brain control”?
Zeng Huafeng: I think there are four main ways. The first is perception manipulation. Perception manipulation is also called consciousness manipulation. It aims to manipulate the behavior of others by influencing their psychology and spirit. It can be directed at individuals, groups, a country, or even the whole world. In his book “War and Anti-War”, Toffler summarized the tools of perception manipulation into six aspects: one is “accusation of atrocities”, including condemnation of real and false atrocities; the second is “exaggerating the interests of a battle or a war”; the third is “demonizing or dehumanizing the enemy”; the fourth is “polarization”, that is, if you don’t support us, you are against us; the fifth is “claiming to obey God’s will”, which has a strong religious color; the sixth is “super propaganda-propaganda that is enough to discredit the propaganda of the other party.”
The second is to cut off historical memory. Human thought and social ideology are always closely linked to historical memory. Whether it is the spiritual world of an individual or the cultural traditions of a country or nation, figuratively speaking, they are all concentrated pasts and treasures worth cherishing. Once the historical memory of an individual or group is cleverly cut off through some means, making them lose their spiritual home, the obstacles to the infiltration of their values and ideologies are removed, opening the door for the invasion of various erroneous and chaotic ideas.
The third is to change the thinking paradigm. A country and a nation have their own specific thinking paradigm, which is the premise for people to understand the world. Especially for the social elite, their thinking paradigm and ideological cognition play a leading role in the thoughts, values and ideological identity of the whole society. However, people’s rational thinking has weaknesses. Through manipulation, “virus programs” can be instilled into it, prompting people to deviate from obvious facts and accept fallacies and sometimes even absurd conclusions. Once this set of practices seizes the social elite group, most people will lose their ability to resist manipulation. At the end of the Cold War, the Western ideological attack on the Soviet Union was to influence the rational thinking of some Soviet economists, let them make a series of public speeches in the Soviet Union that catered to Western intentions, and covertly “persuaded” the Soviet people to abandon their own country’s social system and national culture, and to welcome the so-called “new era” of Western civilization with a “thorough”, “unconditional” and “bold” attitude.
Fourth, deconstruct symbols. Symbols are born in the historical evolution of national culture. Different nations have formed their own specific symbols in the course of their respective cultural development, such as clothing, anniversaries, monuments, rituals, and characters. With the help of empathy, a nation has some great symbols, which gives it an emotional bond that unites the society. It can arouse people’s sense of belonging, so that people can unite for a common dream and create and continue a new civilization. If someone deliberately repaints and attacks the symbols in the history of a country and nation, by reversing right and wrong, publicly mocking and making fun of the glorious achievements, great figures and noble culture in history, the consequences will be very serious, and it will lead to people gradually losing their sense of identity with the country, nation and self.
Providing strong support for maintaining national cognitive space security
Reporter: Faced with fierce competition in the field of national cognitive space security, how should we maintain national cognitive space security?
Zeng Huafeng: We must fully understand and grasp the characteristics and laws of national cognitive space security, firmly occupy the ideological position, and take the initiative in the field of public opinion and ideology.
First, we must strengthen our ideals and beliefs and build a strong spiritual pillar. History and reality have repeatedly proved that the collapse of a regime often begins in the ideological field. Once the ideological defense line is breached, it will be difficult to defend other defense lines. Whether we can hold on to the ideological position and do a good job in ideological work is related to national cohesion and centripetal force. In this regard, we must always hold high the banner of ideals and beliefs and unswervingly adhere to and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Second, we must be vigilant against the emergence of historical nihilism. Historical nihilism originated with the denial of the “Cultural Revolution” and reform and opening up, and then gradually moved towards the denial of the historical view of historical materialism and the denial of the cultural traditions of the Chinese nation. We must be highly vigilant against its harm, and clearly oppose historical nihilism, oppose all pseudo-historical narratives that glorify aggression and oppression and vilify revolution and resistance, face history sincerely, cherish the subjectivity established by the Chinese nation in the long course of the Chinese revolution, and enhance the self-esteem and self-confidence of the Chinese nation, so as to lay a solid cultural foundation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Third, we should seek national cultural identity in the collision between Chinese and Western cultures. While promoting military and economic hegemony, the United States actively promotes cultural hegemony. Under the banner of “economic integration”, it strongly impacts the heterogeneous cultures of various countries and tries to influence other countries’ cultures with American culture. In this context, in the process of cultural exchanges with other countries and nations in the world, we should not only continue to absorb and integrate the essence of the cultures of all nations in the world, but also enhance our national cultural consciousness and confidence, and improve the creativity and vitality of national culture in the process of continuous inheritance.
