In recent years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology and its widespread application in the military field, the form of war and combat style have been constantly changing. Some foreign academic articles believe that artificial intelligence is reshaping the form of combat forces, enhancing the effectiveness of combat systems, improving the effectiveness of combat command, and improving the quality of combat coordination, promoting profound changes in combat activities.
Reshaping the combat force
These academic articles point out that combat forces are mainly composed of combat personnel, weapons and equipment, and organizational structures, and are undergoing tremendous changes under the influence of artificial intelligence technology.
From the perspective of personnel structure, with the widespread application of artificial intelligence technology and related equipment systems in the military field, the demand for professionals with the ability to develop, manage, use and maintain artificial intelligence technology has increased significantly, and the proportion of technical personnel in combat forces will continue to increase. Frontline combat personnel are no longer just direct operators of weapons, but are gradually transforming into battlefield monitors, system commanders and key decision makers in human-machine collaborative operations, and the requirements for their scientific and technological literacy and information processing capabilities have been greatly improved.
From the perspective of the equipment system, intelligent weapons and equipment such as drones, unmanned combat vehicles, and intelligent missiles will appear in large numbers and become an important part of the equipment system. These equipment are highly accurate and flexible, with stronger autonomous combat capabilities, and can independently complete tasks such as reconnaissance and strikes, greatly changing the traditional equipment structure and combat mode. In addition, traditional weapons and equipment will also accelerate intelligent transformation by adding intelligent sensors, communication modules, and automatic control systems, so as to have the ability to interconnect and cooperate with artificial intelligence systems. For example, old tanks can be upgraded and transformed to realize functions such as automatic driving, automatic aiming, and intelligent ammunition loading, thereby improving overall combat effectiveness.
From the perspective of combat unit formation, unmanned combat systems will gradually develop from auxiliary combat forces to independent combat units and organize them, relying on their unique advantages in high-risk and high-intensity combat environments. Research reports from some think tanks in Western countries believe that drone swarm combat forces and unmanned combat vehicle battalions will become common combat formations, which can complete a variety of tasks such as reconnaissance and surveillance, intelligence analysis, and firepower strikes. In order to give full play to the respective advantages of artificial intelligence and human warriors, human-machine mixed formations will also become the main form of future combat forces. In this formation, human warriors and intelligent weapons and equipment work closely together to complete combat missions.
Enhance combat system effectiveness
Judging from the evolution trend, intelligent technology will integrate unmanned equipment across domains and empower traditional combat platforms, and will become the “enabler” of future system warfare.
At present, many military experts in Western countries believe that artificial intelligence can conduct a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of various elements of the combat system, identify weak links and optimization space in the system, and provide a scientific basis for the construction and adjustment of the combat system. By optimizing the structure and function of the combat system, the overall effectiveness and stability of the combat system can be improved, making it more competitive when facing a changing battlefield environment and a powerful combat system.
During the combat process, artificial intelligence can analyze the combat systems of both sides in real time, predict the opponent’s possible actions and weaknesses, propose targeted system confrontation strategies, and continuously adjust and optimize according to the actual situation in the combat process to achieve efficient operation of one’s own combat system and improve the quality and effectiveness of combat system confrontation.
Western militaries believe that based on the advantages of artificial intelligence empowerment, they can greatly enhance security risk defense capabilities. By automatically predicting, identifying, discovering, and handling complex security risks, they can autonomously protect personnel, equipment, and materials from various attacks, improve all-domain and all-round defense capabilities, and ensure the safety and stability of the combat system.
Improving combat command effectiveness
At present, artificial intelligence has been deeply integrated into all aspects of combat command, affecting the external manifestations and main activities of combat command. Human-machine intelligent fusion control supported by artificial intelligence technology will become the basic form of combat action control.
Some foreign research institutions have found that artificial intelligence systems can quickly analyze the situation based on real-time battlefield situations and a large amount of historical data, generate multiple combat plans, and timely deduce and evaluate plans, adjust and optimize actions, provide commanders with more scientific and reasonable decision-making suggestions, and efficiently guide the execution of plans, so that combat planning can keep up with the rapidly changing battlefield rhythm. Especially when facing rapidly changing battlefield situations, it can help commanders make accurate judgments more quickly.
With the continuous development of artificial intelligence technology, some intelligent combat systems have a certain degree of autonomous decision-making capabilities. In certain situations, such as facing sudden threats or the temporary appearance of fighter jets, combat command systems assisted by artificial intelligence can make decisions and take actions autonomously within the preset rules and authority range, shorten the decision-making chain, and improve the response speed and flexibility of combat. When the combat terminal has stronger intelligent autonomy, it can even realize the self-generation, self-evaluation, and self-adjustment of combat plans, breaking through the limitations of human reaction capabilities and forming a more adaptive combat command.
Many experiments have proved that based on the accumulation of massive combat data and the enhancement of big data analysis technology, artificial intelligence technology can accurately calculate the entire process of combat planning under simulation conditions, helping commanders to accurately analyze the situation in advance, comprehensively judge trends, and reasonably plan trends. Then, through combat simulation, simulation and deduction, etc., it can virtually carry out activities such as calculation of combat force requirements and optimization of tactics and actions. In the planning process, it can scientifically and dynamically adjust combat plan strategies to form the best option, provide more reliable reference basis for combat command, and improve the accuracy of command and control.
Improve the quality of combat coordination
As artificial intelligence technology is deeply integrated into the combat system, the responsiveness of various combat elements on the battlefield continues to improve, the response time is gradually shortened, the adaptability level is gradually enhanced, and the quality of combat coordination is continuously improved.
Some military experts in Western countries believe that the battlefield of the future will be cross-domain, networked, and nonlinear. Artificial intelligence can break the boundaries between various combat domains and combat elements through efficient algorithms, making the coordination between different combat forces closer and more efficient. Based on artificial intelligence technology, autonomous coordination and cooperation between manned and unmanned combat forces can be achieved, so that manned and unmanned combat forces can complement each other and complement each other, significantly improving combat effectiveness. Moreover, the application of unmanned combat systems is becoming more and more extensive. Artificial intelligence technology can perform cluster control and collaborative management of a large number of unmanned combat platforms, achieve efficient coordination and task allocation between them, and improve the overall effectiveness and safety of unmanned combat.
China Military Network Ministry of National Defense Network
The satellite navigation system, also known as the global satellite navigation system, is an air-based radio navigation and positioning system that can provide users with all-weather three-dimensional coordinates, speed and time information at any location on the earth’s surface or in near-Earth space.
The satellite navigation system is an important space infrastructure for mankind. It is an indispensable tool for a country’s national security and economic and social development. It has a profound impact on the form of war, combat style, and people’s production and lifestyle.
At present, there are four major global satellite navigation systems in the world, namely, the United States’ GPS, Russia’s GLONASS, Europe’s Galileo and China’s Beidou. Global competition in satellite navigation technology is becoming increasingly fierce.
Standing at a new starting point of profound changes in the world’s military, and looking at the future battlefield with a high degree of integration of informatization and intelligence, intelligent navigation systems will come into being and play an important role.
Satellite navigation becomes a “standard” element of the intelligent battlefield
The future intelligent battlefield will present the characteristics of high-tech warfare, which will comprehensively use intelligent weapons and means under information conditions, realize efficient command and control, and implement precise and flexible strikes. Satellite navigation technology can provide high-precision, all-weather, large-scale and multi-purpose positioning, navigation and timing services for various objects on land, sea, air and space.
Provide a unified time and space benchmark for systematic operations. For the intelligent battlefield, there are many linked elements and the situation changes rapidly, which requires accurate positioning of combat units to achieve intelligence reconnaissance, command and control, battlefield maneuvers, offensive and defensive operations, and support and guarantee under a unified time and space benchmark, ensuring that all elements of the entire battlefield form a coordinated organic whole.
The basic function of satellite navigation is to provide accurate time and space references for various combat elements. Without an accurate and unified time and space reference, the precise command of joint operations may be out of balance, combat operations may be out of control, and intelligence fusion and target identification cannot be achieved. If the time error is one hundredth of a second, a target locked by more than a dozen radars will become more than a dozen targets, and accurate defense and counterattack will not be possible.
Under a unified standard time and geographic coordinate system, satellite navigation provides precision guidance for various weapon platforms, fine frequency calibration for electronic warfare weapons, and all-weather positioning and navigation for individual combatants, significantly improving the coordination and strike effectiveness of joint firepower strikes.
Provide synchronous situation cognition for combat command and control. Accurately grasping the battlefield situation is the premise and basis for commanders to flexibly and accurately implement command and control. The satellite navigation system provides strong support for battlefield situation awareness.
Since the 1990s, the U.S. military has developed a “Blue Force Tracking” system based on GPS and satellite communications to build a precise command and control system. The “Blue Force Tracking” system has effectively supported the U.S. military in forming a networked information advantage on the ground battlefield and effectively solved the problem of “where are we, our friends, and our enemies?”
Relying on the two major services of navigation positioning and position reporting of the global satellite network, the military has realized battlefield situation monitoring and sharing, which has become an important means for the military to “know itself”. At the same time, it has optimized the combat operation process, realized the issuance of combat orders at the minute level, and accelerated the development of the military’s command and control mode towards “integration” and “flattening”.
Providing a tool to enhance the precision strike of weapons and ammunition. In the intelligent battlefield, precision-guided weapons have become the “trump card” that determines victory or defeat. Using the satellite navigation system, the flight process of the missile can be corrected throughout to ensure the accuracy of the hit. It can be said that the satellite navigation system is a tool to enhance the precision strike of weapon platforms.
In recent local wars, the proportion of GPS precision-guided weapons of the US military has continued to rise: 7.6% in the Gulf War in 1991, 35% in the Kosovo War in 1999, 60% in the Afghanistan War in 2001, 68.3% in the Iraq War in 2003, and 100% in the Syrian War in 2018.
Intelligent battlefield requires satellite navigation to have new “responsibilities”
As the core and cornerstone of the precise and unified space-time system, the modern satellite navigation system must take on new responsibilities in response to the development needs of future intelligent battlefields.
In the era of intelligence, new combat elements represented by “AI, cloud, network, group, and terminal” will reconstruct the battlefield ecology and completely change the winning mechanism of war. Satellite navigation services need to adapt to the characteristics of the intelligent battlefield with wider dimensions, higher precision, and stronger system.
Navigation positioning and timing have a wider range and higher accuracy. The current satellite navigation system has achieved coverage of the earth’s surface. However, on the intelligent battlefield, it needs to extend to deep space and under the sea. The combat time domain and air domain are wider, requiring the construction of a comprehensive service system covering land, sea, air and space, with unified standards, high efficiency and intelligence, to form time and space information coverage at all times and everywhere, and to achieve more powerful, safer and more reliable time and space service capabilities.
For example, in the intelligent battlefield, unmanned combat has become the basic form. Autonomous driving of unmanned vehicles, precision approach of drones, and measurement of intelligent missile positions all urgently need to be improved by an order of magnitude on the basis of existing navigation accuracy to ensure higher navigation integrity, faster first positioning time, and stronger cross-domain capabilities of land, sea, air, and space.
The military navigation confrontation system is more complete and more powerful. The means of navigation confrontation in the information age is a simple confrontation form based on signal energy enhancement and interference attack. Navigation in the intelligent era is intertwined with detection, perception, communication, command, and decision-making. It requires a navigation capability level with higher power and faster effectiveness in any region of the world, the ability to intelligently adjust navigation signals, and the development of multiple navigation means such as quantum navigation, pulsar navigation, and deep-sea navigation. It is necessary to integrate navigation methods with different principles, methods, and carriers to achieve navigation confrontation capabilities at the system level and system level.
