In today’s era of rapid technological development, the technological competition between China and the United States is like a war without gunpowder, especially in cutting-edge technology fields such as lithography machines and chips. The United States has relied on its technological advantages to blockade and suppress my country, trying to curb the pace of my country’s technological rise. However, things suddenly turned around, and pressure can often be transformed into motivation. my country’s technology companies did not retreat, but instead accelerated the pace of independent research and development. Recently, the first appearance of a new generation of domestic optical quantum computers is undoubtedly a shining star in my country’s science and technology field, illuminating the road to future technological development.
Stunning debut, showing strength
This device, called “TurningQ Gen2 Large-Scale Programmable Optical Quantum Computing System”, attracted countless eyes. It looks like a double-door refrigerator, seemingly ordinary, but contains huge scientific and technological energy. The device is mainly composed of three core components: quantum light source unit, quantum computing unit, and detection unit. Each component embodies the hard work and wisdom of scientific researchers.
According to relevant persons in charge of Turing Quantum, this optical quantum computer has a quantum superiority level of 56 photons. When solving certain specific problems, its computing power is almost comparable to that of the top supercomputer, Tianhe-2. As an outstanding representative of my country’s supercomputers, Tianhe-2 has been ranked among the top in the global supercomputer rankings many times. Its powerful computing power has provided strong support for many scientific research and engineering fields. Today, the computing power of domestic optical quantum computers on specific problems is comparable to that of Tianhe-2, which is undoubtedly a major breakthrough in my country’s quantum computing field.
What is even more surprising is that compared with Tianhe-2, this optical quantum computer has obvious advantages in terms of floor space and energy consumption. Supercomputers usually require huge computer rooms and a large amount of energy supply to maintain operation, while optical quantum computers are only the size of a refrigerator, which greatly saves space and energy. This not only reduces the cost of use, but also makes it possible for the widespread application of quantum computers.
Key components, simultaneously unveiled
At the exhibition, the key device for the industrialization of this quantum computer, the photonic chip based on 110 nanometer technology, was also unveiled. The photonic chip is one of the core components of the optical quantum computer. It uses photons to transmit and process information and has the advantages of high speed and low energy consumption. The emergence of the photonic chip based on 110 nanometer technology marks that my country has made important progress in photonic chip manufacturing technology.
The development and production of photonic chips require high-precision manufacturing processes and advanced equipment. Through unremitting efforts, Chinese researchers have overcome technical difficulties one after another and successfully developed photonic chips based on 110-nanometer technology. This achievement not only lays a solid foundation for the industrialization of my country’s optical quantum computers, but also wins my country an advantage in the development of photonic chips.
Future prospects, unlimited potential
With the continuous advancement of quantum computing technology, the further optimization of CPO optoelectronic co-packaging and related micro-nano processing technologies, quantum computers are expected to significantly improve computing power while reducing their size to the size of a laptop computer. This prospect is exciting and will bring revolutionary changes to the popularization and application of quantum computers.
In the field of scientific research, quantum computers will provide powerful tools for solving complex scientific problems. For example, in the fields of quantum chemistry, materials science, biomedicine, etc., quantum computers can simulate the structure and properties of molecules and accelerate the process of new drug development and material design. In the financial field, quantum computers can be used for risk assessment, portfolio optimization, etc. to improve the accuracy and efficiency of financial decision-making. In the field of artificial intelligence, quantum computers can accelerate the training of machine learning and deep learning algorithms and promote the development of artificial intelligence technology.
In addition, the widespread application of quantum computers will also drive the development of related industries. From the manufacture of photon chips to the assembly and debugging of quantum computers, to the development and application of quantum computing software, a huge industrial chain will be formed. This will inject new impetus into my country’s economic development and create a large number of employment opportunities.
Independent innovation, forging ahead
The debut of the new generation of domestic optical quantum computers is another major achievement of my country’s independent scientific and technological innovation. In the face of the blockade and suppression of the United States, my country’s technology companies did not choose to rely on imports, but firmly embarked on the path of independent research and development. This spirit of independent innovation is the core driving force of my country’s scientific and technological development.
However, we must also be aware that there is still a certain gap between my country and the world’s advanced level in the field of quantum computing. In future development, we need to continue to increase investment in scientific research, cultivate more scientific and technological talents, strengthen international cooperation and exchanges, and continuously enhance my country’s core competitiveness in the field of quantum computing.
The debut of the new generation of domestic optical quantum computers is an important milestone in the history of my country’s scientific and technological development. It allows us to see the huge potential and broad prospects of my country in the field of quantum computing. I believe that in the near future, quantum computers will enter our lives and bring more surprises and changes to the development of human society. Let us look forward to the arrival of this day and work hard for the brilliant future of my country’s science and technology!