Fourth, we should actively participate in the global governance of cyberspace security. In the Internet era, the United States, with its high-tech monopoly advantage, not only controls the management of the cyber world, but is also the first country in the world to propose the concept of cyber warfare and apply it in actual combat. From the current perspective, the United States’ control over the Internet will not change in the short term. We should pay close attention to cyberspace security, actively participate in the global governance of cyberspace security, and build a cybersecurity system that conforms to the trend of globalization and meets the requirements of my country’s informatization, so as to provide strong support for maintaining the security of the national cognitive space.
We must promote the information construction of our army with a broader vision. Indulging in reflection on the characteristics, patterns and experiences of the last war is a chronic disease and common disease in human military history. From the time when information warfare was proposed to the present, people have been conducting research on its characteristics, laws and tactics, but have overlooked a problem: that is, with the development of modern science and technology, is the so-called information warfare what people are talking about today? In fact, we should have a broader vision for understanding information warfare, and include physical information, biological information and spiritual information into the framework of information warfare. From the aspects of basic research, applied research, combat theory, technology development, equipment development and organizational leadership, we should build a system of cognitive space attack and defense confrontation. Innovate the ways, methods and means of ideological and political work in the global media era. Cultivate and create a team of high-quality talents who can grasp the frontiers of cognitive science, psychology and military needs, and seize the “brain control” of future information warfare. (
On March 19, Zhang Qiao, CEO of Nanjing Shexing Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., was invited to participate in a special course lecture held by a military academy and gave an online special lecture entitled “Analysis of People and Equipment Supported by Open Source Data”.
In this course, Zhang Qiao combined the multiple products and technologies developed by Shexing Intelligence to give a detailed introduction to the overview of open source data, the current status of artificial intelligence, the problems solved by combining open source data with artificial intelligence, open source data intelligent systems, future application prospects and challenges, and other related topics. Nearly 100 teachers and students from the school participated in the course.
At the beginning of the course, Zhang Qiao used the definition of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) in Title 50 of the United States Code, “War and Defense” as an introduction (definition: for a certain user group, with the purpose of obtaining intelligence, timely collection, analysis and distribution of intelligence from various types of public information), and explained a series of contents on open source data to teachers and students, so that everyone can fully realize the importance of open source data work.
Analysis of typical cases of open source data
With the increase in sources and application types, the amount of open source data has also increased exponentially, making it difficult to fully utilize the huge information value it implies. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in computer vision, image recognition, natural language processing, speech processing, etc. is vividly reflected in typical cases of open source data. In view of the application cases of open source data, Zhang Qiaodi combined the intelligent scientific research capabilities of Shexing to show everyone the Galaxy Search product of open source data, which effectively assisted the analysis of people and equipment supported by open source data.
Zhang Qiao introduced the Galaxy Search Platform in detail from aspects of product architecture, problems solved and product capabilities. Among them, the Orion Star data collection platform is based on distributed data collection technology. It has collected nearly 1.4 billion multi-modal data such as text, pictures, videos, audio and hundreds of billions of sea and air target data from more than 40 countries and regions, covering more than 80 languages such as Chinese, English, Japanese, Arabic, etc. It has the characteristics of comprehensiveness, professionalism, diversity, integrity and scalability, and provides data support for intelligent analysis and application of open source information.
In the process of collecting, extracting, integrating, detecting, identifying and applying open source information, a total of 5 million+ annotated data and about 80 special algorithm models have been accumulated. Based on multimodal knowledge graphs, joint reasoning, computer vision, natural language processing and other technologies, the “intelligent transformation” from data to knowledge is realized. From the three levels of basic knowledge, static knowledge and dynamic knowledge, a knowledge system integrating knowledge generation, updating, accumulation and application is realized, which effectively realizes military scenario application services such as intelligence mining and analysis, supporting strategic situation analysis and judgment, and assisting battlefield command decision-making. Based on the intelligence element ontology model, structured intelligence elements are formed through multi-source language entity recognition of cross-language texts, key frame extraction of video data, target detection and recognition of image data, etc.; the military knowledge graph is used to realize the association, disambiguation and fusion of intelligence elements, complete the completion and verification of intelligence slots, and form more comprehensive, more accurate and more valuable fusion intelligence. Zhang Qiao combined the current military hot spots, took the character tracking case of Ukrainian intelligence personnel as an example, and the intelligence authentication case in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and fully demonstrated the ability of Galaxy Search in open source data extraction, character tracking, event tracking, target monitoring and other aspects.
