Source: Liberation Army News Author: Yang Longxi Editor-in-charge: Wang Feng 2022-10-08 10:11:25
In recent years, local wars and armed conflicts are mostly “mixed” confrontations that unfold in multiple dimensions and fields, emphasizing the use of military, political, and economic means, implementing system clamps in the comprehensive decision-making dimension, creating various chaos in the international communication dimension, and carrying out targeted strikes in the strategic focus dimension, actively shaping the battlefield situation, and seeking to seize strategic initiative. In future wars, we must fight political-military battles and military-political battles, and we should deeply grasp the characteristics and laws of cognitive domain operations, offense and defense, and improve our ability to fight the “five battles”.
Cognitive warfare is the first step to shape the situation and take the initiative. Before the war begins, cognition comes first. With the continuous development and evolution of the war situation, the status and role of cognitive warfare are becoming more and more prominent. Aiming to win the future war, cognitive deployment should be carried out in advance, and through strategies, information, technology and other means and carriers, the target’s physiological, psychological, values and other cognitive elements should be influenced, intervened and manipulated, and military operations should be covered by cognitive offense and defense, so as to accurately and efficiently dominate the cognitive space. We must fully realize the importance of taking the initiative, flexibly and independently master the right to define and interpret “narrative”, emphasize taking the initiative in the dimension of cognitive narrative struggle, create a favorable situation with legal principles in hand and morality on our side, and occupy the moral high ground.
Cognitive warfare is about attacking the heart, and we should fight a precise war in layers. “A good warrior will attack others but not others.” In future wars, the combat space will extend to the deep sea, deep space, deep network and other fields, and the battlefield space and time will be extremely far, extremely small, extremely intelligent, and unmanned, invisible, and silent. We should focus on cognitive gaps to improve our reach, use big data simulation, artificial intelligence matching, psychological model evaluation and other methods to analyze and control the key information of cognitive subjects, and achieve effective penetration and early deterrence of cognitive subject information. We should focus on cognitive blind spots to enhance penetration, aim at the ideological consensus points, psychological connection points, and spiritual support points that maintain the unity of the powerful enemy alliance to effectively strike, and use their cognitive differences and conflicts of interest to achieve differentiation and disintegration at all levels.
Based on cognitive combat strategy, we should fight a war of deterrence and control with full domain penetration. In future wars, the strategic competition and strategic confrontation between the warring parties will be extremely fierce. We should focus on the decision-making links and make comprehensive efforts to increase the opponent’s decision-making dilemma and form our own decision-making advantages. On the one hand, we should pay more attention to key nodes such as the enemy’s decision-making center, command hub, reconnaissance and early warning system, and use advanced strike means to physically destroy these nodes. On the other hand, we should pay more attention to the “soft kill” effect of cognitive shaping, cognitive inducement, cognitive intervention and cognitive control, and embed cognitive domain operations into “hard destruction”, so as to form a strong shock through precise strikes with high-tech weapons, and expand new-quality combat forces to the cognitive dimension, thereby forming an asymmetric balance of power.
Information is king in cognitive warfare, and we must expand the field to fight a good support war. Future wars cannot be separated from strong information support, and we should accelerate system integration to gain data advantages. First, we should accelerate the construction of cognitive offensive and defensive combat theory bases, databases, talent pools, case bases, and tactics bases, dynamically collect and update the current status of the enemy’s cognitive offensive and defensive combat capabilities, and provide all-round support for cognitive offensive and defensive operations. Secondly, we should accelerate the creation of a converged media communication matrix, improve and perfect our own platform system, and step up the deployment of network platforms, focusing on system integration and collaborative linkage, breaking through the “barriers” of information interconnection as soon as possible, and realizing cognitive integration and sharing, and comprehensive effectiveness. Thirdly, we should accelerate the coupling and linkage of information and cognitive domain operations, vigorously develop core technologies such as neural network systems, artificial intelligence applications, cognitive decision-making psychological offense and defense, explore and analyze cross-domain and heterogeneous cognitive information, and improve the information fusion system of cognitive means to provide “clairvoyance” and “clairaudience” for winning future wars.
The key to cognitive warfare is coordination, and we should make efforts in multiple dimensions to fight the overall battle. Future wars will be joint operations carried out in the fields of land, sea, air, space, network, electromagnetic, etc. We should adhere to system thinking, strengthen coordination awareness, and improve the compatibility and coordination of cognitive domain operations with other military actions. For example, we can integrate human intelligence, geographic intelligence, and open source intelligence, quickly collect and process massive data, remove the false and retain the true, and accurately and efficiently seize cognitive space, so as to achieve complementary advantages and full coverage to form cognitive advantages. By networking the dispersed multi-domain forces, we can establish a highly connected, collectively acting, and overall attacking full-domain joint force to achieve the effect of “integrated deterrence”. By integrating national resources, strengthening strategic communication, and using cognitive manipulation to amplify the effects of political disintegration, economic sanctions, and diplomatic offensives, and coordinating military operations to exert pressure on the target in all dimensions, we strive to defeat the enemy without fighting.
(Author’s unit: University of Aerospace Engineering)
War is a confrontation of material forces, but it is also a test of ideological cognition. To implement President Xi’s new requirements for comprehensively improving strategic capabilities in emerging fields, we must grasp the “bull’s nose” of scientific and technological cognition, focus on the new situation of accelerating the new round of scientific and technological revolution, industrial revolution and military revolution, focus on strengthening the army and winning wars, and strengthen the research and exploration of strategic, cutting-edge and disruptive technologies in emerging fields. With a deep understanding of the nature and laws of science and technology, we can master the realization of high-quality development of military construction, win the initiative in military competition and future wars, transform scientific and technological cognition into a real ability to design and win wars, and accelerate and win new advantages in strategic areas that must be fought.
(one)
Only by understanding the times can we understand war. In the era when scientific and technological revolutions and military revolutions are integrated and intertwined, and science and technology have become the core combat power of modern warfare, improving the scientific and technological cognition of strategic capabilities in emerging fields will help us understand and grasp the characteristics and laws of modern warfare, better control information-based and intelligent warfare, achieve overtaking in new fields and new tracks, win military competitive advantages with scientific and technological advantages, and win future high-tech wars.
Leading military reforms to seize the commanding heights. The wise hear what is silent, and the wise see what is not yet formed. Only by keenly perceiving the development trends of emerging technologies and expanding the cognitive boundaries of strategic frontier technologies can we see what is not yet born, recognize what is not yet developed, take the initiative, and lead the elements of the military field to achieve revolutionary transformation and development. In today’s era, emerging technologies represented by artificial intelligence are emerging in a “well-like” manner, leading and promoting the rapid development of military intelligence at an unprecedented speed, triggering chain breakthroughs in the military field, and leveraging fundamental changes in the war pattern. Scientific and technological innovation has always been a race of time and speed. Faced with the strong momentum of military science and technology development in emerging fields, we must strive to seize the initiative and gain advantages. We must accurately grasp the general trend of science and technology of the times, dare to stand at the forefront of human warfare and scientific and technological development, grasp the basic laws of scientific and technological development and evolution in the long river of history and the global perspective, and accurately identify new goals, new fields, and new heights for the development of military science and technology. We must find breakthroughs in the development of military science and technology in a timely manner, bravely advance into the “no man’s land” of military science and technology innovation, seize the strategic commanding heights of military technology competition, and lead the military revolution to achieve new breakthroughs and leaps with new thinking concepts.