On October 16, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a collective study on the research and application prospects of quantum technology. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we must fully recognize the importance and urgency of promoting the development of quantum technology, strengthen the strategic planning and systematic layout of quantum technology development, grasp the general trend, and take the initiative.
As the mystery of quantum is unveiled, people are increasingly aware that quantum technology represents the future of human society, is a strategic field that concerns national security and high-quality social and economic development, is a major disruptive technological innovation that impacts and reconstructs the traditional technological system, and will lead a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. It has a bright future.
The United States, the European Union, Australia, Russia and other world powers and regional organizations have been conducting research on quantum technology for many years and have done a lot of preliminary work in the field of quantum information. my country has also pressed the “accelerator” in the development of quantum technology.
Quantum thinking opens up your mind
Do you think quantum technology is very high-end, sounds vague, and even a bit illusory? Not only do you think so, but even Niels Bohr, the founder of quantum physics, once said: “If someone is not confused by quantum mechanics, he does not understand it.”
In fact, we live in the quantum world every day. Quantum is the basic unit of matter: if you divide the physical quantity piece by piece until it is small enough that it cannot be divided any further, it is a quantum. For example, a photon is the basic unit of light energy and it is impossible to divide it into half a photon.
So why can’t we feel its existence at all, and even find it difficult to understand the phenomena of the quantum world? This is because the scale we are familiar with is too different from the quantum scale. For example, a table is on the meter scale, a hair is on the millimeter scale, and the object of quantum physics is tens of millions or even hundreds of millions times smaller than the scale of a hair. If a person is reduced to a size of tens of millions of times the diameter of a hair, then the world in which humans live will follow a completely different set of rules.
In the Newtonian classical thinking model that we are familiar with, “the world is accurately measurable”, everything is an objective, precise, mechanically connected, describable and quantifiable mathematical model, just like you can calculate and analyze the whole process of a wooden block sliding down a slope with a pen. However, several key words of quantum thinking may subvert all this:
Keyword 1: “Probability”. The world is jumpy, unpredictable, and uncertain, or in other words, it is extremely complex and interconnected like the butterfly effect.
Keyword 2: “Overlap”. The world is “plural”. Before we make a choice, the choices are infinite and changing. Only when we finally make a choice, other possibilities “collapse”. At the same time, this choice provides us with infinite options for the next choice.
Keyword three: “Observer”. This is even weirder – if you observe a quantum system, it changes immediately! In other words, the state of the quantum depends on the observer.
Einstein described the quantum world as “ghost-like”. There, many natural laws that people firmly believe in will become invalid, and the perspective of understanding the universe will be completely changed. Before opening the door to the quantum world, you need to abandon all the common sense you have acquired in the macroscopic world, replace it with quantum thinking, keep your mind open, and be ready to exclaim: “How is this possible?!”
A tiny quantum has brought about two revolutions
With quantum thinking, you may understand the two “unique skills” of quantum: one is “clone” – quantum superposition, a quantum can exist in several states at the same time; the other is “remote telepathy” – quantum entanglement, a pair of entangled quantum is like a pair of twins with telepathy. At the same time, quantum is also very “weird” – indivisible and non-cloneable.
It is precisely these magical properties that enable such tiny quantum to burst out with huge energy, setting off two technological waves in human history.
As early as 1900, German physicist Planck proposed the concept of quantum, which split the “hard core” of the real world and ushered in the quantum era. A group of talented scientists such as Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Bohr basically completed the theoretical framework of quantum mechanics.
Quantum mechanics is one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the last century. Based on quantum mechanics, modern technologies such as transistors, lasers, nuclear fusion, mobile communications, and global positioning systems have emerged, allowing humans to enter the information age, and then developed into the ubiquitous computers and the Internet, creating further prosperity for society. This is the first quantum revolution.
In the 1980s, quantum information technology was born in the information field based on quantum mechanics. For example, quantum computers, quantum cryptography, quantum sensors, etc., not only are based on quantum mechanics, but the devices themselves also have quantum world characteristics such as superposition, entanglement, non-locality, and non-cloning, breaking through the physical limits of classical technology and finding new research directions. The birth of quantum information technology is called the second quantum revolution.
Quantum technology is one of the most cutting-edge technologies at present. It is moving out of the laboratory and achieving unprecedented leapfrog development in various fields. Some even predict that, like steam engines, electricity and computers, quantum technology will become the symbol of the fourth technological revolution.
“A pair of twin stars rises”
Academician Guo Guangcan of the University of Science and Technology of China once said vividly: “The computing power of quantum computers compared with electronic computers is equivalent to the computing power of electronic computers compared with abacus.” The computers we use use the two states of bits 0 and 1 as information processing units, and can only process a single state bit that is either 0 or 1 at a time; while the quantum computing processing unit is a quantum bit, which can process 0 and 1 at the same time due to the superposition effect, just like Sun Wukong can split into dozens of bodies to fight monsters. If a light quantum computer is made using quantum technology, the computing time of a classical computer that takes hundreds of thousands of years will be shortened to a few seconds.