Challenges of open source data
Finally, Zhang Qiao analyzed that open source data also faces severe challenges. In real life, we will also be confused by various false intelligence, such as artificial fabrication, distortion of facts, synthetic images, deep fakes and other technologies. An event we see may not be completely accurate or true. How to obtain effective and valuable intelligence information from massive amounts of information and effectively identify it requires the empowerment of emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence technology, biotechnology and quantum computing, as well as their applications in foreign policy, economic competitiveness, military and intelligence operations. As a leading company in open source data analysis, Shexing Intelligence will continue to strengthen its exploration and practice in open source data, and contribute more to the cultivation of open source data professionals, independent innovation in military technology and military equipment, etc.
Starsee Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (Starsee) was established in September 2018. It is the first military intelligent enterprise in China. By introducing advanced artificial intelligence technology and combat concepts, the company integrates independently developed military intelligent algorithms and software on different hardware product forms to enhance the efficiency of future intelligent combat. Xinghe Search (https://xinghe.starsee.cn) is a global-oriented intelligent defense information service platform developed by Starsee Intelligent. Based on open source Internet data, it integrates open source information that runs through pan-military, globalization, full-link, multi-modal, and multi-language, and comprehensively uses artificial intelligence and big data technologies to achieve intelligent data collection, deep knowledge mining, multi-modal intelligence analysis, intelligent situational awareness, and decision-making assistance. It provides military enthusiasts, military industry practitioners, current (retired) military personnel, and other user groups on the Internet with real-time push of military dynamics, accurate recognition of target images, a one-point chain network for people/equipment, in-depth analysis and aggregation of military documents, and comprehensive retrieval of military knowledge and other functions and services.
The winning mechanism of war refers to the main factors for winning a war, the way they play a role, and the internal mechanisms, laws and principles of their mutual connection and interaction. With the advent of the intelligent era, the increasingly widespread application of artificial intelligence in the military field has promoted the transformation of the war form to intelligent warfare, and the winning mechanism of war has also changed accordingly.
Having data advantage is the basis for success
In the era of intelligence, the core foundation of many “disruptive technologies” is data, and war will also be “no data, no war”. In intelligent warfare, both sides will fight a “data war” around understanding data, relying on data, competing for data, and using data. Whoever owns the “data right” will have the initiative in the war. Fighting for data, mastering data, analyzing data, and applying data in war are the keys to winning intelligent warfare.
Data resources are combat effectiveness. In intelligent warfare, data comes first before troops move. Whoever controls the data controls the resources to win the war, and controls the initiative and the chips for victory. The ability to understand and use data is an important indicator for measuring combat capability and directly affects the outcome of the war. Obtaining data, analyzing data, and using data are not only the yardsticks for measuring the combat capability of troops, but also the new engine for improving the combat effectiveness of troops. Data is the most direct record of the objective world. It appears in the form of numbers and is raw data, such as the performance parameters of weapons and equipment, the size of troops, the number of guarantees, target parameters, etc. These data can be processed to become the information and intelligence needed for combat. In the information age led by data, data has become the blood of intelligent warfare.
Big data has given rise to a data-based battlefield. To some extent, whoever controls the data resources controls the “winning space” of the war. Data has changed the logical cognition of war. In the past, people inferred the whole from the individual and inferred the inevitability from the small probability events, but now they deduce individual characteristics from the high probability and find the internal laws of specific things from the correlation. Only by understanding the relevant data can we grasp the overall situation, only by gathering similar data can we grasp the trend, and only by integrating all-source data can we understand the connection. All of this is attributed to the control of the data-based battlefield.