Lead the military competition and win the initiative. The level of cognition ultimately determines the pattern of military competition. At present, the frontier positions and strength competition of world military competition have extended to emerging fields, and the acquisition of technological advantages has become a strategic measure to seek military advantages. In the fierce competition of technological subversion and counter-subversion, assault and counter-assault, offset and counter-offset, scientific and technological cognition has become a key variable that determines the victory or defeat of military games. If there is a generation gap in scientific and technological cognition, there is a risk of being surpassed by the opponent’s new technological combat power. If there is a technological gap in shaping new-quality combat power, it will be difficult to “change the rules of competition” and form a military competitive advantage. Recent local wars and armed conflicts in the world have shown that whoever has a leading strategic capability and technological cognition in emerging fields and uses technology to empower combat power can control the battlefield situation and thereby achieve a fundamental change in the winner and loser. In the increasingly fierce world military game, in order to seize the initiative in the development of military science and technology in emerging fields and occupy a favorable position of high-level control, it is necessary to enhance the scientific and technological awareness of strategic capabilities in emerging fields, keep a close eye on changes in science and technology, changes in war, and changes in opponents, plan according to the situation, act according to the situation, follow the trend, make advance arrangements, and plan ahead to ensure the formation of unique advantages in some important fields and win the initiative in military games.
Leading a strong army to win the war and win the future war. Practice determines cognition, which is the source and motivation, purpose and destination of cognition. The scientific and technological cognition of strategic capabilities in emerging fields is aimed at promoting scientific and technological innovation and application. The fundamental focus is to create a new quality combat power growth pole. The main purpose is to seize the commanding heights of strategic competition, seize the initiative in war, and ultimately win the future war. At present, the development of emerging fields is showing an all-round and multi-domain in-depth advancement trend, and the frequency of dynamic iteration and update of science and technology is accelerating. In order to forge a new quality combat capability with a new killing mechanism and improve the scientific and technological content of national defense and military modernization, we must deeply grasp the key areas of scientific and technological innovation and development in emerging fields, grasp the new characteristics of cross-integration development of scientific and technological innovation and development in emerging fields, focus on creating a new quality combat capability growth pole, vigorously promote independent innovation and original innovation, eliminate backward technologies that are not adapted to the changes in the war situation, adhere to the integrated development of mechanization, informatization and intelligence, improve the innovation and application of military science and technology, comprehensively enhance the strategic capabilities of emerging fields, and win the battle to achieve the goal of building the army for a hundred years as scheduled.
Two
Improving the scientific and technological cognition of strategic capabilities in emerging fields is a very complex process of subjective and objective rational thinking. To accurately grasp the essential attributes and characteristic laws of scientific and technological innovation and development in emerging fields, and to know both the facts and the reasons, we should focus on improving the three abilities of scientific and technological foresight, discrimination, and understanding in the strategic capabilities of emerging fields, and form a scientific cognitive ability system that supports, cooperates with, and influences each other, providing strong support for comprehensively improving the strategic capabilities of emerging fields.
Aiming at future wars, we should enhance our scientific and technological foresight. Emerging fields are one of the main battlefields of future wars. Once some technologies achieve breakthroughs, the impact will be subversive, and may even fundamentally change the form and mode of war, and fundamentally change the traditional offensive and defensive pattern of war. Science and technology have never had such a profound impact on military construction and the outcome of wars as they do today. If we have a narrow scientific and technological cognition and lack strategic foresight and prediction of cutting-edge technologies in emerging fields, we may not understand our opponents, understand wars, and even more so win future wars. During the Gulf War, Iraq’s mechanized steel torrent lost to the US military’s precision-guided weapons. One of the important reasons for this was the gap between the two countries in strategic capabilities and scientific and technological cognition in emerging fields. In order to let our thoughts reach tomorrow’s battlefield, we must improve our scientific and technological awareness, closely follow the development direction of the world’s advanced military science and technology, promptly grasp the latest developments in cutting-edge science and technology, scientifically predict the development trend of science and technology, make full use of technologies such as data mining, comprehensively judge the revolutionary impact of high-tech development on war, take the lead in laying out emerging combat fields, develop a series of high-tech weapons and equipment, accelerate the scientific and technological empowerment of combat effectiveness, and provide a solid material foundation for winning future wars.
Keep a close eye on how to defeat powerful enemies and improve scientific and technological identification. War is a life-and-death confrontation between the enemy and us, and emerging fields are the top priority for the struggle between the two sides. Improving the scientific and technological awareness of strategic capabilities in emerging fields is the fundamental strategy to prevent technological raids and avoid technological traps. In order to seize the initiative in war, powerful enemies have always not only used their unique high-tech weapons and equipment to raid their opponents, putting them in a disadvantageous situation of passive attack, but also a more dangerous trick is to carefully set up technical traps and implement strategic deception. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union fell into the strategic deception trap of the US “Star Wars Plan”, which accelerated the decline of national strength. To persist in winning against powerful enemies, we must improve the scientific and technological discernment of strategic capabilities in emerging fields, closely follow the technological frontiers of powerful enemies, formulate breakthrough strategies for building strategic capabilities in emerging fields, and maintain a high degree of technical sensitivity and discernment of some so-called new technologies and new concepts promoted by powerful enemies. We must be good at distinguishing the authenticity of technology, weighing the pros and cons of development and the extent of its impact, and persist in developing strategic resources in emerging fields based on national conditions and military conditions, so that the innovative achievements of military science and technology in emerging fields can better empower the decision-making chain, command chain and combat power generation chain.
Mastering the winning strategy improves the understanding of science and technology. The key to building a strong army and winning wars is to master the winning strategy. In the context of the deep coupling of modern science and technology with the military, understanding and mastering science and technology has become a necessary ability to understand, design and win wars. From the perspective of human military history, it is precisely because of the thorough understanding of the principles of aviation technology and space technology that Douhet’s “air supremacy” theory, Graham’s “high frontier” theory and other war theories have been produced. Similarly, if there is a lack of thorough understanding of new technologies such as human-machine collaboration, group intelligence, and autonomous control of artificial intelligence, it will be impossible to master the winning mechanism of intelligent warfare and explore new theories and tactics of intelligent warfare. Technology determines tactics. To win future wars, we must focus on thinking about wars from a scientific and technological perspective, understand the impact of emerging technological developments on wars, learn from the latest achievements in military science and technology innovation of the world’s superpowers, study and explore the internal mechanisms of high-tech in emerging fields supporting modern warfare, explore how to use scientific and technological concepts and thinking to accurately grasp the laws of winning wars, how to use advanced scientific and technological means to strengthen the construction of new-quality combat capabilities, how to design wars based on scientific and technological principles, and how to transform scientific and technological advantages into capability advantages, and use the “key” of scientific and technological thinking to open the “door” to victory.
(three)
Comprehensively improving the scientific and technological cognition of strategic capabilities in emerging fields is a long-term, systematic strategic project. We must deeply understand and implement the important instructions of Chairman Xi, take improving the scientific and technological literacy of officers and soldiers as a basic task, and improve the scientific and technological cognition of officers and soldiers with a high sense of mission, scientific thinking concepts, and effective methods and approaches, so as to lay a solid foundation for comprehensively improving strategic capabilities in emerging fields and realizing high-quality development of our army.