The bandwidth of navigation information interaction is larger and the access is wider. In the intelligent era, the role of cyberspace in the combat system is gradually increasing, and it is integrated with the navigation space-time system. The navigation information and cyberspace system that provide space-time position will connect the scattered combat forces and combat elements into a whole, forming a networked and systematic combat capability. This requires support for ubiquitous perception, left-right collaboration, and reliable and reconfigurable navigation capabilities, support for highly reliable, highly anti-interference, and readily accessible signaling channels, and timely acquisition of required navigation auxiliary information such as geography, maps, and images. On this basis, the real integration of communication and navigation is realized, achieving the effect of “one domain combat, multi-domain support”.
Adapting to the needs of military intelligence development and promoting the construction of intelligent navigation system
Judging from the development trend of the world’s military powers, facing the future intelligent battlefield, intelligent navigation systems are gradually building a space-time reference network and navigation information service network that integrates the earth and the sky, with space-based, systematized, on-demand and cloud-based as the main characteristics, forming a comprehensive navigation, positioning and timing system with unified reference, seamless coverage, security and reliability, high efficiency and convenience, and strong practicality.
The core of the transformation from a basic navigation system to an intelligent navigation system is to upgrade from “positioning navigation service” to “intelligent navigation service”, and the focus is on achieving the following four aspects of transformation:
The space-time benchmark is shifting from relying on ground systems to autonomous space-time benchmark maintenance. The space-time benchmark maintenance equipment of the ground system will gradually be transferred to the satellite, and the satellite will be equipped with higher-precision optical clocks and astronomical measurement equipment to form a more stable and reliable space-based space benchmark through high-precision anchoring and laser intersatellite measurement. The use of intelligent navigation systems can make ordinary navigation positioning accuracy reach sub-meter level, the timing accuracy will be increased by about 5 times, and the precision positioning service can achieve fast convergence of centimeter-level accuracy. Intelligent navigation can fully support the cross-domain integration of combat platforms, the doubling of the effectiveness of distributed lethal weapons, and the precise navigation of the entire process of air-space integrated drones from cruising to precision approach.
The satellite power confrontation mode is transformed into a navigation system confrontation. In terms of navigation confrontation services, the traditional satellite power confrontation mode will no longer meet the needs of the intelligent battlefield. Navigation system confrontation is the only way for the development of intelligent equipment in order to enhance the ability of troops to quickly adapt to the battlefield environment. Specifically, it includes precise release of navigation performance, heterogeneous backup of constellations, and global hotspot mobility. The main features are intelligent navigation signals and flexible theater reinforcements. Based on controllable point beam energy enhancement technology, energy delivery in hotspot areas, enhanced area expansion, deception or blocking interference, and digital transmission service guarantee are realized. In a high-interference and blocking environment, ensure service continuity and accuracy, and gradually release strength as the war progresses.
The simple integration of communication and navigation will be transformed into integrated on-demand services. It will provide deeper and broader navigation information services, deeply integrate into the military information network, and provide high, medium and low-speed classified and hierarchical navigation information services to users on land, sea, air and space. Reuse the favorable conditions of global multiple continuous coverage of navigation satellites to meet users’ communication and navigation needs in a global range and in any posture, and realize high reliability and strong interference-resistant search and rescue, position reporting, and signaling transmission. The navigation satellite space-based network interacts with the ground network information to build inter-satellite and satellite-to-ground high-speed backbone networks. Through miniaturized laser terminals and enhanced space routers, a stable and reliable space network is formed, equipped with a complete and standardized protocol system to support the autonomous and intelligent operation of hybrid constellation networks.
The computing resources of payload modules are separated and transformed into cloud computing resources of constellation. It will provide more intelligent space-based cloud computing services and reliable space-based intelligent support for intelligent weapon platforms. The main features are virtualization of onboard hardware resources and balancing of task loads. Through the configuration of public onboard computing modules, large-capacity storage units, and high-speed bus networks on navigation satellites, a ubiquitous space network shared resource pool is formed. The powerful data processing capability can support the autonomous establishment and maintenance of space-based space-time benchmarks, intelligent maintenance of navigation signal quality, and autonomous management of space networks. At the same time, it can provide computing, push, and storage services for complex information such as spatial position for various high-end users in the sky, air, land, and sea.
(The author is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering)
Above: Schematic diagram of satellite navigation system supporting operations.
Friday, November 12, 2021 // China Military Network Ministry of National Defense Network
Source: China Military Network-People’s Liberation Army Daily Author: Yang Lianzhen Editor-in-charge: Yang Fanfan
2022-04-22 06:42
Combat management is the foundation for winning modern wars and the core of the modern combat system. It is the planning, organization, coordination and control of personnel, equipment, information, resources, time and space and other elements during the combat process.
Combat management system refers to the command information system used to support combat management activities, including intelligence collection, information transmission, target identification, threat assessment, weapon allocation, mission planning, etc. It has gradually developed with the evolution of war and technological progress.
Combat Management System: The Core of Modern Combat System
Schematic diagram of the combat management system
Past and present life
Implementing timely and accurate command and control of combat operations and making timely and decisive combat decisions are the goals and dreams that commanders have always pursued in different war periods. Before the emergence of scientific management, there was no concept of combat management in war, and naturally there was no combat management system. However, simple combat management activities and systems have always been associated with war and developed in an integrated manner.
The core of combat management is to ensure that commanders and troops can exchange information and instructions smoothly. In the ancient combat command system, gongs, drums, and flags were called the “three officials”. “When words cannot be heard, gongs and drums are used; when sight cannot be seen, flags are used.” Sight and hearing are the primitive means of command and control.
After the invention of the telegraph, telephone, and radio, long-distance and rapid transmission of combat orders and combat information became a reality, and the scope of combat management shifted from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. The war decision-making of “planning and winning thousands of miles away” is no longer a myth. Of course, traditional battlefield management methods are not completely ineffective. For example, in the Korean War, due to limited communication conditions, our army still used bugles to transmit combat orders to the company and below, and there were more than 20 types of bugle calls related to combat. “The sound of bugles from all sides rose up,” and the bugles on the Korean battlefield once frightened the US military. Ridgway wrote in his memoirs: “As soon as it sounded, the Chinese Communist Army would rush towards the coalition forces as if it were under a spell. At this time, the coalition forces were always beaten back like a tide.”
At the beginning of the 20th century, the concept of scientific management gradually gained popularity, and the military quickly applied it to combat. The term “combat management” first appeared in the US Air Force, where combat managers provided long-range target indication and voice guidance to fighters based on radar detection. The core combat organization is called the BM/C3 system, namely Battle Management and Command, Control, and Communication. In 1946, the first electronic computer “ENIAC” was successfully developed, and the military began to use computers to store and process various data related to combat. In 1958, the US military built the world’s first semi-automated combat management system-the “Seqi” air defense command and control system, which used computers to realize the automation of part of the information collection, processing, transmission and command decision-making process for the first time. In the same year, the Soviet Army built the “Sky No. 1” semi-automated air defense command and control system. Combat management systems began to appear on the war stage, and human-machine collaborative decision-making gradually became the main form of combat decision-making for commanders. During the “Rolling Thunder” campaign of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military commanded more than 5,000 aircraft to dispatch 1.29 million sorties and dropped 7.75 million tons of bombs, which would have been impossible to achieve by manual command alone.
The combat management system has gone through weapon-centered, platform-centered, network-centered, and system-centered construction stages, and has gradually been able to receive and process information from sensors and other sources in multiple domains, perceive and generate combat situation maps in real time, automatically implement command and control of troops and equipment, and intelligently assist commanders in making decisions, involving the army, navy, air force and other military services.
For example, the Israeli Army’s “Ruler” combat management system uses a single-soldier digital device to connect to a channel state information device to provide real-time situational awareness and command and control information for troops performing tactical operations and fire support. The U.S. Navy’s “Aegis” combat system uses a multi-task signal processor to integrate air defense and anti-missile capabilities, and realizes the integration of shipborne phased array radars, command decisions, and weapon control. The NATO Air Force’s ACCSLOC1 system, based on network distributed deployment, integrates 40 types of radars and more than 3,000 physical interfaces, and undertakes air operations such as mission planning, combat command, and combat supervision. From the launch of the first Gulf War to the Libyan War, the time from sensor information acquisition to firing by the U.S. military has been shortened from 24 hours to 2.5 minutes.
Features
The combat management system is a rapidly developing and constantly improving distributed operating system. It mainly collects and processes sensor data, facilitates the transmission and integration of various types of information, conducts situation identification and prediction, generates combat plans, completes action evaluation and selection, and issues combat orders to weapon platforms and shooters. Its essence is to achieve an efficient combat “observation-judgment-decision-action” cycle (OODA loop).
The combat management system widely uses situation assessment and prediction, combat space-time analysis, online real-time planning, combat resource management and control, and combat management engine technologies, and adopts a “cloud + network + terminal” technical architecture based on information technology.
For example, the U.S. military took the lead in using information technology to build a C4ISR system that integrates command, control, computers, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, laying the foundation for the combat management system. In the Afghanistan War, the C4ISR system achieved near-real-time transmission of combat information to combat platforms for the first time. With the continuous maturity of sensors, networks and artificial intelligence, technologies such as intelligent situation understanding and prediction, intelligent information push, intelligent task planning, intelligent collaborative control, intelligent rapid reconstruction and intelligent parallel command and control are having an increasingly significant impact on combat management systems.
Combat management systems usually support functions such as situational awareness, mission planning, engagement management, communications, modeling, simulation and analysis, and test training. For example, a missile defense combat management system mainly includes command and control, engagement management, and communications. The command and control function enables pre-battle combat planning and battlefield situation awareness; the engagement management function enables auxiliary combat decision-making, allocation of anti-missile weapons, and completion of strike missions; and the communication function enables the transmission and sharing of intelligence and data among the anti-missile units in the system.
The combat management system is an open and complex system. The structure determines the function. Different system structures determine the functional expansion of different systems: the ship’s self-defense combat management system enables the ship to have a strong self-defense capability through automated weapon control regulations, collaborative engagement management systems and tactical data links; the electromagnetic combat management system improves the planning, sharing and mobility of the electromagnetic spectrum by integrating and displaying battlefield electromagnetic spectrum data; the individual combat system enhances the soldier’s mobility, support, lethality and survivability by integrating individual protection, individual combat weapons and individual communication equipment.
Combat management systems generally have the characteristics of integration, automation, optimization, and real-time. The combat mode of modern warfare is complex and the battlefield scale is expanding. The requirements for force control, resource integration, and task scheduling have increased, and system integration must be achieved. The French Army’s “Scorpion” system fully integrates tanks, armored vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles, drones, and attack helicopters into the same combat group, and links all platforms and combat units in the task group.
With the increase of combat elements in modern warfare and the expansion of battlefield perception space, the command automation system that relies heavily on people can no longer fully adapt, and the system must be automated. All operating functions of Pakistan’s combat management artillery control system are fully automated, “providing an automated solution for preparing, coordinating, transmitting, executing and modifying fire support plans and firing plans.”
The pace of modern warfare is accelerating and battlefield data is massive. It is necessary to quickly grasp the situation and make decisions efficiently, and it is necessary to achieve system optimization decision-making. Military powers are combining artificial intelligence, cloud computing, the Internet of Things and big data technologies to facilitate faster decision-making in multi-domain operations.