Big data changes the way of fighting. As the most important strategic resource, how to distinguish the authenticity and quality of data, how to fight and counter-fight, deceive and counter-deceive, attack and counter-attack around massive data, has become a key issue in winning intelligent wars. When data becomes the focus of war, it will inevitably lead to competition and gaming around data, thereby promoting changes in the style of fighting. At present, the competition for data collection is intensifying, and major countries have launched research on national defense big data projects to provide more intelligence with practical value for military decision-making. The “asymmetry” of data forms the “asymmetry” of algorithms, and then achieves the “asymmetry” of tactics.
Data has given rise to intelligent equipment systems. Data technology has upgraded combat platforms to highly intelligent and autonomous systems. Data has enabled command and control systems, air combat platforms, precision-guided munitions, etc. to complete the transition from informatization to intelligence. For example, modern “swarm technology” is the application of artificial intelligence supported by big data. Data has become a “telescope”, “microscope” and “perspective lens” for analyzing wars. To win intelligent wars, one must have a data mind, data awareness and data thinking.
Mastering algorithm advantages is the key to success
One of the characteristics of intelligent warfare is that all battle plans, campaign plans and war plans need to be generated by computers, and its essence is algorithm-generated tactics. Having an algorithm advantage means having an intelligent advantage, which can achieve a high degree of unity of information advantage, cognitive advantage, decision-making advantage and action advantage.
Algorithm advantage dominates information advantage. Algorithm is a systematic method to describe the strategic mechanism for solving problems, and is the key and prerequisite for improving intelligence advantage. Algorithm technology mainly includes deep learning, supercomputing, brain-like intelligence and other technologies. The use of intelligent sensing and networking technology can widely and quickly deploy various types of intelligent perception nodes, and can implement active collaborative detection for tasks, thereby building a transparent and visible digital combat environment. Judging from the current development trend, the advantage of war algorithms dominates information advantage, which contains great potential to rewrite the rules of the modern war game. This pair of “invisible hands” will shape the new landscape of future intelligent warfare.
Algorithmic advantage dominates cognitive advantage. In intelligent warfare, big data can quickly convert massive amounts of data into useful intelligence after being processed by high-performance and efficient algorithms, thereby gaining cognitive advantage. Algorithms, as the “brain” of artificial intelligence, have become the key to intelligently sensing the battlefield and using it for decision-making, command, and coordination. The party with algorithmic advantage can dispel the “battlefield fog” and “information fog” caused by the failure to process data in a timely manner, making cognition more profound and thus seizing the initiative in the war. In the future, whoever has algorithmic advantage will have stronger cognitive ability, faster learning speed, and better quality results.
Algorithm advantage dominates decision-making advantage. With its high-speed and precise calculation, the algorithm can replace people’s hard thinking and repeated exploration, thereby accelerating knowledge iteration. With the support of massive data and supercomputing capabilities, the judgment and prediction results of artificial intelligence will be more accurate. By constructing combat model rules through algorithms, commanders can be assisted in making rapid decisions in multi-level planning and ad hoc handling of strategies, campaigns, tactics, etc. through actuarial, detailed, deep and expert reasoning. With the development of disruptive technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and quantum computing and their application in the military field, the future combat decision-making cycle will become near real-time. In intelligent warfare, the party that masters super algorithms can quickly propose flexible and diverse combat plans and countermeasures in response to changes in combat opponents, constantly disrupting the opponent’s established intentions and deployments, and thus seize the dominance of the war.
Algorithmic advantage leads to operational advantage. In the era of intelligent warfare, algorithms determine tactics, and algorithmic advantage leads to war advantage. Supported by superior algorithms, the reaction speed of artificial intelligence is thousands of times that of humans. “Algorithmic warfare” foreshadows the transformation of future wars. Whoever can seize the commanding heights of intelligent algorithms can seize the initiative and win before the battle. On the intelligent battlefield, algorithms are far more important than artillery shells. War algorithms have become the key factor in winning intelligent warfare and are the strategic commanding heights that future intelligent armies must seize. Intelligent warfare calculations are ubiquitous. The party that has the algorithmic advantage can quickly and accurately predict the battlefield situation, innovate combat methods, and achieve the advantage of “winning before the battle.”