Accelerate the transformation of ideas and concepts. The wise change with the times, and the knowledgeable act according to circumstances. While the emerging military technology is transforming the objective world, it is also profoundly changing people’s subjective world, forming a subversive impact on the traditional war-winning mechanism and way of thinking. The internal requirement is to transform ideas and concepts and enhance scientific and technological cognition. Engels pointed out: “When the wave of technological revolution is surging around… we need newer and braver minds.” Whoever is conservative, conservative, and self-contained will miss precious opportunities, fall into strategic passivity, and even miss an entire era. We must emancipate our minds and update our concepts, actively adapt to the development trend of world military changes today, be sensitive to the innovation of military thinking brought about by the technological revolution, have the courage to change the mindset of mechanized warfare, break the shackles of conservative thinking, firmly establish a new mindset of information-based and intelligent warfare, establish a new concept of strengthening the military and winning victory through science and technology, focus on understanding the new face of war, discovering new characteristics of war, and revealing new laws of war from a scientific and technological perspective, and strive to raise the level of war cognition to a new height.
Cultivate the foundation of scientific and technological literacy. Scientific and technological literacy is the ability to scientifically understand and describe the objective world and the ability to think scientifically. The depth of the foundation of scientific and technological literacy fundamentally determines the level of scientific and technological cognition. If you don’t understand science and technology or your scientific and technological literacy is not high, you will be like looking at flowers in the fog or the moon in the water when it comes to modern warfare, let alone being able to fight and win. To improve the scientific and technological cognition of strategic capabilities in emerging fields and understand the winning mechanism of modern high-tech warfare, the key is to work hard to improve the scientific and technological literacy of officers and soldiers, coordinate the use of advantageous military and civilian scientific and technological resources, vigorously spread the scientific spirit, popularize scientific knowledge, strengthen the study of modern science and technology, especially military science and technology knowledge, and conduct in-depth research on cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, and quantum technology. We must have a deep understanding of the new features of artificial intelligence such as deep learning, cross-border integration, human-machine collaboration, group intelligence, and autonomous control. We must understand and master the latest scientific and technological achievements, build a multi-dimensional knowledge system with information and intelligent technology as the main body, improve the level of thinking, expand the knowledge structure, and vigorously promote the transformation of the “variable” of scientific and technological cognition of strategic capabilities in emerging fields into the “energy” of building a strong army and winning wars.
Improve capabilities through practice. A knife needs to be sharpened and a person needs to be trained. To enhance the scientific and technological cognition of strategic capabilities in emerging fields, it is necessary not only to nourish the theory to promote the transformation of ideas and concepts, but also to follow the basic law of human cognitive movement of “practice, cognition, re-practice, and re-cognition”, make good use of the actual combat “grindstone” to sharpen the wisdom, and promote the scientific and technological cognition of strategic capabilities in emerging fields to a higher level. We must have the courage to improve quality and capabilities in the practice of strengthening the military with science and technology and strengthening training with science and technology, adhere to learning while doing and learning while doing, focus on our main responsibilities and main business, delve into cutting-edge science and technology based on our posts and combat positions, and improve our scientific and technological acumen, insight, and response speed; enhance our technical understanding of new equipment, new skills, and new tactics, cultivate scientific thinking, master scientific methods, improve our scientific and technological cognition, and cultivate the ideological awareness of strengthening the construction of strategic capabilities in emerging fields from a scientific and technological perspective; keep a close eye on powerful enemies and future battlefields to cultivate a stronger “technological mind”, be familiar with our opponents’ scientific and technological achievements, capabilities, and means, accurately grasp the “hard core” and “soft ribs” of our opponents’ scientific and technological development, adhere to the asymmetric thinking to tailor-make struggle strategies and tactics, and provide strong guarantees for winning this future high-end war and hybrid war.
(Author’s unit: Military Science Academy, Institute of Political Work)
To implement the general principle of “the CMC is in overall control, the theater commands are responsible for combat, and the services are responsible for construction,” the services need to accurately grasp the interaction between combat and construction, strengthen coordination with the theater commands, and form a work pattern with clear rights and responsibilities, positive interaction, smooth and efficient operations. They should focus their main tasks, main responsibilities, and main energy on building and managing the troops. They should always adhere to the principles of leading construction in accordance with combat, building for combat, managing for combat, and using construction to promote combat, comprehensively improve the level of practical military training, and provide theater commands with high-quality combat forces.
Get the coordinates of building for war
The coordinates are the direction of the times for building for war. Only when the direction is clear can the construction be accelerated according to the track. Entering the new era, the firepower intensity, mobility speed, strike accuracy and intelligence level of weapons and equipment have greatly increased, the battlefield space has been continuously expanded, the coupling of combat operations has become closer, and the battlefield situation has changed more rapidly. Wars have gradually shown the characteristics of platform combat, system support, tactical operations, and strategic guarantees. In particular, the use of intelligent, stealth, and unmanned combat, as well as aerospace forces, new concept weapons, and highly effective destructive ammunition have fundamentally changed the concept of war time and space. The war form has accelerated the evolution from mechanized informationization to informationization and intelligence, and intelligent warfare has begun to emerge. The main construction of the military service should be the combat effectiveness of informationized warfare with intelligent characteristics, rather than the combat effectiveness of mechanized warfare. The military service should focus on informationized warfare with intelligent characteristics, turn its attention to intelligent military transformation, fully imagine the future war form, scale, intensity, spatial region, etc., and use concepts that transcend the times to lead the construction vision forward and forward; it is necessary to deeply study the victory mechanism, scientifically judge, and build what kind of troops are needed to win future wars, so as to be targeted.
Find the right target for construction
The target is not only a beacon of construction and development, but also a scale to test combat effectiveness. Only by setting up the correct target can the military build for war and guide the innovation and development of weapons and equipment, system organization and combat theory without deformation or distortion. The military builds for war, and the enemy is not an ordinary opponent, but a strong enemy in the world military game. This requires the military to build for war, and it must lock on the strong enemy, insist on focusing all its attention on defeating the strong enemy, and work hard to defeat the strong enemy. Closely aiming at the world’s first-class standards, the focus should be on firmly grasping the characteristics of future combat systems and system confrontations, exploring standardized and modular construction issues, and forming an integrated and linked system combat capability; focusing on the requirements of all-domain operations, focusing on tackling realistic issues such as rapid response, long-range delivery, and integrated support, and building a strong rapid and mobile cross-domain action capability. We must seize the key of balancing strong enemies, strengthen targeted research on strong enemies, focus on building what the enemy fears, and develop more things that can balance strong enemies. We must strive to have a chance of winning in battles, bargaining chips in negotiations, and confidence in deterrence. We must focus on solving bottleneck problems such as the construction of new forces of the military, the use of high-tech equipment, and information and intelligent integration, and comprehensively build a world-class military.