Future Development
Traditional combat management systems place more emphasis on pre-established engagement sequences and combat rules. However, future wars will emphasize the confrontation between systems, and it is impossible to exhaust all situations in advance. The battlefield information that needs to be mastered is also becoming more complex and massive. For this reason, the armies of various countries have begun to abandon the traditional method of developing combat management systems for each combat domain separately, and are network-centric and supported by artificial intelligence, trying to help commanders make combat decisions more quickly and realize real-time connection between sensors in each combat domain and any shooter.
The combat management system will promote the implementation of combat concepts. The “Advanced Combat Management System” developed by the US Air Force plans to connect all military services and their weapon platforms in real time in a military Internet of Things. Its core is to seamlessly link various intelligence reconnaissance platforms, command and control platforms, strike platforms and combat management platforms with various cross-domain capabilities, convert intelligence and target indication data into timely and usable information, shorten the “discovery-positioning-tracking-targeting-strike-assessment” cycle, and execute combat operations at a speed that opponents cannot keep up. The Russian military proposed the “military unified information space” theory and organized the development of the “automatic control system” for integrated joint operations of land, sea and air networks. By establishing a network-centric command model, it attempts to integrate the command, communication, reconnaissance, firepower, and support of the entire army, realize cross-domain operations in the true sense, and improve battlefield situation awareness and combat command efficiency.
The combat management system will rely on artificial intelligence technology. The application of artificial intelligence will not only multiply the capabilities of weapon systems, but will also fundamentally change the implementation of the OODA loop. In future combat management systems, artificial intelligence technology will become the core support and driving engine, and the key factor is the quality of the algorithm. The system will have built-in upgradeable artificial intelligence, and people will be in a supervisory or collaborative state to minimize manual input, spontaneously identify and classify threat targets in the combat environment, autonomously evaluate and weigh, and automatically allocate weapons, thereby providing adaptive combat advantages and decision-making options.
For example, the “Intelligent Autonomous Systems Strategy” released by the US Navy in July 2021 aims to accelerate the development and deployment of intelligent platforms through a highly distributed command and control architecture, integrate unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving technologies, and realize future combat decisions facilitated by intelligent autonomous systems. The Russian military has more than 150 artificial intelligence projects under development, one of the focuses of which is to introduce artificial intelligence into command and control systems, adapt intelligent software to different weapon platforms, achieve the unification of physical and cognitive domains, and double combat effectiveness through intelligent empowerment.
The combat management system will achieve a breakthrough in cross-domain capabilities. The military’s combat management capabilities are shifting towards full-domain coordination, including land, sea, air, space, electricity, network, cognitive domain, and social domain. To adapt to the full-domain environment, the combat management system needs to have the following functions: a resilient and redundant communication system, flexible and secure data operation; artificial intelligence and machine learning directly extract and process data from sensors, and conduct decentralized integration and sharing; segmented access based on confidentiality levels to meet perception, understanding, and action needs. On this basis, it is also necessary to provide troops with reconnaissance and surveillance, tactical communications, data processing, network command and control, and other capabilities.
The future combat management system will focus on security processing, connectivity, data management, application, sensor integration and effect integration, optimize data sharing, collaborative operations and command and control in the entire combat domain, and support decision-making advantages from the tactical level to the strategic level. Its purpose is only one: to give commanders the ability to surpass their opponents.
(The author is the deputy director and professor of the Training Management Department of the Armed Police Command Academy)
China Military Network Ministry of National Defense NetworkThursday, November 14, 2024
Intelligent warfare is the latest form of warfare development. Under intelligent warfare conditions, the battle rhythm changes rapidly, humans and machines are deeply integrated, and complex elements are interconnected, presenting new characteristics on the battlefield.
The combat tempo changes rapidly. The combat tempo refers to the phenomenon that in the course of combat, different participating forces, under different combat missions, actions, and spaces, synchronously complete their respective established tasks at specified time nodes according to the combat phase division. In essence, the combat tempo is the effect of the confrontational interaction between the military systems of all parties in a common external environment. It is a regular phenomenon that appears periodically or non-periodically. It is objective due to the interaction, and uncertain due to the active role played by the opposing parties based on their respective perspectives. In war, the combat tempo represents not only the speed of time and speed, but also the embodiment of the comprehensive effect of multiple factors such as time, space, purpose, goal, and opponent. With the continuous expansion of the battlefield and the improvement of battlefield cognitive decision-making capabilities, the future intelligent battlefield may gradually change from the simple “quick kill” type of simple use of the one-dimensionality of time to a comprehensive game and mixed confrontation in multiple dimensional fields such as politics, economy, diplomacy and multiple time and space cycles. Combat is a game between the enemy and us, and the quality of our combat rhythm depends largely on the opponent as a reference system. The combat rhythm should always focus on the opponent, and by changing the enemy and our power comparison in various forms in various dimensions, we can gain an “asymmetric” advantage, so that the battlefield situation can continue to develop in a direction that is beneficial to us in a variety of states between the active “using our own capabilities to control the enemy’s inability” and “suppressing the enemy’s capabilities when we are unable to do so.”
Humans and machines achieve deep integration. In a broad sense, human-machine integration refers to the state and process in which all humans and machines work closely together based on their respective characteristics and advantages. With the emergence of artificial intelligence technology, especially multimodal large models represented by ChatGPT, the foundation has been laid for the knowledge-level interaction between humans and machines, which has brought new opportunities for combat planning and combat command invisibly. As intelligent creatures, humans have creativity and thoughtfulness that other objects cannot match. Compared with humans, machines have obvious advantages in storage, computing and other capabilities, and have the characteristics of fast response speed and strong environmental adaptability. Under current technical conditions, the dominance of humans in human-machine fusion intelligence determines the basic mode of human-machine fusion operations. Machines are only tools and means of implementation for operations. To a certain extent, they become the main body of operations together with operators. The interactive output is also limited to the predictable changes defined by several major variables, and is closely related to the professional ability and experience of the operators themselves. As technology continues to improve, the positioning of people may gradually shift to macro-control, focusing on controlling strategic key contents and nodes such as the timing of launching a war, the scale level, the style intensity, the process development, and the ending time. The combination of human and machine does not mean a hard coupling between the two in terms of spatial position and physics, but through the mechanism and engineering of business processes and operating procedures, they play to their respective strengths and achieve dynamic adaptive operation.
Complex elements are interconnected. Modern warfare is a complex giant system, especially in the current era of global, cross-domain, and distributed operations. Focusing on the construction of the “kill network” and element-level coordination, the widely distributed combat force entities, combat platforms, sensors, weapons, etc. are further decoupled, and the combat system is gradually developing towards “decentralization”. Focusing on the combat purpose and combat objectives, in the combat system, various functional combat elements that are three-dimensionally networked are quickly reorganized and aggregated in a self-organizing and self-adaptive manner to dynamically form a closed kill chain. It is difficult to discover, identify, and calibrate the landmark nodes of the opponent’s system one by one in the various links of “detection, control, attack, and evaluation” as before, and then achieve system destruction. This “black box” state in the organization and operation of forces makes the logical causal relationship of the combat behaviors of all parties more “inexplicable” and the “incomprehensible war” effect more prominent. War is largely a confrontation of human thinking, and thanks to the help of intelligent decision-making systems, the uncertainty of combat intentions in future wars will be further increased in the fierce confrontation of broader cognitive and information domains. From the initial combat purpose to the final combat means, combat methods, and force application, “misalignment” may occur. Therefore, future wars will place more emphasis on finding a balance in active changes at the battle tactical level, which puts higher demands on better realizing “you fight yours, I fight mine” and exerting one’s own advantages.
The combat window refers to the time and space range that is chosen to stimulate the effectiveness of the system’s combat cycle and is conducive to the joint combat force’s implementation of cross-domain coordinated operations. The concept of combat window comes from fighter jets. It is an innovative development of the theory of joint combat command under the new situation. It will be more widely used than fighter jets in combat command activities. Whether the selection of fighter jets in the confrontation of the joint combat force system can be regarded as a form of “combat window” directly affects the commander’s vision. In the complex and changeable information battlefield environment, the combat window has gradually become a new basis for the joint combat force to implement cross-domain coordinated operations, which is of great significance for seizing the initiative on the battlefield and shaping a favorable situation.
Constructing a combat window to highlight the comprehensiveness of cross-domain collaborative combat preparations
The theater joint command should closely follow the combat missions, opponents, and environment, firmly grasp the strategic and campaign initiative, strengthen the pre-positioning of joint combat resources, actively optimize the battlefield environment, and create conditions for establishing combat windows.
Carry out careful and continuous joint reconnaissance around the operational window. The time and space scope of the operational window includes the time interval and the strike area for attacking enemy targets. Among them, the strike area is generally centered on the strike target, which refers to a relatively closed space that can regulate the system combat forces to maintain comprehensive control over the local battlefield and is suitable for attacking enemy node targets. In order to ensure the smooth implementation of operations in the operational window area, its periphery can be divided into warning patrol areas, interception and annihilation areas, and defensive combat areas to provide support and guarantee for it. The joint command agency should focus on the reporting needs of priority intelligence and warning information in the operational window, and comprehensively use the reconnaissance and early warning forces and means of various services to implement careful, continuous and focused joint reconnaissance to obtain intelligence and warning information in the operational window area and its peripheral areas. If necessary, strategic reconnaissance and early warning forces can be coordinated to provide intelligence support, eliminate reconnaissance and early warning blind spots in the time and space of the operational window, and ensure that the flow of intelligence and warning information from acquisition to use is efficient and stable.
Predict the combat window and timely adjust the cycle plan of the combat readiness training of the task force. The scale and intensity of the high alert state maintained by the task forces of various services and arms greatly restricts the time and space scope of the combat window. Periodically maintaining a high state of alert requires the task forces of various services and arms to manage and operate in accordance with the state of war, which is an important indicator of the combat effectiveness of the task force. At present, the task force should carry out daily management and training in accordance with the three states of combat readiness, training, and preparation. The purpose is to ensure that a considerable number of combat-capable forces can carry out combat window tasks at any time and continuously improve their actual combat level. Non-combat-capable forces should coordinate resources and concentrate on training to generate system combat capabilities. The preparation period is in the interval between combat readiness training. The combat personnel should be flexibly organized to rest, repair equipment and conduct necessary training to create conditions for transitioning to the training cycle or combat readiness cycle. By predicting the combat window, the theater joint command timely adjusts the cycle plan of combat readiness training for large-scale task forces, so that they are rhythmically and regularly in a high state of alert, providing a force basis for implementing window operations.
Focus on the operational window and roll out the linkage operation of cross-domain collaborative combat plans. Since the operational window is often fleeting, the completeness of the cross-domain collaborative combat plans of various services and arms formulated around the operational window may be greatly reduced. Therefore, the theater joint command should gather the collective wisdom of commanders and their command organs, rely on the command information system, and roll out the formulation of cross-domain collaborative combat plans through systematic, procedural, and professional fast command linkage operations. Command linkage operations involve linkage operations of superior and subordinate command agencies, linkage operations of the entire process of reconnaissance, control, attack, protection, and evaluation, and human-machine interaction linkage operations. The implementation of command linkage operations should unify operational intentions, focus on operational windows, use the command operation platform for situation sharing, carry out parallel operations in a coordinated manner, conduct periodic operational planning, conduct situation analysis at any time, follow up on operational concepts, enhance the credibility of simulation and evaluation, and simultaneously formulate and improve cross-domain collaborative combat plans. The implementation of linkage operations helps to shorten the formulation time of cross-domain collaborative combat plans, improve the feasibility of plans, and seize the opportunity of operational windows as soon as possible.
Applying combat windows to highlight the effectiveness of cross-domain collaborative combat system confrontation
The theater joint command should make decisive decisions to launch operations based on careful planning and comprehensive preparation in response to different combat objectives and tasks, different attributes of combat opponents, and different combat types and styles, and quickly seize the initiative on the battlefield in the combat window.