Therefore, as the number of quantum bits continues to increase, the more “clones” there are, the faster the calculation will be. When the number of quantum bits reaches 50, that is, 250 states exist simultaneously, how huge is this number? Converted into the thickness of a 0.1 mm A4 paper folded in half 50 times, this number is 100 million kilometers, which is close to 3/4 of the distance from the earth to the sun. When a quantum computer can reach 100 bits, it may be 100 billion times faster than a supercomputer in some directions.
How should we use such powerful computing power?
First, large-scale, high-dimensional computing problems that were difficult or impossible to solve in the past can now be quickly solved, such as typical search problems and combinatorial optimization problems, such as optimal route selection, code cracking, network threat prediction, urban traffic planning, and so on.
Secondly, artificial quantum systems can be used to simulate natural quantum systems to explore the dynamic properties of molecules. For example, once we simulate and analyze the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity, we can design some new superconducting materials. This will open a new door for drug design, new material exploration, weather forecasting, space exploration, chemical engineering and other fields, and has great economic and social value.
What is particularly worth looking forward to is that artificial intelligence and quantum technology will coexist and evolve at the same time, “rising like a pair of twin stars.”
Gordon Moore, the founder of Intel, proposed the famous Moore’s Law: Computer computing speed doubles every 18 months or so. Without the exponential growth of silicon transistors in chips and the increasing computing power, artificial intelligence would not have achieved such remarkable results in recent years. However, today, the size of a transistor is much smaller than a flu virus, approaching the physical limit, and computer computing speed is about to reach a “bottleneck”, and artificial intelligence may face a “cold winter”.
Scientists are convinced that only quantum computing, which goes beyond classical computing, can be a strong backing for artificial intelligence to break through its limits. In particular, machine learning technology, which relies on large-scale data processing, will benefit greatly from quantum computing and generate unlimited possibilities; at the same time, artificial intelligence technology can realize self-calibration and evaluation of quantum computing, and evolve with it.
In a foreseeable period, quantum computing will gradually transition from solving optimization problems, quantum encryption communications, and molecular structure research to integrating artificial intelligence, and infiltrating various industries such as smart manufacturing, smart logistics and smart retail, and smart finance. Cloud services will be a new form of service that quantum computing can provide.
Quantum communication “weaves” quantum internet
This is the most amazing phenomenon in the quantum world: independent particles can be completely “entangled” together. Even if the two particles are at the two ends of the universe, both sides can “sense” each other’s state; as long as the state of one of the particles changes, the state of the other particle will also change instantly.
At the same time, quantum is in multiple possible superposition states, and its true state cannot be determined before it is observed. We can achieve absolutely secure communication with subversive significance by constructing particles with quantum entanglement.
With the help of the magical properties of quantum, scientists have found an unbreakable code, the only unconditionally secure encryption method currently available to humans, and the most critical link in quantum communication – quantum key distribution.
Quantum keys use single photons as carriers. Once an eavesdropper takes action, the first layer of “firewall” will be triggered – the quantum state of particles will change. The eavesdropping behavior will be immediately discovered by the user transmitting the information, and the sender and receiver will immediately stop using the key to encrypt the information content. As a “spy”, since quantum state particles cannot be copied, can’t you just intercept and measure them directly? Sorry, doing so will trigger the second layer of “firewall” – the uncertainty principle. Even if you are intercepted by an eavesdropper, there is no way to get the correct information. Quantum satellites are the most promising way to achieve ultra-long-distance quantum communication. In August 2016, the world’s first quantum science experimental satellite “Mozi” was successfully launched in China.
Quantum communication technology and quantum resources have given rise to a new functional network – quantum Internet. It will bring about a leap forward in network security, computing and science, and has broad application prospects: in addition to achieving unconditional secure communication, it can also connect multiple quantum computers to build a distributed quantum computing system, forming a large-scale computing capability that a single quantum computer cannot achieve; forming a sensor network to increase the accuracy of navigation networks such as the global positioning system from the meter level to the millimeter level; connecting optical telescopes thousands of kilometers apart to obtain a resolution equivalent to that of a monocular telescope of the same diameter, and so on.
In May 2020, the European Union stated that it would promote the integration of quantum communications with traditional network infrastructure and applications, develop satellite-based quantum cryptography that can be used for global secure key distribution, and lay the foundation for the future “quantum internet” vision.