Innovation and construction as the forerunner of the war
Theory is the forerunner of practice, and scientific military theory is combat effectiveness. Whoever can grasp the pulse of future war development and possess superb war design capabilities will win the initiative in war and even the final victory. The military should build for war, and it cannot just go wherever it wants. It should put research and construction in a strategic position, carry out forward-looking, targeted, and reserve innovative research, propose new concepts, find new breakthroughs, and form innovative theories that are contemporary, leading, and unique. The military should build for war, and it must focus on the current practice and future development of war, clarify the vertical evolution axis, focus on shaping the future battlefield and changing the research of future combat rules, and promote the reshaping of concepts and the reconstruction of systems as soon as possible; focus on cutting-edge technology and future intelligent war design, and make great efforts to achieve major breakthroughs in new technologies and new forms of war; focus on continuously promoting the development of new concepts such as combat thinking, action style, and capability requirements, and form forward-looking thinking on future combat operations. At the same time, the new theories and concepts should be systematized and concretized, and become a “roadmap” for planning and designing the construction of force systems, the development of weapons and equipment, the transformation of military training, and the training of combat talents. It is necessary to form a closed loop from practice to theory and then from theory to practice, allow military theoretical research to draw rich nutrients from practice, allow advanced and mature theoretical results to enter the military decision-making and practical links, and achieve a virtuous interaction between theory and practice.
Build a hard core of construction for war
Science and technology are the most revolutionary force. Scientific and technological innovation has always been a race against time and speed. If you don’t work hard to innovate, you will fall behind and be beaten. If you innovate slowly, you will also fall behind and be beaten. Today, scientific and technological innovation has become the core strategy for many countries and militaries to seek advantages. The military must pay close attention to the leading role of science and technology in building for war. By integrating the most cutting-edge and even imagined future science and technology into the overall construction plan, it will lead the basic direction of construction and development, and actively explore the scientific and technological innovation path of using the future army to fight a future war with the future enemy; it must implement the strategy of strengthening the military with science and technology, demand combat effectiveness from scientific and technological innovation, vigorously cultivate new scientific and technological growth points, and strive to increase the contribution rate of scientific and technological innovation to the development of the combat effectiveness of the military; it must face the world’s scientific and technological frontiers, the main battlefields of the future, and the major needs of combat, accelerate the pace of innovation, and plan and demonstrate that one item must be launched, especially to let disruptive technology run ahead, strive to run faster, and win new advantages. Obviously, talent is the key to building a hard core for war. Talent is the most difficult preparation. Whoever has more high-quality new military talents will be able to gain or gain more winning opportunities on the battlefield in the future. We must accurately grasp the characteristics and laws of modern warfare and the requirements for military transformation and construction, so as to train the talents needed for war and prioritize the talents that are most in short supply, so that the supply side of talent training can be accurately matched with the demand side of future battlefields.
Laying a solid foundation for building for war
Fighting is hard-hitting, while training is practical. The root of “war” lies in “construction”, and the foundation of “construction” lies in “training”. Military training, as the regular and central work of the troops, is not only the basic way to generate and improve combat effectiveness, but also the most direct preparation for military struggle. In the new era, the form of war is accelerating towards informationization and intelligence, the mission and tasks of the army are constantly expanding, the level of informationization and intelligence of weapons and equipment is gradually improving, and the conditions for training support are gradually improving. It is urgent for the services to comprehensively upgrade their combat capabilities from considering the interaction of multiple fields such as the form of war, combat methods, weapons and equipment, and personnel quality, to analyzing the influence of many factors such as known and unknown, possible and impossible, and possible and impossible. To build for war, we must focus on training against strong enemies, practice reconnaissance, coordination, equipment, and support around the progress of the real enemy situation, practice strong force deployment, practice fast battlefield construction, practice real equipment data, and practice strong support support; we must aim at the latest enemy situation in multiple fields such as land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace, and carry out real, difficult, strict, and practical full-element training in the re-enactment of the scene, “fight” with strong enemies, and let the troops hone their skills and strengthen their strength in the real confrontation; we must pursue extreme training, constantly impact the limits of people and equipment, so that the physiological and psychological limits of officers and soldiers, the performance limits of equipment, and the combat effectiveness limits of the combination of people and weapons can be fully exerted. Only by using “forced to the extreme, difficult to the extreme” training to present all shortcomings and weaknesses and overcome them can we cope with the most brutal battlefield. Some tactics and methods trained beyond the limit are often the key move and fatal blow to defeat the enemy in actual combat.
Do a good job in coupling construction with combat
The fundamental purpose of war and construction is to be able to fight and win. We must accelerate the realization of functional coupling under the new system and work together to accelerate the generation of combat effectiveness. To build an army that adapts to future combat needs is to build troops that can complete future combat tasks and have corresponding combat capabilities. Combat requirements are the specific embodiment of such task requirements and capabilities. Construction for war should be based on the needs of fulfilling missions and tasks, and should be designed in advance for future combat military needs. Military needs should be used to guide various military constructions, and combat needs should be continuously refined and dynamically adjusted to promote the coupling of war and construction. By strengthening the demonstration and research of future combat needs and making good top-level planning, we can grasp the direction and focus of military construction in general, consider the comprehensive development of military weapons and equipment and personnel quality from a strategic height and long-term development, clarify the focus, insist on doing what we should do and not doing what we should not do, concentrate on developing strategic and key projects, give priority to emergency operations, correctly handle the primary and secondary, urgent and slow, light and heavy aspects of military construction, firmly grasp the main and key aspects, and promote coordinated and coordinated military construction, scientific and reasonable, standardized and orderly, and sustainable development. Scientific combat effectiveness assessment can not only scientifically and specifically understand the composition and strength of one’s own combat effectiveness, but also help to take targeted measures to promote the coupling of construction and combat, timely discover and correct deficiencies in construction, truly realize the scientific development, intensive and efficient development of the army, and promote combat effectiveness construction to a higher level.
Strictly grasp the test of building for war
Whether a unit is well built and has the ability to win a battle must ultimately be tested through military practice. After a comprehensive test of military practice, problems in unit construction will inevitably be exposed, thereby promoting the army to make corresponding adjustments in the content, focus and direction of construction. Through repeated tests of military practice, new requirements and new goals are constantly put forward for unit construction, thereby leading the development of unit construction to a higher stage. Make good use of network simulation confrontation test. The informatization and intelligence of network simulation confrontation make the cognition, decision-making, feedback, correction, and action of simulation confrontation more close to actual combat, revolutionize the process of military activities, and then have a positive effect on weapons and equipment, command and control, force organization and other fields, thereby promoting the continuous leap in the combat effectiveness of the troops, and even giving birth to new war styles and changing the mechanism of winning wars. Make good use of on-site live-fire exercises. As a pre-practice of future wars, live-fire exercises can not only effectively test the actual combat capabilities of the troops, but more importantly, they can discover some weak links in the construction of the troops, optimize and improve them in a targeted manner, and obtain the maximum combat effectiveness return. Make good use of war practice tests. The leading role of war practice in unit construction is irreplaceable. The harsh practice of war can truly test which troop construction is suitable and which is unsuitable for future wars, and then correct deviations and mistakes in many aspects such as construction guidance, construction focus, and construction methods, so as to prepare for winning the next war.
Looking at the war conflicts that have broken out in recent years, the cognitive domain as an independent domain has become a battleground for various countries, and cognitive confrontation has become the focus of both sides’ offensive and defensive actions. In essence, cognitive domain operations mainly achieve the purpose of taking the cognitive initiative and defeating the opponent by influencing and shaping the opponent’s thinking, psychology, beliefs, and will, and then influencing and changing his decision-making and actions. At present, cognitive domain operations are gradually showing outstanding features such as rich content, diverse means, and concealed forms. In-depth study of the winning mechanism of cognitive domain operations and seizing the initiative in cognitive domain operations are the key to winning future informationized and intelligent wars.