Superimpose the effectiveness of the combat system. The task forces of various services and arms work closely together within the time and space of the combat window, work together as a whole, and focus on combat tasks to form a system combat effect. At present, with the rapid development of military science and technology and the continuous adjustment and optimization of new combat forces, precision, automation, intelligence, and unmanned weapons and equipment are being used more and more widely. Within a specific combat window, almost every service and arms has more or less the means to accurately strike enemy targets in multiple domains over long distances. Even land-based task forces have the ability to accurately strike enemy targets at long distances and the ability to project troops near the coast, which enables the task forces of various services and arms to carry out compound strikes within the combat window, becoming the preferred method for joint operations to strike enemy targets. Compared with a single service and arms, compound strikes of multiple services and arms will produce more powerful, more accurate, more stable, and faster compound strike effectiveness. The compound strike effectiveness of the task forces of various services and arms focuses on combat targets within the combat window, which will cause the value of cross-domain collaborative combat effectiveness to increase sharply, and the superimposed effect will be more obvious.
Converge combat support resources. Combat support resources are material factors that affect the selection and application of combat windows, involving many resources such as reconnaissance and intelligence support, information support, and rear-end support. Implementing converged support and support for the theater in wartime is the key to applying the combat window. The combat support of friendly theaters will enable the task force to maintain a high level of combat readiness, and commanders will have more combat options; the aerospace information support and network combat support provided by the strategic support force will be an important support in the field of joint reconnaissance and intelligence, and information operations; and the joint logistics support force is the main force for implementing joint logistics support and strategic and campaign support, and the volatility of the combat capability of the theater task force is largely restricted by this. In this regard, by clarifying the mission and tasks, command authority, institutional mechanisms, and laws and regulations of the combat support force, we will actively gather combat support resources around the combat window, implement integrated, comprehensive and efficient support, and greatly improve the system effectiveness of cross-domain collaborative operations.
Regulate the operational fluctuation cycle. The joint command command command of the task forces of various services and arms to carry out strike operations against enemy targets. Before the operation, it is necessary to convert the combat readiness level, conduct coordinated exercises, and deploy to the standby area. Even if the task force is faster in preparation for strikes, more skilled in strike methods, and more optimized in strike processes, it needs to be completed within the corresponding time period. At the same time, commanders and combatants will be affected by combat fatigue, resulting in a significant reduction in command decision-making efficiency and strike effectiveness, which greatly restricts the extension of combat duration and makes the fluctuation cycle of the combat capability of the task force more obvious. After the strike operation, the replenishment and rest of combat personnel, the maintenance and repair of weapons and equipment, and the summary and review of combat experience and lessons all require an adjustment cycle. Commanders need to timely regulate the fluctuation cycle of the task force’s strike capability according to the different combat methods and weapon and equipment damage mechanisms of various services and arms, clarify the combat threshold of the task force, and minimize the interference of combat fluctuations as much as possible, thereby greatly improving the cross-domain collaborative combat capability.
Maintain the operational window and highlight the stability of battlefield control in cross-domain collaborative operations
The theater joint command should strictly control the scale and intensity of window operations, strengthen joint management and control, strictly control combat costs, improve combat effectiveness, actively create a favorable battlefield situation, avoid combat passivity, and prevent window operations from expanding into full-scale operations.
Strengthen battlefield linkage control. Battlefield control by various services plays an important role in shaping a stable combat situation, strengthening multi-domain space control, and maintaining combat windows. Strengthen the control of cross-domain collaborative combat battlefield space, including battlefield spaces such as land, sea, air, space, and network, as well as electromagnetic spectrum and time-space reference battlefield space. Among them, the battlefield control area is mainly divided into combat window areas, strategic support areas, alert isolation areas, frontier warning areas, and friendly support areas in various fields. Under the unified command and control of commanders and command agencies, the task forces of various services and arms clarify the primary and secondary relationships of cross-domain collaborative control, clarify control rules, mechanisms and disciplines, adopt a variety of control methods, and comprehensively use command information systems and other advanced technical means to vigorously strengthen the timeliness and accuracy of battlefield linkage control.
Comprehensively evaluate the combat effectiveness. The command organization should closely follow the formulation process of the cross-domain collaborative combat plan of the combat window, closely follow the collaborative control instructions, closely follow the collaborative actions of the task force, and closely follow the actual collaborative support, and implement rapid, efficient, and continuous performance and effectiveness evaluation during the window operation. Focusing on the achievement of combat objectives, adapting to the characteristics of window operations with full-domain linkage, comprehensively using a variety of combat evaluation tools and means, integrating system evaluation algorithms, data and capabilities, optimizing the evaluation system dominated by combat effectiveness, process management, information support, and human-in-the-loop, forming an evaluation model that matches combat orders, actions, and effects, and combines combat performance with effectiveness indicator judgment, thereby improving the accuracy and timeliness of combat window effect evaluation.
Actively shape the new battlefield situation. After continuous preparations for military struggle against the enemy, interactive deterrence and control, and limited strikes within the combat window, the state and situation formed by the enemy and us in terms of combat force comparison, deployment and action are relatively stable, thus forming a battlefield situation under the new situation, and its development trend is also predictable and expected. Commanders and their command organs continue to have a deep understanding of the characteristics and laws of the enemy situation, our situation and battlefield environment in this strategic direction, and have a clear understanding of the basic outline of the future struggle situation. They can clarify future combat objectives and measures, and their confidence in winning will gradually increase, creating conditions for determining the next round of combat windows.
Focus on anti-AI operations in intelligent warfare
■ Kang Ruizhi and Li Shengjie
introduction
The extensive application of science and technology in the military field has caused profound changes in the form and mode of warfare. The military game between major powers is increasingly manifested in technological subversion and counter-subversion, surprise and counter-surprise, offset and counter-offset. To win the future intelligent war, we must not only continue to promote the deep transformation and application of artificial intelligence technology in the military field, but also strengthen dialectical thinking, adhere to asymmetric thinking, innovate and develop anti-artificial intelligence combat theories and tactics, and proactively plan anti-artificial intelligence technology research and weapons and equipment research and development to achieve “breaking intelligence” and win, and strive to seize the initiative in future wars.
Fully understand the inevitability of anti-AI operations
Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in “On Contradiction”: “The law of contradiction of things, that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the most fundamental law of dialectical materialism.” Looking at the history of the development of military technology and its combat application, it has always been full of the dialectical relationship between attack and defense. The phenomenon of mutual game and alternating suppression between the “spear” of technology and the “shield” of corresponding counter-technology is common.
In the era of cold weapons, people not only invented eighteen kinds of weapons such as “knives, guns, swords, and halberds”, but also created corresponding “helmets, armor, and shields”. In the era of hot weapons, the use of gunpowder greatly increased the attack distance and lethality, but also gave rise to technical and tactical innovations represented by defensive fortifications such as “trench” and “bastion”. In the mechanized era, tanks shined in World War II, and people’s development of technical and tactical related to “tank armor” and “anti-tank weapons” continues to this day. In the information age, “electronic attack” and “electronic protection” around information control have set off a new wave of enthusiasm, and electronic countermeasures forces have emerged. In addition, there are countless opposing concepts in the military field such as “missiles” and “anti-missiles”, “unmanned combat” and “anti-unmanned combat”.
It should be noted that “anti-AI warfare”, as the opposing concept of “intelligent warfare”, will also gradually emerge with the extensive and in-depth application of intelligent technology in the military field. Prospective research on the concepts, principles and technical and tactical implementation paths of anti-AI warfare is not only a need of the times for a comprehensive and dialectical understanding of intelligent warfare, but also an inevitable move to seize the high ground of future military competition and implement asymmetric warfare.
Scientific analysis of anti-AI combat methods and paths
At present, artificial intelligence technology is undergoing a leapfrog development stage from weak to strong, and from special to general. From the perspective of its underlying support, data, algorithms, and computing power are still its three key elements. Among them, data is the basic raw material for training and optimizing models, algorithms determine the strategic mechanism of data processing and problem solving, and computing power provides hardware support for complex calculations. Seeking ways to “break intelligence” from the perspective of the three elements of data, algorithms, and computing power is an important method and path for implementing anti-artificial intelligence operations.
Anti-data operations. Data is the raw material for artificial intelligence to achieve learning and reasoning. The quality and diversity of data have an important impact on the accuracy and generalization ability of the model. There are many examples in life where artificial intelligence models fail due to minor data changes. For example, the face recognition model in the mobile phone may not be able to accurately identify the identity of the person because of wearing glasses, changing hairstyle or changes in the brightness of the environment; the autonomous driving model may also misjudge the road conditions due to factors such as road conditions, road signs and weather. The basic principle of implementing anti-data operations is to mislead the training and learning process or judgment process of the military intelligent model by creating “polluted” data or changing the distribution characteristics of the data, and use the “difference” of the data to cause the “error” of the model, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the military intelligent model. Since artificial intelligence models can conduct comprehensive analysis and cross-verification of multi-source data, anti-data operations should pay more attention to packaging false data information from multi-dimensional features to enhance its “authenticity”. In recent years, foreign militaries have conducted relevant experimental verifications in this regard. For example, special materials coating, infrared transmitting device camouflage and other methods are used to simulate the optical and infrared characteristics of real weapon platforms and even the engine vibration effects to deceive intelligent intelligence processing models; in cyberspace, traffic data camouflage is implemented to enhance the silent operation capability of network attacks and reduce the effectiveness of network attack detection models.
Anti-algorithm warfare. The essence of an algorithm is to describe a strategy mechanism for solving a problem in computer language. Since this strategy mechanism has a limited scope of adaptation, it may fail when faced with a wide variety of real-world problems. A typical example is Lee Sedol’s “God’s Move” in the 2016 man-machine Go match. After reviewing and analyzing the game, many professional Go players said that the “God’s Move” was not actually valid, but it worked for AlphaGo. Silva, the developer of AlphaGo, explained that Lee Sedol had hit an unknown loophole in the computer; there are also analyses that it may be that “this move” contradicts the Go logic of AlphaGo or is beyond its strategy learning range, making it unable to cope. The basic principle of implementing anti-algorithm warfare is to conduct logical attacks or logical deceptions against loopholes in the algorithm strategy mechanism and weaknesses in the model architecture to reduce the effectiveness of the algorithm. Anti-algorithm warfare should be combined with specific combat actions to achieve “misleading deception” against the algorithm. For example, drone swarm reconnaissance operations often use reinforcement learning algorithm models to plan reconnaissance routes. To address this situation, irregular or abnormal actions can be created to make the reward mechanism in the reinforcement learning algorithm model less effective or invalid, thereby achieving the goal of reducing its reconnaissance and search efficiency.
Anti-computing power operations. The strength of computing power represents the speed of converting data processing into information advantage and decision-making advantage. Unlike anti-data operations and anti-algorithm operations, which are mainly based on soft confrontation, the confrontation method of anti-computing power operations is a combination of soft and hard. Hard destruction mainly refers to the attack on the enemy’s computing power center, computing network facilities, etc., by cutting off its computing power to make it difficult for its artificial intelligence model to function; soft confrontation focuses on increasing the enemy’s computing power cost, mainly by creating a “fog” of war and data noise. For example, during combat, a large number of meaningless data such as images, audio, video, and electromagnetic are generated to contain and consume the enemy’s computing power resources, reducing the effective effect rate of its computing power. In addition, attacks can also be carried out on weak links in defense such as the support environment and supporting construction of computing power. The computing power center consumes huge amounts of electricity, and attacking and destroying its power support system can also achieve the effect of anti-computing power operations.