Multi-domain integration is the key to success
Multi-domain integration is based on the cloud-based combat system. With the support of the cloud-based battlefield situation, various combat personnel, equipment, facilities, and environmental elements have expanded the battlefield space from the traditional three-dimensional space to the polar regions, deep sea, space, and cyberspace, and even to multi-dimensional domains such as cognitive domain and information domain. Multi-domain integration has formed a giant, complex, and adaptive confrontation system. The integration of “cloud gathering” and “network gathering” has become a new mechanism for intelligent combat.
Cross-domain integration and integrated energy release. Under the conditions of intelligent warfare, the emergence of a large number of new long-range combat platforms and intelligent new concept weapons has made the future combat landscape present the characteristics of air-ground-sea-sky integration, global instant strikes, and cross-domain strategic deterrence and control. Supported by the cross-domain, distributed, and networked “cloud killing” collaborative combat system, through the cross-domain aggregation of multiple combat capabilities, cross-domain interoperability of combat command, cross-domain sharing of combat information, cross-domain movement of combat weapons, cross-domain response of combat actions, and cross-domain complementarity of combat functions are achieved. Cross-domain integration is the close coordination of main domain control and cross-domain support to implement cross-domain collaborative support. Integrated energy release is the transition of joint operations from integrated joint operations to cross-domain joint operations, realizing the cross-domain aggregation and overall energy release of multiple combat capabilities.
Human-machine integration, using speed to defeat slowness. If weapons are an extension of the human body, intelligence is an extension of the human brain. In the era of intelligent warfare, there will be a mode of giving human intelligence to machines to implement combat. People will further withdraw from the front-line confrontation and combat, and the combination of people and weapons will appear in a new form. Unmanned combat weapons and human intelligence are deeply integrated into an organic symbiosis, perfectly combining human creativity, thinking and the precision and speed of machines. Therefore, in future intelligent warfare, the mode of engagement will gradually change from the mutual killing of “human-machine integration” to the unmanned system cluster confrontation of “human-machine integration”. Relying on the intelligent combat system, commanders adaptively adjust and select the mode of action according to changes in the battlefield environment. Unmanned combat develops from single-platform remote control combat to multi-platform cluster autonomy, forming a simple command chain of “commander-combat cluster”, highlighting the rapid, flexible and autonomous characteristics of human-machine collaboration.
Brain-intelligence fusion and efficient control. The combat system of intelligent warfare will be characterized by a highly intelligent “human + network + machine”. The intelligent command and control system will operate in a collaborative manner of “human brain + intelligent system”. The intelligent system will assist or even partially replace the role of humans in command and control. The intelligent command and control system will have relatively strong autonomous command and control capabilities, and can relatively independently obtain information, judge situations, make decisions, and deal with situations. Relying on the battlefield situation awareness system, with the help of big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and modeling and simulation technology, it is possible to accurately analyze and judge massive battlefield information, realize the transformation of combat command from “human experience-centered” to “data and model-centered” intelligent decision-making methods, and make combat planning more scientific and efficient. In the future, the super self-evolution and strategic decision-making capabilities of deep neural networks will realize the combat cycle of “human out of the loop”.
Integration of intelligence and mind, attacking the mind and winning the will. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, the boundaries between the biologicalization and humanization of intelligent weapons will be blurred in the future, and the control of people themselves will become the focus. “Attacking the mind and winning the will” is still the highest combat purpose of intelligent warfare. “Cognitive control warfare” based on the control of human brain and consciousness cognition may evolve into an important combat style. With human cognitive thinking as the target, various means are used to stimulate, influence and control the cognitive system to achieve the effect of disrupting the enemy’s command and decision-making system, inducing the enemy’s combat power, and disintegrating the enemy’s morale. For example, based on brain reading and brain control technology, using mental guidance and control means, the strategic intentions, combat intentions, and combat methods of the enemy commander can be grasped in real time, and even directly act on the brain of the enemy personnel, or the consciousness of the party can be “injected” in the form of EEG coding to interfere with or control their consciousness, thinking and psychology, and finally seize the “right to control intelligence” and achieve deep control over combat personnel. With the large-scale application of intelligent combat platforms on the battlefield, information systems assisting humans will gradually transform into intelligent systems partially replacing humans. The focus of the power struggle will shift from “information rights” to “intelligence rights”, and using elite troops to gain control of key domains will become the dominant approach.