Adapt to the situation, develop and innovate winning concepts
Military practice has repeatedly proven that the outcome of a war is not only a confrontation of military strength and weapons, but also a contest of ways of thinking and combat concepts. To occupy a dominant and proactive position in the field of cognition, it is particularly critical at present to establish new guiding concepts that are suitable for the information age.
Gather energy and excellence. Concentrating energy and excellence is an innovative development of the traditional concentration of superior forces. It is not only an important guideline for winning information wars with intelligent characteristics, but also a key move to seize the comprehensive advantage of cognitive confrontation. In recent years, technologies such as information networks and cluster control have become increasingly mature, continuously promoting the transformation of operations into wide-area distribution and real-time optimization. In line with this, under the cognitive domain, more emphasis should be placed on comprehensively implementing policies, gathering energy across domains, and seizing advantages at decisive nodes and hubs to achieve quick control and quick decisions to win.
Data leads. As a new type of war resource, data has become the basis for modern war command decisions and the blood of system operation. Giving full play to the advantages of data resources and taking the initiative in cognitive domain operations is an important part of seizing the strategic commanding heights. It is necessary to further strengthen data awareness and data thinking, strive to improve the literacy of data decision-making and data guidance, and truly make data a “boost” for cognitive victory.
Intelligent collaboration. The continuous development of artificial intelligence technology and the continuous enhancement of autonomous perception, decision-making, and evaluation capabilities based on network information systems are promoting the maturity of man-machine dynamic sharing of information, intelligent planning and assignment of tasks, and close collaboration and precise attack. In the cognitive domain, intelligent collaboration will become an important starting point. Information integration, human-machine collaboration, optimal decision-making, and real-time mutual assistance will become necessary means to gain the upper hand on the battlefield, take the initiative, and seek victory.
Follow the inherent rules and closely follow the value of offense and defense
Cognitive domain operations do not exist independently, but enter the perceptual space through physical domain actions and information domain flows, influencing the opponent’s value judgment and changing the opponent’s cognitive system in cognitive offense and defense, thereby triggering the opponent’s cognitive “avalanche” effect, putting the opponent in a “land of defeat” situation. For this purpose, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research and analysis of the opponent’s political, economic, military, cultural and other factors, discover the core values that affect the opponent’s combat cognition, and then comprehensively adopt strategies, technologies and other means to deeply influence and shape the opponent’s thinking cognition and value judgment.
It must be noted that the release of operational effectiveness in the cognitive domain is often highly durable. Only by adopting a series of uninterrupted, normalized and flexible means based on foresight and long-term planning, can we gradually build common values within the opponent. In order to have an impact, we can achieve the effectiveness of cognitive domain operations. In the information age, Western developed countries often use network communication technology to subtly influence and shape the thinking, cognition, and value system of their opponents, thereby shaking the ideological and cultural foundation of their opponents and building the basis of public opinion for cognitive domain operations. The many “color revolutions” that have occurred around the world in recent years are largely the result of Western countries’ long-term infiltration and manipulation of public opinion and the gradual release of their operational effectiveness in the cognitive domain.
There is no doubt that the confrontation that occurs in the cognitive domain ultimately affects the human brain, affecting people’s emotions, motivations, judgments and actions, and even controlling people’s thinking. Because of this, some people believe that as the engine of cognition, the “brain” may become the main target and main battlefield in future wars. It is worth noting that a distinctive feature of modern cognitive domain operations is the increasing frequency of technology applications and its prominent role. Especially with the in-depth intervention of information technology, artificial intelligence, etc., cognitive domain operations will pay more attention to the competition of comprehensive technical strength. From this perspective, only by seeking breakthroughs and taking the initiative in cognitive technologies such as big data, cloud computing, information networks, artificial intelligence, brain control, and the metaverse can we gain cognitive advantages.
Focus on maximum efficiency and adhere to the combination of software and hardware
Cognitive space is highly scalable, but in essence it is still a mapping of human activities and social relationships, closely related to and interacting with the real world. Without strong support from specific military operations in the physical domain, operations in the cognitive domain will ultimately be difficult to produce real results. From this perspective, cognitive domain operations are not isolated actions. Only by clarifying the inherent laws of the comprehensive application of soft power in the cognitive domain and hard power in the physical domain, integrating cognitive offense and defense into the joint operations chain, and realizing the close integration of combat forces in different fields, Only through mutual support and organic integration can the maximum effectiveness of cognitive domain operations be achieved.
In the information age, the focus of cognitive confrontation is not simply to completely eliminate the enemy, but to put more emphasis on accurately releasing combat energy through precise time, precise information and precise actions, thereby depriving or reducing the enemy’s decision-making ability. On the one hand, we must focus on making full use of asymmetric means to destroy the enemy’s intelligence, command, communication, strike, and support links through efficient and fast operations in land, sea, air, space and other tangible combat domains, destroy the enemy’s war potential foundation, and firmly establish Seize the initiative on the battlefield. On the other hand, it is necessary to emphasize taking precautions, arranging virtual space confrontations in advance, always paying attention to spiritual and will confrontations, and actively seeking ways to form strong psychological oppression and disintegrate the opponent’s will to resist. In order to achieve the superposition of the two effects, we should pay close attention to the linkage and cooperation between the signal fire strike in the physical domain and the comprehensive destruction and paralysis in the cognitive domain, closely track the effects of accurately attacking the enemy’s decision-making, actions, spirit and beliefs based on the network information system, and be proactive Explore the strategy of fighting with the fundamental purpose of conquering the heart and mind.
Targeting system operation paralyzes fighting will
No matter how the times develop and technology advances, people are always the decisive factor in the outcome of a war and the core force supporting the operation of the combat system. Among them, the will to fight can be said to be the spiritual core that supports combat. Cognitive domain operations require a wide range of measures, especially the use of intelligence warfare, psychological warfare, public opinion warfare, network warfare and other lethal means to attack, weaken and deprive the enemy of the spiritual core of its fighting will, so that it can It surrendered psychologically and volitionally, and eventually led to the collapse of its combat system.
Cognitive domain operations in the information age have the characteristics of large-scale and all-domain operations. Depriving the enemy of the will to fight emphasizes interference, influence, and control in multiple fields, multiple dimensions, and multiple time periods, and achieves awareness of the enemy through overall joint efforts. advantages to realize one’s own combat plans. For example, we can accurately grasp the opponent’s cognitive foundation, thinking patterns, cultural habits, etc., and take targeted actions such as creating a situation, changing the atmosphere, stimulating psychology, and penetrating and corroding to disintegrate the integrity and unity of the opponent’s cognitive system and strongly weaken the opponent’s determination and will. Another example is to widely adopt various cognitive means and actively use offensive operations in the physical domain and information domain to powerfully destroy the opponent’s key nodes, interfere with the opponent’s cognitive judgment, and delay the opponent’s effective response to destroy and deprive its soldiers of morale. We can also adopt targeted strategies based on the opponent’s traditional culture, rational logic, and personality shortcomings, and carry out step-by-step and systematic actions at all levels in the military, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and public sentiment areas, and formulate a new model by changing the original cognition. Effective control to dissolve and soften their will to fight. With the in-depth development of technology, cognitive equipment represented by brain-controlled weapons in the future may have the ability to directly interfere with or control the enemy’s brain cognition, not only causing confusion in their consciousness, but even inducing them to take actions that violate the common sense of war. .