Proactively plan the construction of anti-AI combat capabilities
In any war, the right tactics are used to win. In the face of intelligent warfare, while continuing to promote and improve intelligent combat capabilities, it is also necessary to strengthen preparations for anti-AI operations, proactively plan theoretical innovations, supporting technology development, and equipment platform construction related to anti-AI operations, and ensure the establishment of an intelligent combat system that is both offensive and defensive, and integrated with defense and counterattack.
Strengthen the innovation of anti-AI combat theory. Scientific military theory is combat effectiveness. Whether it is military strategic innovation, military scientific and technological innovation, or other military innovations, they are inseparable from theoretical guidance. We must persist in emancipating our minds, broadening our horizons, strengthening dialectical thinking, and using the innovation of anti-AI combat theory as a supplement and breakthrough to build a theoretical system of intelligent combat that supports and serves to win the battle. We must insist on you fight yours and I fight mine, strengthen asymmetric thinking, and provide scientific theoretical support for seizing battlefield control through in-depth research on anti-AI combat concepts, strategies and tactics, and effectively play the leading role of military theory. We must persist in the integration of theory and technology, enhance scientific and technological cognition, innovation, and application, open up the closed loop between anti-AI combat theory and technology, let the two complement and support each other, and achieve deep integration and benign interaction between theory and technology.
Focus on the accumulation of anti-AI military technology. Science and technology are important foundations for generating and improving combat effectiveness. Once some technologies achieve breakthroughs, the impact will be subversive, and may even fundamentally change the traditional war offense and defense pattern. At present, major countries in the world regard artificial intelligence as a subversive technology and have elevated the development of military intelligence to a national strategy. At the same time, some countries are actively conducting research on technologies related to anti-AI operations and exploring methods of AI confrontation, with the intention of reducing the effectiveness of the opponent’s military intelligence system. To this end, we must explore and follow up, strengthen the tracking and research of cutting-edge technologies, actively discover, promote, and stimulate the development of technologies such as intelligent confrontation that have anti-subversive effects, seize the technological advantage at the beginning of anti-AI operations, and prevent enemy technological raids; we must also carefully select, focus on maintaining sufficient scientific rationality and accurate judgment, break through the technical “fog”, and avoid falling into the opponent’s technical trap.
Research and develop weapons and equipment for anti-AI operations. Designing weapons and equipment is designing future wars. What kind of wars will be fought in the future will determine what kind of weapons and equipment will be developed. Anti-AI operations are an important part of intelligent warfare, and anti-AI weapons and equipment will also play an important role on future battlefields. When developing anti-AI weapons and equipment, we must first keep close to battlefield needs. Closely combine combat opponents, combat tasks, and combat environments, strengthen anti-AI combat research, accurately describe anti-AI combat scenarios, and ensure that the demand for anti-AI combat weapons and equipment is scientific, accurate, and reasonable. Secondly, we must establish a cost mindset. The latest local war practices show that combat cost control is an important factor affecting the outcome of future wars. Anti-AI operations focus on interfering with and confusing the enemy’s military intelligence system. Increasing the development of decoy weapon platforms is an effective way to reduce costs and increase efficiency. By using low-cost simulations to show false targets to deceive the enemy’s intelligent reconnaissance system, the “brain-breaking” effect can be extended and amplified, and efforts can be made to consume its high-value strike weapons such as precision-guided missiles. Finally, we must focus on upgrading while building, using, and upgrading. Intelligent technology is developing rapidly and is updated and iterated quickly. We must closely track the opponent’s cutting-edge military intelligent technology applications, understand their intelligent model algorithm architecture, and continuously promote the application and upgrading of the latest anti-artificial intelligence technology in weapon platforms to ensure its efficient use on the battlefield.
At present, accelerating the development of military intelligence is becoming a consensus among the world’s superpowers. Artificial intelligence technology is accelerating its penetration into the military field and has become an important driving force for military reform. It will inevitably give rise to new combat styles and change the internal mechanism of war. We should firmly grasp the new quality growth point of military intelligence to enhance the combat effectiveness of the army, organically integrate military theory, science and technology, and military applications, intelligently upgrade traditional combat fields, and innovate combat concepts, so that the “intelligent factor” radiates from weapons and equipment to all aspects of military construction, and focus on breakthroughs in key areas such as military theory systems, command information systems, unmanned combat systems, comprehensive support systems, and new combat forces, and promote the reshaping, reconstruction, transformation and upgrading of combat systems.
Artificial intelligence stimulates new developments in theory
When new military technologies, operational concepts, and organizational structures interact to significantly enhance military operational capabilities, they will promote new military changes. The increasingly widespread application of artificial intelligence in the military field is becoming an important driver of military change, thereby giving rise to new operational styles and changing the internal mechanism of winning wars.
Innovative combat theory. New disruptive technologies in the field of intelligence have opened up new space for innovation in military theory. Integrating precision strike ammunition and unmanned equipment into the network information system will give rise to new intelligent combat theories such as “distributed killing”, “multi-domain warfare”, “combat cloud”, “swarm tactics”, and “intelligent security warfare”; combining intelligent technology with information dominance theory, relying on one’s own information advantages and decision-making advantages, cutting off and delaying the opponent’s information and decision-making loops in the decentralized battlefield network will become the key to winning intelligent warfare. Enrich combat styles. With the development and maturity of intelligent technology and the large-scale deployment of unmanned autonomous combat platforms, unmanned combat will become a disruptive new combat style that dominates future battlefields. Infiltrate the entire process of warfare with intelligent elements, use intelligent perception, intelligent decision-making, intelligent control, and unmanned platforms to innovate the combat process. Use unmanned systems and manned systems in coordination, cluster and plan the use of unmanned combat platforms to enrich combat styles. Expand combat forces. The widespread application of intelligent systems and unmanned combat platforms will further enrich the connotation of new combat forces, and various “mixed” new combat forces will be applied on the battlefield. With the construction and application of the Internet of Things, big data, and cloud computing technologies in the military field, new combat forces such as space and networks will play an increasingly important role in future wars.
Accelerate the intelligent upgrade of command systems
The intelligence of command information systems is the key to achieving a leap forward in combat command means and forming decision-making advantages. In future wars, the battlefield space will be unprecedentedly expanded, the elements of war will be extremely rich, the tempo of confrontation will be significantly accelerated, and the combat system will change dynamically. There is an urgent need for the in-depth application of intelligent technology in battlefield perception, command decision-making, and human-computer interaction.
In terms of intelligent perception, intelligent sensing and networking technologies are adopted to widely and rapidly deploy various intelligent perception nodes, conduct active collaborative detection for tasks, and build a transparent and visible digital combat environment. Relying on technologies such as data mining and knowledge graphs, intelligent processing in aspects such as multi-source intelligence fusion and battlefield situation analysis is carried out to dispel the fog of war, analyze the enemy’s combat intentions, and predict the development of the battle situation. In terms of intelligent decision-making, by constructing combat model rules, using actuarial, detailed, deep and expert reasoning methods, commanders are assisted in making quick decisions in multi-level planning and ad hoc handling of strategies, campaigns, tactics, etc.; using machine learning, neural network and other technologies to create a “command brain” to learn and apply the laws of war and the art of command in terms of planning, strategy planning, and battle situation control, and expand the wisdom of commanders with machine intelligence. In terms of intelligent interaction, we comprehensively utilize intelligent interaction technologies such as feature recognition, semantic understanding, virtual augmented reality, holographic touch, and brain-computer interface to summarize and analyze the behavioral characteristics of commanders, build new human-computer interaction environments such as holographic projection digital sandbox, immersive battlefield perception command, and wearable smart devices, and provide intelligent means to support commanders in perceiving the battlefield and controlling the battle situation.
Build an intelligent unmanned combat system
Intelligent unmanned combat systems are a new trend in the development of future war equipment. The core is to aim at the requirements of “zero casualties”, “full coverage” and “quick response” in future wars, make full use of the development results of new theories, new materials, new processes, new energy and new technologies, and continuously make breakthroughs in human-machine collaboration and autonomous action, build a new type of intelligent unmanned army on a large scale, and realize the systematic collaborative combat of unmanned combat systems.
In terms of human-machine collaboration, relying on the integrated space-ground information network, self-organizing network and collaborative interaction technology, we will open up the human-machine interaction link and establish a manned-unmanned collaboration system of “human-led, machine-assisted, mixed formation, and joint action”. Facing complex combat missions and the global battlefield environment, we will strengthen the research on mechanisms and technologies such as safe and reliable information transmission, precise and efficient behavior control, and highly coordinated human-machine mixing to achieve highly compatible human-machine collaborative combat. In terms of autonomous action, relying on mission planning, distributed computing and intelligent networking technologies, research and develop unmanned combat systems and cluster formation technologies with fast response speed, strong adaptability, high reliability, flexible organization plan and reasonable action planning. They can fully respond to various changes in terrain, weather, disasters, damage, etc., and intelligently and dynamically adjust movement posture, travel route, firepower use, energy distribution, self-healing and self-destruction strategies to realize the replacement of humans by intelligent machines, expand the combat space, and avoid casualties.
Before troops move, support comes first. On the intelligent battlefield, the realization of comprehensive support for joint operations is an important factor that directly affects the combat effectiveness of troops. The development of intelligent technology will inevitably trigger revolutionary changes in the construction of the joint combat support system and realize intelligent comprehensive support.
In terms of political work, we will make full use of technologies such as social networks, personnel profiling, public opinion monitoring, sentiment analysis, and behavior prediction to build an intelligent political work system covering battlefield control, public opinion and legal struggle, social situation monitoring, personnel relationship analysis, personnel ideological trends, human resource management and other businesses, to provide support for exploring new approaches, new carriers, and new models for ideological and political work. In terms of after-sales support, by using technologies such as the Internet of Things, drones, smart cars, remote surgery, and 3D printing, we have upgraded and built an intelligent after-sales support system covering intelligent warehousing, intelligent delivery, intelligent maintenance, and intelligent medical care, to achieve automatic, rapid, and accurate supply of battlefield after-sales materials, rapid diagnosis and repair of equipment failures, and timely rescue of battlefield personnel, turning passive support into active services, and improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of after-sales support. In terms of combat training, by comprehensively using technologies such as cloud computing, virtual reality, simulated confrontation, and adjudication and evaluation, we have created an integrated training platform for “guidance, control, adjudication, evaluation, and management”, an intelligent virtual blue army, and an immersive training environment to support tactics and strategy training, equipment skills training, and joint confrontation exercises.
Exploring the intelligent combat force system
The new intelligent combat force system is a comprehensive product of the development of artificial intelligence technology, the formation of new-quality combat power and the evolution of war forms. It is the “killer hand” for seizing the initiative in the future global combat space, the key to forming an integrated joint combat system, and a new growth point for our military’s combat power.
Focus on new battlefields. The combat space of the new era has expanded from the traditional battlefield space to new battlefields such as space, the Internet, and spiritual will, and gradually extended to various fields of human activities and ideology. New combat forces such as rapid response satellites, network autonomous security, brain-controlled weapons, and genetic weapons are being integrated into the combat system. Military intelligence plays an increasingly important role in new combat styles such as space warfare, network warfare, mind warfare, and biological warfare. Pay attention to new technologies. Intelligent space-based weapon systems, with outer space as the battlefield, will help achieve the struggle for control of the sky; based on autonomous network intelligent security technology, it will help achieve a network security confrontation with integrated offense and defense and dynamic defense; brain control technology will help to attack the enemy’s spirit, nerves and mind; intelligent means may also accelerate the development of genetic weapons in some countries. Military intelligence is integrating into all aspects of the military field at an unprecedented speed, breadth and depth, deconstructing and reshaping the traditional appearance of war presented to the world. We must plan ahead to be invincible.