Focus on proactive adaptation and optimization of combat design
Although cognitive domain operations play an increasingly prominent role in modern warfare, it cannot be assumed that cognitive domain operations are omnipotent or even replace traditional combat operations. The realization of the comprehensive effectiveness of cognitive domain operations is a complex system engineering. In order to take the cognitive initiative and adapt to information warfare, we must proceed from the strategic overall situation and strive to optimize combat design in practice.
Integration of skills. In cognitive domain operations, the use of strategy is an inherent part of it. Although technical factors are increasingly important in modern cognitive domain operations, the role of strategy is still difficult to replace. It can be said that the development and evolution process of cognitive domain operations is, to some extent, a process of mutual promotion and close integration of strategy and technology. In this process, strategies are enriched by the addition of technology, and technology becomes stronger by the application of strategies. To grasp the cognitive initiative and fight the battle of cognitive initiative, we must not only make good use of strategies, but also strengthen the application of technology, organically combine strategy and technology, and strive to strengthen the comprehensive effectiveness of cognitive offense and defense.
Combination of offense and defense. Cognitive domain operations are a unity of opposites between offense and defense. They are cognitive offensive and defensive activities that carry out influence and counter-influence, penetration and counter-infiltration, destruction and counter-destruction, control and counter-control in the cognitive space. It is necessary to clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent, seize the cognitive loopholes of the opponent, and concentrate on pursuing and attacking them to paralyze their psychological defenses and fully occupy the cognitive initiative. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the quasi-offensive and defensive conversion nodes and strengthen global cognitive protection. We must stick to our own perceptions, clearly promote our own values and war stance, unify our will, unite our troops, and inspire morale. Strengthen protective and concealment measures in important cognitive areas, reduce the perceptibility of our own political, economic, social, information and other sensitive areas, strengthen relevant confidentiality protection methods, and effectively build a strong cognitive protection security barrier.
Through the smoke of war, we can see that today’s war has developed from barbaric flesh-and-blood battles and battles to capture cities and territories to information-led precise beheadings and fierce competition on the intellectual battlefield. This objective fact tells us that war, as a specific complex social phenomenon, will present different war forms and winning mechanisms in different historical periods. As American futurist Toffler pointed out, “Artificial intelligence is like previous missiles and satellites. Whether you are prepared or not, it will enter the historical stage of human civilization war.” President Xi clearly pointed out: “If we do not understand the winning mechanism of modern war, then we can only look at a diorama and miss the point.” The winning mechanism of war refers to the way in which various war factors play a role in winning a war. and the laws and principles of interconnection and interaction. Compared with information-based warfare in the traditional sense, the winning mechanism of future intelligent warfare has undergone significant changes.
The method of confrontation has changed from “system confrontation” to “algorithmic game”, and algorithmic advantages dominate war advantages.
Algorithms are strategic mechanisms for solving problems. In fact, an “algorithm” is a series of clear instructions for solving a problem. It is a clear step to solve a certain type of problem according to certain rules. In future wars, the party that masters the advantages of algorithms can quickly and accurately predict battlefield situations, innovate optimal combat methods, and achieve the war goal of “victory before fighting”.
Algorithms are the key to leading intelligent warfare. First, algorithmic advantages dominate cognitive advantages. After big data is processed through high-performance and efficient algorithms, massive data is quickly converted into useful intelligence. Therefore, the party with the advantage of the algorithm can dispel the “battlefield fog” caused by the lack of timely processing of data, making the understanding more profound. Second, the algorithm advantage dominates the speed advantage. Compared with classical algorithms, quantum algorithms have achieved exponential acceleration effects. In addition, quantum computers have increased from 1 qubit in 2003 to 1,000 qubits in 2015. The computing efficiency is 100 million times faster than that of classical computers. Artificial intelligence has achieved a qualitative leap. Third, algorithmic advantages dominate decision-making advantages. Algorithms, with their high-speed and precise calculations, replace people’s “meditation” and repeated exploration, thereby accelerating knowledge iteration. Mastering super powerful algorithms can quickly propose flexible and diverse combat plans and countermeasures in response to changes in the enemy’s situation, constantly disrupting the enemy’s established intentions and deployment.
Algorithms are at the heart of the jump in war effectiveness. First, war is more efficient. With the support of algorithms, artificial intelligence can react hundreds to thousands of times faster than humans. In 2016, the “Alpha” intelligent software developed by the United States has a reaction speed 250 times faster than humans. It controlled a third-generation aircraft to defeat a manned fourth-generation aircraft in a simulated air battle. Second, the war endurance is stronger. Artificial intelligence is not limited by physiological functions and can continuously perform repetitive and mechanical tasks. In September 2016, an F-16 fighter jet reached 8 times gravity during training, causing the pilot to lose consciousness. However, before the plane hit the ground, the onboard “automatic anti-collision system” automatically pulled the plane up, avoiding the tragedy. occur. Third, the outcome of the war is better. With the support of massive data and supercomputing capabilities, artificial intelligence judgment and prediction results are more accurate. The combined use of manned and unmanned equipment in the U.S. military’s search and hunt for bin Laden is a successful example.
Combat elements are changing from “information-led” to “machine-based warfare”, and machine-based warfare reshapes the combat process
In the future, intelligent technology will penetrate into all elements and processes of war. The Internet of Things, the Internet of Intelligence, and the Internet of Brains have become the basis of war. The four domains of physical domain, information domain, cognitive domain, and social domain are deeply integrated, making the battlefield holographically transparent. There are people to control the war and no one to fight on the battlefield. Intelligent weapons and equipment will reshape the combat process “from sensor to shooter”.
“Detection” with a keen eye. “Reconnaissance” refers to intelligent intelligence reconnaissance. It can use multi-dimensional sensors such as land, sea, air, space, and electricity for virtualized collaborative networking, self-organized dynamic scheduling, automatic mining of multi-source intelligence, and order-based on-demand use to maximize information shortage or information redundancy. The “fog of war” brought about by the epidemic has opened up the “eyes” to see through intelligent warfare.
Loop “control”. “Control” refers to intelligent command and control. Focusing on the core of decision-making advantages, we use the human-machine collaboration technology of “human in the loop” and adopt three decision-making and control methods of “human in the loop”, “human in the loop” and “human outside the loop” according to the autonomous authority of the machine. , forming a comprehensive advantage with superior decision-making quality and action speed.
Smart “hit”. “Strike” refers to intelligent offensive and defensive operations. Relying on the advantages of system structure and algorithm, it mobilizes all-domain multi-dimensional, manned and unmanned combat platforms in real time, quickly couples combat forces, builds combat systems on demand, focuses on targets, independently implements “distributed” and “swarm” collaborative operations, and quickly resolves battles after they are completed. Couple and wait for the battle, so that the troops can gather and disperse randomly. At the end of 2015, Russia invested 6 tracked unmanned combat vehicles, 4 wheeled unmanned combat vehicles and 1 drone to support the Syrian government forces in storming Islamic extremist strongholds and achieved the world’s first unmanned combat victory. Victory in the tough battle dominated by cars. During the battle, about 70 extremist militants were killed, while only four Syrian government troops were injured.
The decision-making method changes from “human brain decision-making” to “intelligent decision-making”, and intelligent decision-making optimizes combat operations
With the emergence of intelligent auxiliary decision-making technology and “cloud brain”, “digital staff” and “virtual warehousing”, war decision-making has evolved from pure human brain decision-making to human-machine hybrid decision-making, cloud-brain intelligent decision-making and neural network decision-making.