Laying a solid foundation for the development of intelligent military
The construction of military intelligence is a large and complex systematic project. Accelerating the development of military intelligence requires advanced theories as support, institutional mechanism construction as guarantee, technological breakthroughs as the starting point, and talent team building as the source of motivation.
Establish a collaborative innovation mechanism for military-civilian integration. The rapid development of intelligent technology has become an accelerator for military intelligence. In the information age, the boundaries between military and civilian technologies are becoming increasingly blurred, and their convertibility is becoming increasingly stronger. Actively establish a collaborative innovation mechanism for military-civilian integration, continuously strengthen the driving force of military core technologies, build an open industry-university-research collaborative innovation system for the whole society, make forward-looking arrangements for core cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, support investment, give full play to the innovation power of the entire society, and promote the rapid and sustainable development of military intelligence. Accelerate the advancement of technological breakthroughs in key areas. We must focus on relevant key technology areas and break the technical bottlenecks that restrict the development of military intelligence. On the one hand, we should strengthen research in the basic support areas of military intelligence, such as military big data and military Internet of Things; on the other hand, based on battlefield needs, we should strengthen research on intelligent application technologies in various combat elements, especially intelligent command decision-making, intelligent weapon platforms, and intelligent battlefield perception. We should vigorously build a team of high-quality talents. Military intelligence places higher demands on the quality of people. Only the effective combination of high-quality personnel and intelligent weapons can maximize combat effectiveness. To accelerate the development of military intelligence, we should explore the training rules of relevant talents, make full use of military and local education resources, increase the training of relevant talents, and provide solid intellectual support and talent guarantee for promoting the construction of military intelligence.
Since the 21st century, with the deepening of the world’s new military revolution, the world’s military powers have put forward a series of new operational concepts and continuously improved them in war practice, thus driving the accelerated evolution of war. With the rapid development of information technologies such as cloud computing, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and big data, and their widespread application in the military field, people’s understanding of war has gradually changed from summarizing actual combat experience to studying and judging future wars. At present, as the source of military capability building, the strength of operational concept development capabilities will directly affect the seizure of victory opportunities. In particular, the vigorous development of the world’s new military revolution is calling for innovation in operational theory all the time. Only by developing new operational concepts and designing future wars with a forward-looking vision can we gain the initiative in military struggle preparation.
The concept of combat fundamentally solves the problem of how to fight a war.
First-rate armies design wars, second-rate armies respond to wars, and third-rate armies follow wars. The so-called “real wars happen before wars” means that before a war starts, the theory, style, and method of fighting have already been designed. How can we not win if we fight according to the designed war? The key to designing a war is to design and develop new combat concepts based on understanding the characteristics and laws of war, promote innovation in combat styles and tactics, and fundamentally solve the problem of “how to fight a war.”
In designing wars, theories come first. In recent years, the U.S. military has proposed new concepts such as “network-centric warfare”, “air-sea integrated warfare” and “hybrid warfare”, and the Russian military has proposed theories such as “non-nuclear containment strategy”, “strategic air-space campaign” and “national information security doctrine”, reflecting that the world’s military powers are vigorously studying operational theories and seizing military commanding heights. To a certain extent, operational concepts are the “organizational cells” for the formation of operational theories. Without a perfect concept generation capability, it is difficult to give birth to advanced theories. When an operational theory is proposed, it is necessary to develop relevant operational concepts so that the operational theory can be “sunk” and visualized, and better improved and transformed into military practice. When there is no operational theory concept, operational concept innovation can provide “raw materials” for the study of operational theories. The military field is the most uncertain field, and people’s understanding of war is constantly evolving. However, operational theory innovation cannot wait for the understanding to mature before starting, but needs to be based on the existing understanding, through active development and innovation of operational concepts, constructing future operational scenarios, exploring future winning mechanisms, and guiding and guiding military practice, in order to seize the initiative in war. Therefore, operational concept innovation is becoming a strategic fulcrum and lever for military construction and development.
The development of operational concepts focuses on designing core operational concepts. The core operational concept is the nucleus and embryo of the operational concept, which reflects the essential requirements of operations and contains the “genetic genes” for the growth of operational concepts. The entire concept system is derived and developed from this. At present, the understanding of the winning mechanism of informationized and intelligent warfare is becoming clearer, and it is time to focus the design of war on the development of major operational theories and key operational concepts.
Operational concept is an abstract expression of operational thinking.
The term “operational concept” originated from the US military. It is a description of how to fight in the future and is increasingly becoming an important tool for promoting the development of the military. The US Army Training and Doctrine Command Concept Development Guide points out that the operational concept is a concept, idea, and overall understanding. It is based on the inference of specific events in the combat environment. In the broadest sense, it outlines what will be done and describes how to fight in more specific measures. The US Marine Corps Combat Development Command Operations Development and Integration Directive points out that the operational concept is an expression of how to fight, used to describe future combat scenarios and how to use military art and scientific capabilities to meet future challenges. The US Air Force Operational Concept Development Directive points out that the operational concept is a conceptual description at the level of war theory, which realizes the established operational concept and intention through the orderly organization of combat capabilities and combat tasks.
In summary, the operational concept can be understood as an abstract cognition of operational ideas and action plans that is refined for specific operational problems at present or in the future. Generally speaking, the operational concept includes three parts: the first is the description of the operational problem, that is, the background of the operational concept, the operational environment, the operational opponent, etc.; the second is the description of the solution, that is, the concept connotation, application scenario, action style, winning mechanism, capability characteristics and advantages, etc.; the third is the description of capability requirements, that is, the equipment technology, basic conditions, and implementation means required to implement the operational concept. It can be seen that the operational concept should have the characteristics of pertinence, scientificity, adaptability and feasibility, and its connotation and extension will be constantly adjusted with the changes in factors such as strategic background, military policy, threat opponent, time and space environment, and capability conditions.
In a sense, operational concepts are actually transitional forms of operational theories, and their ultimate value is to guide military practice. The purpose and destination of developing new operational concepts is to tap into and enhance the combat effectiveness of the military. Only by transforming operational concepts into operational regulations and operational plans can their value be fully realized.
Innovation in combat concepts drives changes in combat styles
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the world’s military powers have, in accordance with national strategic requirements and in response to new threats and challenges, developed new operational concepts as a key means of transforming military capabilities, promoting changes in operational styles, and seeking to gain the upper hand in future battlefields. In order to further strengthen their military advantages, the world’s military powers are accelerating the introduction of a series of new operational concepts.
The US military has actively seized the opportunities brought about by scientific and technological progress, comprehensively used cutting-edge technologies such as new-generation information technology, artificial intelligence technology, unmanned autonomous technology, and proposed a series of new combat concepts such as mosaic warfare, multi-domain warfare, distributed lethality, decision-center warfare, and joint global command and control, promoting fundamental changes in combat thinking, combat style, combat space, and combat systems.
Unlike the U.S. military, the Russian military has achieved iterative innovation in operational concepts in military practice. Recently, the Russian military has been committed to promoting the construction of joint combat capabilities, accelerating the development and deployment of new unmanned equipment, focusing on building advantages in the network information battlefield, and constantly enriching the connotation of its traditional operational concepts, integrating them with new operational concepts such as hybrid warfare and mental warfare to guide war practice.
In general, in recent years, the new operational concepts proposed by the world’s military powers are driving profound changes in combat styles. Their capabilities, characteristics and advantages are mainly reflected in the following five aspects: First, the unmanned combat equipment. The proportion of unmanned equipment systems based on the new operational concept has increased significantly, and manned-unmanned collaborative combat has become one of the main combat styles, forming an advantage of unmanned over manned; second, the deployment method is decentralized. The force deployment based on the new operational concept is distributed, and the systems are interconnected and interoperable, forming an advantage of division over combination; third, the kill network is complicated. The kill network based on the new operational concept has more diverse functions. A single system can perform multiple tasks, and its failure has little impact on the combat system, forming an advantage of many over single; fourth, the response time is agile. The new operational concept emphasizes quick battles and quick decisions, taking the initiative to catch the enemy off guard, forming an advantage of fast over slow; fifth, the combat field is multidimensional. The new operational concept pays more attention to multi-domain linkage, expanding the battlefield from the traditional land, sea and air to the electromagnetic, network and cognitive domains, forming an advantage of invisible over visible.
The development of combat concepts should adhere to the systematic design approach
Using operational concepts to guide military force construction is a common practice among the world’s military powers. In comparison, the US military’s operational concept development mechanism is relatively complete, and a relatively complete operational concept development system has been established, consisting of concept types, organizational structures, normative standards, and support means.
In terms of concept types, the U.S. military’s combat concepts can basically be divided into three categories: First, a series of combat concepts developed by each service, mainly from the perspective of the service, to study potential enemies and future battlefields, redefine combat styles, and seek new ways to win. Second, a series of joint combat concepts developed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, mainly composed of three levels: top-level concepts, action concepts, and supporting concepts. Third, combat concepts developed by academia, think tanks, etc., the number of such combat concepts is not as large as the first two categories, but it is still an important part of the combat concept system. Through this system, the U.S. military has implemented the grand military strategy through combat concepts layer by layer into various combat operations, various combat capabilities, and various types of weapons and equipment performance for the troops, guiding the construction of joint forces and various services.
In terms of organizational structure, taking the development of joint operational concepts as an example, the US military has established a working system consisting of five types of institutions. The first is the Joint Concept Working Group, whose main responsibility is to review the overall issues of the concept outline and concept development; the second is the Joint Concept Steering Committee, whose main responsibility is to supervise and guide the concept development plan; the third is the core writing team, whose main responsibility is to transform the original ideas in the concept outline into joint operational concepts; the fourth is the concept development team, whose main responsibility is to provide operational concept development methods and plans; the fifth is the independent red team, whose main responsibility is to conduct independent evaluations to judge the rigor and scientificity of the concept.
In terms of norms and standards, the U.S. military has a complete system of institutions to constrain and guide the development of joint operational concepts, making them standardized, standardized, and procedural, so as to manage the entire chain of concept development, which is mainly reflected in a series of directives of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and joint publications. For example, the “Joint Concept Development and Implementation Guide” aims to establish a governance structure for joint concept development, clarify the framework for joint operational concept planning, execution, and evaluation, and promote the implementation of joint operational concepts; the “Joint Regulations Preparation Process” aims to standardize the preparation process of joint regulations and provide a clear process framework for converting operational concepts into operational regulations.
In terms of support means, the design, development and verification of operational concepts is a systematic project that cannot be separated from the support of various development tools and means. For example, tools such as the DODAF2.0 model, IDEFO model and SYSML modeling language can provide standardized structured analysis models and logical description models for operational concept designers; model-based system engineering methods can provide operational concept designers and evaluation and verification personnel with capability models of equipment elements in operational concepts for designing and building operational concept frameworks. The U.S. military’s joint operational concept development uses network-based digital software with strong interconnection capabilities. All institutions involved in the development can share information in real time to improve development efficiency.
The development of combat concepts requires collaboration among multiple parties
Developing operational concepts is a multidisciplinary and multi-field task that involves many fields such as military science, philosophy, operations research, and systems science. It requires collaboration among multiple parties to ensure that it is both advanced and forward-looking in theory and applicable and feasible in practice.
Establish a small core and large peripheral research team. The department initiating the development of the operational concept should give full play to its leading role, coordinate and dispatch the research work from a global perspective; establish a joint research and development team, give full play to the collective wisdom, and widely obtain various new ideas, new methods and new viewpoints on the research of operational concepts from all parties; establish a cross-domain and cross-departmental expert committee to supervise, review and guide related work from multiple angles.