Human-machine hybrid decision-making. Reasonable division of labor and interaction and collaboration between humans and machines are the best solutions to explore and solve problems. The advantages of the human brain are creativity, flexibility, and initiative; the advantages of machines are fast speed, high precision, and resistance to fatigue. Artistic tasks such as high-level decision-making are handled by the human brain, and big data calculations are completed by machines. Human-computer interaction allows machines to “listen” to understand human language, “see” human movements and expressions, “understand” human emotions and intentions, and present the calculation process and results in a way that is easy for humans to understand.
Cloud brain intelligent decision-making. In future intelligent warfare, there will be a “brain” metaphor center, and distributed combat units will be linked through the cloud brain. This cloud brain is not only a physical information, physiological information and psychological information center, but also a military command center. Cloud brain decision-making is based on the intelligent “network, cloud and terminal” system. “Net” is an intelligent combat basic network integrating intelligent battlefield perception, decision-making and weapons control systems. “Cloud” is built on the basis of “network”, with the intelligent resource service layer as the main body. It is not only a “resource pool” that integrates various combat resources, but also an “intelligent cloud” that provides intelligent services for combat operations. Due to the coupling of multiple centers, rapid networking and decision-making can be achieved even when bombarded by information. “End” refers to the combat resource end, discrete intelligence and networked intelligence in combat processes, which can not only make independent decisions, but also provide distributed intelligent resources for the war system, allowing the new war system to emerge with group intelligence.
Neural network decision-making. In July 2018, Russia developed artificial neural network fully automatic software that can destroy immediately upon discovery. The intelligent decision-making tool developed by the US military is intended to shorten the decision-making cycle and improve decision-making efficiency. The application of neural networks was once limited to tactical-level calculations, making it difficult to make qualitative analysis and decisions on strategic-level macro-complex situations. “AlphaGo” has made a breakthrough in the field of Go by simulating the working mechanism of the human brain’s neural network. In the future, the super self-evolution and strategic decision-making capabilities of deep neural networks will realize a combat cycle of “people outside the loop”.
The combat style has changed from “breaking links and breaking bodies” to “extreme operations”, which subvert traditional combat methods.
Extreme warfare breaks through the boundaries of traditional warfare, subverts traditional combat styles, dramatically increases war effectiveness, and creates a truly all-weather, all-time, all-dimensional, all-domain intelligent warfare.
Break through the limits of human physiology and thinking. First, the combat space and fields have been extremely expanded. Intelligent warfare in the future will be three-dimensional, all-dimensional, and all-domain operations. The war space will expand from the traditional space field to the polar regions, deep seas, outer space, and other extremes. It will especially penetrate into the cognitive domain, information domain, and penetrate into other fields, including combat fields. More blurry. Second, the combat process has been extremely accelerated. Unmanned autonomous warfare has greatly compressed the “observation-judgment-decision-action” cycle, developing from the “instant destruction” of information warfare to the “instant destruction” of intelligent warfare. The victory of intelligent warfare is achieved by advancing the warning time, shortening the decision-making time, and extending the combat operations forward to achieve the effect of preemptive layout and preemptive strike. Third, combat operations are extremely flexible. In intelligent warfare, artificial intelligence can propose extremely rich combat plans, and the unmanned combat platform can quickly switch between different functional roles, making combat operations more bold and adventurous, and tactics more unexpected. Even if one of the combat elements loses its function, the “decentralization” function will ensure that the function of the group is not affected.
Subvert the traditional combat style. The first is intrusive lone wolf operations. That is, a single unmanned system operates independently. The second is the manned and unmanned coordinated system attack battle. That is, based on intelligent unmanned systems, through mixed operations with and without unmanned equipment, combat objectives can be quickly achieved. The third is the independent operation of unmanned system formations. Multiple sets of unmanned systems constitute a combat unit that can perform complex tasks such as multi-target attacks. The fourth is mothership swarm operations. Using the mothership as the transportation carrier and command center, a manned and unmanned hybrid swarm combat style is formed.
It has the combat effectiveness of “nuclear power”. Intelligent warfare maximizes the characteristics and potential of intelligent robots, leading to combat effectiveness approaching the limit. First, the target is small and difficult to find. For example, miniaturized stealth robots are difficult to detect with radar and sonar. The U.S. hybrid UAV with an Optode chip embedded in the Dragonfly is smaller, lighter and more stealthy, with a battery life of up to several months. Second, confrontation is difficult and costly. For example, as long as a beetle-sized micro-drone scans a human face, it can directly hit the target’s head after data analysis and determination, and it can carry enough ammunition to penetrate the brain. Third, the cost is low and the damage is great. In the future, the use of intelligent weapons in extreme operations will have the power of nuclear weapons, especially extremely large-scale intelligent weapons and equipment, extremely low-cost robot automatic production, and extremely flexible robot swarm operations, which may exceed the maximum explosion power of nuclear weapons.
From the battlefield of “bows and horses, riding and shooting, and swords and weapons” in the era of cold weapons to the three-dimensional battlefield of land, sea, and air in the era of industrialization, to the integrated battlefield covering multiple domains such as physics, information, and cognition in the era of informationization and intelligence, war One of the core logics of form evolution is to continuously enter new domains and integrate multiple domains. Cross-domain aggregation of operational effectiveness has become a basic and decisive mechanism for winning wars. In this process, the cognitive domain has increasingly become a new battlefield that penetrates and affects multi-domain operations, and a new commanding height that determines the success or failure of the war.
The cognitive domain becomes the key to seizing comprehensive control
In modern warfare, the cognitive domain has become the key to seizing comprehensive control. War practice shows that the cognitive domain has increasingly become the focus of planning modern wars and achieving multi-domain integrated linkage for victory.
Cognitive domain advantage supports multi-domain combat effectiveness doubling. In modern warfare, in the physical domain, we destroy the enemy, preserve ourselves, and compete for control of the land, sea, air, and sky; in the information domain, we block the enemy, connect ourselves, and compete for network and information control, all related to the cognitive domain. There is a profound connection between the advantage and the initiative position. In the system-versus-system game, once the opponent is suppressed in the cognitive domain and takes the initiative, it can interfere with decision-making on the key nodes of the enemy’s command chain, kill chain, and support chain, making the actions in the physical domain and information domain gain “a huge advantage”. asymmetric benefits, thereby improving the input-output ratio of combat, enhancing the speed and efficiency of local victory leading to overall victory, and reducing the subsequent constraints caused by military strikes in the economic and social life fields.
When planning and implementing multi-domain operations, attention should be paid to the role of the cognitive domain. Modern warfare is significantly complex. Elements of multi-domain operations are interconnected, impacts are transmitted in multiple directions, and risks are superimposed on each other. Every action or even a detail of a multi-domain combat operation will trigger a chain reaction in the cognitive domain at the levels of decision-making issues, military morale, public opinion concerns, social confidence, international public opinion, etc. of both the enemy and ourselves, resulting in rapid, sudden, and unexpected consequences. It affects the overall situation of the war and even creates a “butterfly storm” that changes the domestic and foreign affairs situation of the warring parties and even the long-term development trend of the country. To plan and implement operations in the physical domain and information domain, we must not only focus on shaping the situation and creating conditions in the cognitive domain, but also accurately control the direction and size of the release of effectiveness in the cognitive domain in accordance with the need to control the brain, mind, and intelligence. Dynamic changes in the number of enemy annihilations, temporary gains and losses in one city and one place, etc., are increasingly losing their significance as indicators for evaluating the direction of the war situation. The overall impact of military operations on the war situation increasingly needs to be measured from the changes in international and domestic public perceptions it triggers. and the psychological impact on specific objects to be evaluated and considered.