Form a multi-departmental working mechanism. To ensure smooth communication and efficient operation among departments, we must first clarify their respective tasks and responsibilities. For example, the concept initiating department is responsible for overall planning and implementation, the laboratory is responsible for technical verification, the industrial department is responsible for equipment research and development, and the combat troops are responsible for actual combat testing. Secondly, relevant normative documents should be formulated to ensure that all work has rules to follow and is carried out in an orderly manner, providing institutional guarantees for the development of combat concepts. Finally, it is also necessary to establish demand traction mechanisms, collaborative research mechanisms, iterative feedback mechanisms, etc., to open up the link from research and development to practical application of combat concepts.
Promote the organic combination of theory and practice. Only through the iterative cycle of “design research-deduction verification-actual troop test” can the operational concept be gradually adjusted, optimized and improved, and the development of war theory can be driven. Therefore, the development of operational concepts should pay special attention to the combination of theoretical innovation and practical application, and achieve the fundamental purpose of driving the generation of new quality combat power through the mutual drive of theory and practice. Specific methods include timely incorporating mature operational concepts into operational regulations, compiling training outlines or teaching materials accordingly, and gradually promoting them to troops for use; organizing relevant exercises or tests to test the maturity and feasibility of operational concepts under conditions close to actual combat, and finding and solving problems; using the capability indicators determined by the operational concept as a reference for equipment demand demonstration, driving the development of equipment technology, and promoting the improvement of combat capabilities.
The rapid development of science and technology in the new era has brought many new opportunities and challenges to the construction of military capabilities. The development of new operational concepts will help us to seize the military opportunities brought by scientific and technological progress, actively respond to the threats and challenges formed by scientific and technological development, and timely grasp the direction and laws of the evolution of war forms, which can provide important support for leading future war styles and seizing the first chance to win. At present, the international security situation is complex and changeable. To win the future information war, we need to take the development of operational concepts as the origin of national defense and military construction, actively carry out military technological innovation, promote the upgrading of weapons and equipment, achieve leapfrog development, and thus lead the trend of the new military revolution.
(Author’s unit: Second Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation)
In recent years, the wave of intelligence has surged and has been widely used in the military field. Major countries in the world attach great importance to the construction and application of military intelligence. Various unmanned combat platforms and intelligent weapons and equipment continue to appear and are equipped in the army for actual combat. In the face of the accelerated evolution of the intelligent form of war, only by seizing development opportunities, actively responding to challenges, accelerating the development of military intelligence, and accelerating the forging of intelligent combat capabilities can we seize the strategic initiative of intelligent warfare and win the future intelligent war.
Focusing on the creation of intelligent theory of war design
Military theory originates from combat practice and is used to guide combat practice. In the past, due to various restrictions, military theory research was mostly “looking back”, that is, summarizing combat cases to form combat guidance. With the rapid development of modern technology, especially disruptive technologies such as big data and cloud computing, combat theory research has broken away from the traditional follow-up and inductive reasoning mode and entered a new era of experimental warfare and designed warfare. New disruptive technologies in the field of intelligence have opened up new space for innovation in military theory. To this end, we should follow the idea of ”proposing concepts-demand analysis-innovative theories” to create the basic theory of intelligent warfare, and conduct in-depth research on the conceptual connotation, essential characteristics, war guidance, combat style, offensive and defensive actions, winning mechanism, characteristics and laws of intelligent warfare; innovate intelligent warfare methods and methods, give full play to the overall effectiveness of the intelligent combat system, strengthen the research on new intelligent combat methods and methods such as human-machine collaborative intelligent warfare, intelligent robot warfare, and intelligent unmanned cluster warfare, as well as the processes and methods of intelligent combat command and intelligent combat support; focus on effectively responding to intelligent combat threats and study strategies to defeat the enemy, such as intelligent blocking warfare and intelligent disruption warfare. These theories are the cornerstone of the intelligent warfare theory system. In the future, the war theory centered on strengthening “intellectual power” and competing for “algorithm-centric warfare” is very likely to replace the war theory centered on “network-centric warfare”.
Focusing on cross-domain interconnection and exploring intelligent forms
Military organization is the link between military technology and combat theory, and is the lever for exerting the overall combat effectiveness of the army. Modern combat emphasizes “elite combat under the support of a large system”, that is, with the support of the joint combat system, “elite front and strong back”, and organizes precise and multi-functional combat modules according to the idea of ”integrated design, modular organization, and combined use” to maximize the release of combat energy. The system organization of future intelligent warfare will form small, multi-functional, intelligent new joint combat forces of different types and purposes according to different levels of strategy, campaign, and tactics and different military arms, and emphasize the organization of “global” forces that can perform diversified combat tasks. Through intelligent combat networks, according to the requirements of reconfigurability, scalability and adaptability, single weapon platforms can be seamlessly linked and flexibly organized according to changes in the enemy situation, battlefield environment, etc., and then aggregate to form system advantages and form an integrated offensive and defensive combat module. The new intelligent combat force system is the comprehensive product of the development of artificial intelligence technology, the formation of new quality combat power and the evolution of war forms. It is the “trump card” to seize the initiative in the future all-domain combat space, the key to the construction of an integrated joint combat system, and a new growth point for the army’s combat effectiveness.
Focusing on the integration of man and machine to develop intelligent weapons
With the development of information technology and intelligent technology, whoever can win in the field of artificial intelligence will have the opportunity to take the initiative in future military confrontation. We should focus on the dual needs of intelligent war system operations and intelligent weapons and equipment system construction, do a good job in top-level design and overall coordination, compile a roadmap for the development of intelligent weapons and equipment systems, and develop intelligent unmanned combat equipment systems that match operations and support in a planned, focused, and step-by-step manner, covering land, sea, air, space, electricity, and network space fields, and establish a “human-led, machine-assisted, mixed formation, and joint action” manned-unmanned collaborative system to enhance the system integration of various military services and various intelligent weapons and equipment such as operations and support. Intelligent unmanned combat systems are a new trend in the development of future war equipment. Its core lies in aiming at the requirements of “zero casualties”, “full coverage”, and “fast response” in future wars, making full use of the development results of new theories, new materials, new processes, new energy, and new technologies, and continuously making breakthroughs in human-machine collaboration and autonomous action. We will build a three-level unmanned equipment system of strategy, campaign, and tactics, build a new type of intelligent unmanned division on a large scale, and realize the systematic collaborative operations of unmanned combat systems. At the same time, we should focus on the needs of unmanned and anti-unmanned, intelligent and anti-intelligent combat, and pay attention to the research and development of weapons and equipment systems for anti-enemy intelligent unmanned combat, to ensure that we can effectively engage in intelligent unmanned offensive and defensive confrontation with the enemy.
Focus on the ability to combine innovation and intelligent training
The professional division of modern warfare is becoming more and more detailed, and the entire combat system is becoming more and more complex, which promotes the transformation of combat from labor-intensive to technology-intensive. It requires that combatants must not only have good physical fitness, but also have good technical literacy and intellectual advantages to cope with the needs of different combat tasks, combat environments, and combat opponents. Military intelligence has put forward higher requirements on the quality of people. Correspondingly, intelligent military talents should have the characteristics of talent group, advanced skills, complex knowledge, innovative thinking, and intelligent decision-making. Intelligent warfare will be a war jointly implemented by man and machine, and combat forces with intelligent unmanned combat systems as the main body will play an increasingly important role. Only the effective combination of high-quality personnel and intelligent weapons can maximize the combat effectiveness. It is necessary to adapt to the new characteristics of the intelligent warfare force system, innovate and develop intelligent training concepts, and explore new models for the generation of intelligent warfare combat effectiveness. At present, artificial intelligence technology can create a more “real” weapon operation experience and battlefield environment, and can realistically interpret the combat process, assist decision-making and command, and evaluate combat concepts. To this end, we should adapt to the new characteristics of the intelligent war force system, focus on improving the self-command, self-control, and self-combat capabilities of the intelligent combat system, make full use of the characteristics of the intelligent system that can self-game and self-grow, form a training system, training environment, and training mechanism specifically for the intelligent combat system, strengthen the training of “people” to control the intelligent system, and explore a new training model with “machines” as the main object. In this way, the intelligent combat system can obtain a leap in combat capability through short-term autonomous intensive training to cope with the test of disorder, complexity, and uncertainty in the future combat environment.
Focus on improving the guarantee model with precision and efficiency
In the intelligent battlefield, the realization degree of comprehensive support for joint operations is an important factor that directly affects the generation of combat effectiveness of troops. The development of intelligent technology will inevitably trigger revolutionary changes in the construction of the joint combat support system and realize intelligent comprehensive support. Comprehensive support is the foundation of combat effectiveness and a bridge for transforming the country’s economic strength into the combat capability of troops. With the continuous maturity of Internet of Things technology, intelligent warfare places more emphasis on integrated support, precise support, and distribution support, that is, delivering to the required location at the required time according to the required quantity. Relying on the integrated support system, the dispersed support forces and resources will be organized according to functional modules such as supply, materials, maintenance, ammunition and management, so that they cover all areas of combat service support work. Relying on visualization technology, the current status of combat supply will be tracked and mastered throughout the process, and information control, reception and distribution of personnel and material flows will be carried out according to the real-time development of the battle situation, so as to achieve point-to-point direct support. By using technologies such as the Internet of Things, drones, smart cars, remote surgery, and 3D printing, we will upgrade and create an intelligent after-sales support system covering smart warehousing, smart delivery, smart maintenance, and smart medical care. This will enable automatic, rapid, and accurate replenishment of battlefield after-sales materials, rapid diagnosis and repair of equipment failures, and timely rescue of battlefield personnel. We will transform passive support into active service, and improve the overall efficiency and benefits of after-sales support.
Focusing on military and civilian dual-use to deepen intelligent integration
Breakthroughs in the core key technologies of artificial intelligence are the “national heavy weapons” to deal with the threats and challenges of intelligent warfare. The rapid development of intelligent technology has become an accelerator of military intelligence. In the information age, the boundaries between military and civilian technologies are becoming increasingly blurred, and their convertibility is becoming stronger and stronger. Actively establish a military-civilian collaborative innovation mechanism, continuously strengthen the driving force for the innovation and development of intelligent core technologies, build an open industry-university-research collaborative innovation system for the whole society, make forward-looking arrangements and support investments in core cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, give full play to the innovative power of the entire society, and promote the rapid and sustainable development of military intelligence. Accelerate the advancement of technological breakthroughs in key areas. We must focus on relevant key technology areas and break the technical bottlenecks that restrict the development of military intelligence. Strengthen research in the basic support areas of military intelligence, such as military big data and military Internet of Things; based on combat needs, strengthen research on intelligent application technologies in various combat elements, especially research on intelligent command decision-making, intelligent weapon platforms, intelligent battlefield perception, and intelligent confrontation technologies. The research and development of core key technologies of military intelligence should not only carry out cross-disciplinary and cross-domain collaborative innovation, but also make social intelligence and military intelligence development dock and track, learn from mature technologies and successful experiences in the development of social intelligence, and promote the rapid embedding of various artificial intelligence technologies into combat elements and combat processes. To accelerate the development of military intelligence, we should speed up the exploration of the training rules of relevant talents, make full use of military and local educational resources, increase the training of relevant talents, and provide solid intellectual support and talent guarantee for promoting the construction of military intelligence.