The material and technical conditions for the cognitive domain to trigger integrated linkage of multiple domains are becoming increasingly mature. The rapid development of information-based intelligent cognitive perception technology has rapidly developed the game confrontation in the cognitive domain from absolutely “uncalculable” and “uncontrollable” to a considerable degree of “calculable” and “controllable”. Assisted decision-making by technologies such as big data and intelligent algorithms supports the deep integration of different combat forces in the cognitive domain and multi-dimensional command coordination, strengthening political, economic, diplomatic, cultural, military and other aspects of power, means and actions. The consistency and coordination bring about the operability of designing multiple domains, commanding multiple domains, and controlling multiple domains focusing on the cognitive domain. The widespread use of weapons and equipment such as drones and precision-guided bombs has also provided realistic and feasible tactical options for precision strikes through combat operations. The rapid popularization of intelligent communication technologies such as accurate portraits, intelligent distribution, social media live broadcast, robot writing, and virtual reality, as well as the cross-integrated development of neuroscience, cognitive science, and intelligent technology, have made it possible to plan and implement “X+ cognitive attack and defense” and achieve integrated Linked operations have become convenient and efficient.
The penetration of the cognitive domain affects the integrated linkage of multiple domains. It is not a simple “1+1”, but the energy of multi-domain actions is instantly concentrated in the cognitive domain, thereby continuously injecting emergent effects that are beneficial to oneself into the overall war. To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the innovative design of combat planning and implementation paths to ensure that multi-domain advantages can be achieved under the influence of cognitive domain penetration.
Use cognitive domain operational requirements to deepen understanding of multi-domain tasks. Focus on the overall national strategy, clarify operational requirements in the cognitive domain, and calculate and determine operational tasks in each domain based on this. Establish the must-hit targets and avoidable targets for fire strikes, hit targets first and hit later, hit targets openly and covertly, hit targets hard and hit lightly, etc., and focus on the effect of disintegrating the morale of the opponent’s military. When establishing the goal, timing, intensity, etc. of channel seizure, we must focus on the effectiveness of depriving the opponent of social mobilization and international communication capabilities and the effectiveness of supporting our information release and external propaganda. To establish the focus of intelligence information collection, it is necessary to focus on the ability to grasp the combat power in the cognitive domain of combat opponents, describe the characteristics of cognitive attack and defense target objects in a fine-grained manner, and dynamically grasp international and domestic public opinion and social trends of thought.
Use cognitive domain combat tasks to guide multi-domain action design. Focusing on questions such as “who, what kind of cognitive impact, and to what extent”, the cognitive domain combat tasks in different combat stages and different combat scenarios are subdivided. Based on this, what actions should be organized in each domain and what actions should be captured? Overall planning and detailed design of fighter aircraft, which forces to invest, what tactics to use, how to connect and intersect various actions, etc. The reason why the besieged troops on all sides were able to disintegrate the powerful Chu army was firstly because the Han army completed the military encirclement of the Chu army, and secondly, it used the ingenuity of capturing prisoners to sing Chu songs at night. In fact, different timing of operations, different task forces, different weapons and equipment, different choices of tactics and even different naming of operations will convey very different information, and the intensity of the generated cognitive impact will also be significantly different, which requires careful consideration and scientific Research and judge, and strive to maximize efficiency and optimize effects. When loading cognitive offensive and defensive actions for fire strikes, network offense and defense, electronic countermeasures, defensive operations, special operations and other operations, different imagination and creative thinking levels, different technical understanding, application and innovation, the final effect achieved is even more It’s like clouds and mud.
Organize multi-domain collaborative support with cognitive domain combat operations. Cognitive domain combat operations involve multiple participants and various action styles. Normally, they require coordinated support of military and firepower such as precise strikes, seizing key areas, and displaying momentum. In special cases, they also require coordinated strategic forces such as the deployment of cutting-edge weapons and equipment, and the organization of major training exercises. Guarantee requires the commander to make public statements and the media to embed reports and other specific personnel and specific combat units to coordinate the guarantee throughout the entire operation. Collaborative guarantee in terms of intelligence data, channel bandwidth, forensic information, and technical equipment is even more indispensable. To this end, it is necessary to mobilize multi-domain forces and resources in a full, real-time, systematic and precise manner, so that military warfare, mental warfare, and intellectual warfare can take advantage of each other and support each other to form a game of chess and create a combination of punches.
Pay attention to deepening the conceptual understanding of cognitive domain penetration and impact on multiple domains
Establishing the role of the cognitive domain in penetrating and influencing multi-domain actions and promoting integrated linkage to win is a deep-seated conceptual revolution that requires strengthening various supporting constructions to create conditions and lay the foundation.
Strengthen institutional guarantees. Using cognitive domain penetration to influence multi-domain integrated linkage operations puts forward higher requirements for cross-department and cross-agency collaboration. It is necessary to form a scientific and efficient command link that supports cognitive domain penetration to influence multi-domain and multi-domain integrated linkage. It is necessary to clarify the cognitive domain operational responsibilities of each element of the joint operations command organization, optimize and reorganize the command process, and ensure that the penetration and influence of the cognitive domain are reflected in operational determination, mission planning, and action design. Focusing on cross-domain integrated linkage, establish and improve working systems and collaboration mechanisms at strategic, operational, tactical and other levels, strengthen the mutual support of cognitive domain operations, physical domain operations, and information domain operations, and fully consider military strength and local related functions. The effective cooperation of departments and professional forces transforms comprehensive advantages into cognitive domain capabilities that penetrate, influence, and empower multiple domains.
Improve the commander’s ability and quality. The foreign military believes that qualified commanders in modern warfare need to be good at “quickly transforming proactive kinetic energy operations into more subtle cultural wars” and should have “unique intuition” and “comprehensive leadership capabilities” in this regard. In order to realize the integrated linkage of cognitive domain penetration and influence on multiple domains in war practice, we first need to strengthen the awareness of cognitive domain operations in the minds of commanders at all levels, and strengthen the formation of a conscious initiative to use cognitive domain penetration to influence multi-domain mission planning and action design. nature, strengthen and improve the ability to implement high-efficiency cognitive attack and defense using military firepower operations and information control as means. Multi-domain coordinated command under the influence of cognitive domain penetration should be regarded as an important part of strategic battle drills, highlighting the ability of commanders to command and control multiple domains with a focus on cognitive shaping, and promote the training field to continue to be closer to winning political and military The actual requirements of the war.
Promote the updating and improvement of joint cultural concepts. Cognitive domain penetration affects multi-domain integrated joint operations, which are the sublimation and optimization of joint operations concepts and mechanisms. In particular, it requires the support and guarantee of joint culture construction that is suitable for it. On the one hand, we must strive to break the influence of traditional war thinking, break down some traditional conceptual barriers, and make cognitive guidance, multi-domain integration, and joint operations the forefront of joint cultural construction and focus on updating concepts. On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of the theoretical system of cognitive domain penetration affecting multi-domain integrated joint operations, carry out in-depth research on the winning mechanism of cognitive domain operations and innovation of tactics, and lay a solid ideological foundation with theoretical accumulation.
(Author’s unit: School of Political Science, National Defense University)