The breakthrough achievements of artificial intelligence technology marked by deep learning and its application in various fields have pushed intelligence to a new high in the global wave and become the focus of attention from all parties. In the military field, which has never been willing to lag behind in technological innovation and application, a new revolution is also being actively nurtured. We must accurately grasp the evolution of intelligent warfare and analyze the inner essence of intelligent warfare in order to welcome and control intelligent warfare with a brand new look.
How far are we from intelligent warfare?
Intelligent warfare is a war that is mainly supported by artificial intelligence technology. It has been the dream of people for thousands of years to endow weapon platforms with human intelligence and replace humans in the battlefield. With the powerful impact brought to the world by artificial intelligence systems represented by AlphaGo and Atlas, and the emergence of new combat concepts and new platforms such as swarm warfare and flying aircraft carriers, the door to intelligent warfare seems to be quietly opening.
The law of historical development indicates that intelligent warfare will inevitably enter the battlefield. The progress of science and technology promotes the evolution of weapons and equipment, triggers fundamental changes in military organization, combat methods and military theories, and ultimately forcibly promotes historical changes in the form of war. The arrival of intelligent warfare also conforms to this inevitable law of historical development. Looking back at the evolution of human warfare, every major progress in science and technology has promoted major changes in the military. The invention of black powder has made human warfare evolve to the era of hot weapons. Infantry and cavalry formations were completely wiped out under the line-of-gun warfare. The use of steam engines in the military has made human warfare evolve to the mechanized era, and has further given rise to large-scale mechanized warfare led by armored ships, tanks, and airplanes. The emergence and application of intelligent technology will profoundly change human cognition, war thinking, and combat methods, and once again set off major changes in the military. Intelligent warfare will inevitably enter the war stage.
The development of artificial intelligence technology determines the pace of intelligent warfare. The continuous development and widespread application of artificial intelligence technology have pushed intelligent warfare from chaos to reality. It has begun to sprout, grow gradually, and come to us step by step. To truly enter intelligent warfare, artificial intelligence technology needs to reach four levels. The first level is computational intelligence, which means breaking through the limitations of computing power and storage space to achieve near-real-time computing power and storage capacity, which is far beyond the reach of large computers and huge servers. The widespread application of cloud computing has steadily brought humans to the first level. The second level is perceptual intelligence, which means that the machine can understand what it hears, see what it sees, distinguish what is true, and recognize what it knows clearly, and can communicate directly with people. Natural language understanding, image and graphic recognition, and biometric recognition technologies based on big data have allowed humans to reach the second level. The third level is cognitive intelligence, which means that the machine can understand human thinking, think and reason like humans, and make judgments and decisions like humans. Knowledge mining, knowledge graphs, artificial neural networks, and decision tree technologies driven by deep learning algorithms have allowed humans to strive to move towards the third level. The fourth stage is human-machine fusion enhanced intelligence, which is to combine the perception, reasoning, induction, and learning that humans are good at with the search, calculation, storage, and optimization that machines are good at, to complement each other’s advantages and interact in a two-way closed loop. Virtual reality enhancement technology, brain-like cognitive technology, and brain-like neural network technology are exploring how humans can move towards the fourth stage. When humans stepped onto the second stage, intelligent warfare began to approach us; when we step onto the fourth stage, the era of intelligent warfare will be fully opened.
Self-learning growth accelerates the sudden arrival of intelligent warfare changes. The ability to “learn” is the core ability of artificial intelligence. Once a machine can learn by itself, its learning speed is amazing. Once a machine has the ability to self-learn, it will enter a rapid growth track of “improving intelligence and accelerating evolution” repeatedly. All technical difficulties in the direction of intelligent warfare will be solved as “learning” deepens. The era of intelligent warfare is likely to arrive suddenly in a way that people can’t imagine!
What will intelligent warfare change?
Intelligent warfare will break through the limits of traditional time and space cognition. In intelligent warfare, artificial intelligence technology can collect, calculate, and push all kinds of action information of all forces in combat in real time and in all domains, enabling humans to break through the logical limits of thinking, the physiological limits of senses, and the physical limits of existence, greatly improving the scope of cognition of time and space, and being able to accurately control all actions of all forces in real time, and to achieve rapid jump, gathering, and attack of superior combat resources in multi-dimensional space and multi-dimensional domains. Any space at any time may become a time and space point for winning the war.
Intelligent warfare will reconstruct the relationship between humans and weapons and equipment. With the rapid advancement of intelligent technology and the continuous improvement of the level of intelligence, weapon platforms and combat systems can not only passively and mechanically execute human instructions, but also can, based on deep understanding and deep prediction, super-amplify through the calculation, storage, and query that machines are good at, so as to autonomously and actively perform specific tasks in a certain sense. It can be said that weapon platforms and combat systems can also actively exert human consciousness to a certain extent, even beyond the scope of human cognition, and complete combat tasks autonomously and even creatively according to specific procedures. The distinction between humans and weapons and equipment in the traditional sense has become blurred, and it is even difficult to distinguish whether it is humans or machines that are playing a role. People exclaimed that “humans and weapons and equipment will become a partnership.” Therefore, in intelligent warfare, although humans are still the most important factor in combat effectiveness, the change in the way humans and weapons and equipment are combined has enriched the connotation of combat effectiveness, and the traditional relationship between humans and weapons and equipment will also be reconstructed on this basis.
Intelligent warfare will give rise to the emergence of new combat methods. The epoch-making progress of science and technology will inevitably bring about revolutionary changes in combat methods; major progress in intelligent technology will inevitably bring about an active period of change in combat methods. On the one hand, the continuous emergence of new technologies in the fields of deep cognition, deep learning, deep neural network, etc. driven by computing, data, algorithms, and biology, as well as the cross-integration of achievements in the fields of information, biology, medicine, engineering, manufacturing, etc., will inevitably promote the emergence of new combat methods. On the other hand, the fierce confrontation between intelligent weapon platforms and combat systems will inevitably become the goal and driving force of innovative combat methods. In war, the more intelligent the parts are, the more they become the focus of confrontation. The differences in advantages in terms of space-time cognitive limits, massive information storage and computing capabilities, and neural network organization generation capabilities will bring about new areas of “blinding”, “deafening”, and “paralyzing” combat methods.
Intelligent warfare will incubate a completely new command and control method. The advantages of command and control are the focus of attention in the field of warfare, and intelligent warfare calls for a completely new command and control method. First, human-machine collaborative decision-making has become the main command and decision-making method in intelligent warfare. In previous wars, command and decision-making were all led by commanders, with technical means as auxiliary decision-making. In intelligent warfare, intelligent auxiliary decision-making systems will actively urge or urge commanders to make decisions based on new battlefield situation changes. This is because in the face of massive and rapidly changing battlefield situation information data, the human brain can no longer quickly accommodate and efficiently process it, and human senses can no longer withstand the extraordinary speed of change. In this case, decisions made solely by commanders are likely to be late and useless. Only human-machine collaborative decision-making driven by intelligent decision-making assistance systems can make up for the time and space differences and the machine-computer differences and ensure the command decision-making advantage. Second, brain neural control has become the main command control method in intelligent warfare. In previous wars, commanders issued commands to command and control troops step by step through documents, radios, and telephones in the form of documents or voice. In intelligent warfare, commanders use intelligent brain-like neurons to issue commands to troops through the neural network combat system platform, which reduces the conversion process of command expression forms, shortens the conversion time of commands across media, and is faster and more efficient. When the combat system platform is partially damaged by an attack, this command and control method can autonomously repair or reconstruct the neural network, quickly restore the main function or even all functions, and have stronger anti-attack capabilities.
How should we prepare for intelligent warfare?
In the research and exploration of intelligent warfare, we must not be content to lag behind, but must aim to win future wars and meet the challenges of intelligent warfare with a more proactive attitude, advanced concepts, and positive actions.
Use breakthroughs in intelligent technology to promote the leap in the effectiveness of intelligent combat systems. Although the development of intelligent technology has made great progress in neural network algorithms, intelligent sensing and networking technology, data mining technology, knowledge graph technology, etc., it is still in the weak intelligence stage overall and is far from reaching the advanced stage of strong intelligence. There is still broad room for development in the future. We must strengthen basic research on artificial intelligence, follow the laws of scientific and technological development, scientifically plan the direction of intelligent technology development, select technical breakthroughs, and strengthen key core technologies of artificial intelligence, especially basic research that plays a supporting role. Highlight research on key military technologies. Guided by military needs, we will develop intelligent reconnaissance and perception systems, command and control systems, weapon equipment systems, combat support systems and other weapons and equipment around key military technologies such as intelligent perception, intelligent decision-making, intelligent control, intelligent strike, and intelligent support. We will focus on military-civilian scientific and technological collaborative innovation, give full play to the advantages of civilian intelligent technology development, rely on the superior resources of the military and the local area, strengthen military-civilian strategic cooperation, build a service platform for the joint research and sharing of artificial intelligence scientific and technological achievements, the joint construction and sharing of conditions and facilities, and the joint connection of general standards between the military and the local area, and form a new situation of open, integrated, innovative and development of intelligent combat technology.
Leading innovation in combat methods with the concept of intelligent warfare. To meet the arrival of intelligent warfare, changing concepts is a prerequisite. Concepts are the forerunner of action. If our concepts remain at the traditional level, it will be difficult to adapt to the needs of intelligent warfare. Intelligent warfare has undergone profound changes in technical support, combat power, and winning mechanisms. We must first establish the concept of intelligent warfare and use it to lead the innovation of our army’s future combat methods. First, we must strengthen the competition for “intellectual property rights.” Artificial intelligence is the foundation of intelligent warfare. Depriving and weakening the opponent’s ability to use intelligence in combat and maintaining the freedom of one’s own intelligence use are the basis for ensuring the smooth implementation of intelligent warfare. The armies of developed Western countries are exploring various means such as electromagnetic interference, electronic suppression, high-power microwave penetration and takeover control to block the opponent’s intelligent application capabilities, seize “intelligence control”, and thus seize battlefield advantages. Second, innovate intelligent combat methods. We must focus on giving full play to the overall effectiveness of the intelligent combat system, strengthen the research on new intelligent combat methods such as human-machine collaborative intelligent combat, intelligent robot combat, and intelligent unmanned swarm combat, as well as the processes and methods of intelligent combat command and intelligent combat support. Focus on effectively responding to the enemy’s intelligent combat threats and study strategies to defeat the enemy, such as intelligent blocking warfare and intelligent disruption warfare.
Use intelligent training innovation to promote the transformation of combat power generation mode. Intelligent warfare will be a war jointly implemented by humans and machines, and combat forces with intelligent unmanned combat systems as the main body will play an increasingly important role. It is necessary to adapt to the new characteristics of the intelligent warfare force system, innovate and develop intelligent training concepts, and explore new models for the generation of intelligent warfare combat power. On the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen the training of “people” driving intelligent systems. Relying on big data, cloud computing, VR technology, etc., create a new training environment, continuously improve people’s intelligent literacy, improve the quality of human-machine cognition, understanding, and interaction, and enhance the ability of people to drive intelligent combat systems. On the other hand, it is necessary to explore a new training model with “machines” as the main object. In the past, training was basically human-centered, focusing on people’s proficiency in mastering and using weapons and equipment in a specific environment to improve combat effectiveness. In order to adapt to the new characteristics of the intelligent warfare force system, the training object should change the traditional human-centered training organization concept and model, focus on improving the self-command, self-control, and self-combat capabilities of the intelligent combat system, make full use of the characteristics of the intelligent system’s ability to self-game and self-grow, and form a training system, training environment, and training mechanism specifically for the intelligent combat system, so that the intelligent combat system can obtain a geometric leap in combat capability after a short period of autonomous reinforcement training.