China Military Network Ministry of National Defense Network Friday , November 13, 2020
The U.S. Air Force Research Institute recently published a research report, “Air Force Strategic Research from 2020 to 2030”, which is to answer this question: What key capabilities does the U.S. Air Force need to have by 2030? According to current trends, in the next decade or so, the U.S. Air Force should focus its energy and resources on developing five key capabilities: force projection capability; the ability to act freely in air, space and cyberspace; global situational awareness; air force diplomacy; and the ability to provide military support to local governments. The research report also revolves around a basic theme, that is, the success of the U.S. Air Force in these areas will depend on whether it can comprehensively apply the various strengths of the United States in air, space and cyberspace.
Power Projection
In a worldwide security environment characterized by the proliferation of advanced anti-access and area-denial systems, it will become increasingly difficult for U.S. forces to establish secure bases within striking distance of their adversaries, increasing the need for long-range power projection—primarily long-range attack.
The main challenge for potential U.S. adversaries is to deny the United States access to bases and targets. In the short term, most adversaries cannot compete with the United States’ technological advantage; however, this advantage is declining. Future battlefields may look more like the network-centric war between Russia and Georgia in 2008 than like the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The U.S. Department of Defense’s Quadrennial Defense Review states that “the future combat environment indicates that the U.S. military may have to conduct prolonged air and sea operations.” To meet these challenges, the U.S. Air Force must be able to defeat its opponents, even if these opponents have unprecedented military capabilities that can confront the U.S. Army and Navy. The following four suggestions may help meet the requirements of future air force power projection.
1. The U.S. Air Force must integrate air, space and cyber capabilities into current and future platforms and systems. For example, aircraft rely on GPS (Global Positioning System) and a range of network systems.
2. The Air Force must increase its flexibility in power projection. The available aircraft must include a variety of models from high-end (such as F-35 fighters) to low-end (light attack aircraft). Therefore, the Air Force should establish a “universal” force to undertake responsibilities other than traditional power projection with its allies; at the same time, it must also retain the necessary combat power to respond to major emergencies. Some examples show that in unconventional conflicts, it is not always necessary to use the best-performing aircraft.
3. Develop unmanned platforms with greater artificial intelligence that will support traditional force projection missions. Such systems could become a vital psychological warfare tool in peer competition, and adversaries could choose to cooperate with the United States because of its use of such systems.
4. Offensive and defensive cyber capabilities must be integrated into air and space platforms. As a force multiplier, cyber capabilities may soon become the best force projection tool in the Air Force’s arsenal. It is clear that several countries have cyber offensive capabilities that have caught up with or even surpassed the United States. Although the U.S. Air Force has worked hard to organize, train, and equip itself to meet the requirements of cyber warfare, it remains uncertain whether the Air Force’s cyber warfare capabilities can achieve victory.
Freedom of movement
To project power, the Air Force needs freedom of action in all domains: air, space, and cyber. Now, when discussing the importance of persistent air superiority, it is worth noting.
With the F-22 and F-35 likely to remain the Air Force’s primary air superiority platforms through at least 2030, relatively inexpensive force multipliers such as autonomous unmanned platforms, human-machine interaction technologies, and cyberattack capabilities will be key to improving the Air Force’s capabilities. Self-guided systems, cyberattack technologies, and human enhancement technologies are all likely to make progress, and here are three related suggestions:
1. Stealth, high-performance, autonomous aircraft can increase the number of fifth-generation fighters and enhance their capabilities. The old fighters will gradually be retired from service, and their role has been reduced to only supporting missions. The resulting combat power gap will be filled by advanced aircraft.
2. Human enhancement can “improve capabilities and save costs by improving manpower efficiency and reducing manpower requirements.” This is the view in the “Technology Outlook Report” released by the Office of the Chief Scientist of the US Air Force. As weapon systems become more complex and increasingly rely on advanced human-machine interfaces, human enhancement will be very useful.
3. Airborne cyber attack systems that can penetrate and disrupt the software, radars, and other systems of enemy aircraft will become a significant force multiplier for smaller fleets of air superiority aircraft. While exploiting the network is not a magic weapon to win, investments in this area will certainly pay off handsomely.
America’s adversaries are continually developing new ways to challenge U.S. air superiority. Preventing their success requires the United States to continually update systems and change tactics, techniques, and procedures.
Space advantage
The U.S. Air Force must achieve space superiority. The Air Force’s main goal for the next decade or so is to control space and make the concept of space superiority a reality. In the short term, kinetic attacks in the space domain are unlikely, however, if the U.S. advantage is challenged, space weapons may eventually be deployed. Damage to space systems will greatly weaken the United States’ civil and military capabilities in all domains. If other countries attack the United States’ space communications, navigation, or detection systems, it may prompt the American public to support space weapons. To successfully delay such attacks and maintain the United States’ freedom of action in space, the United States needs to use its diplomatic, information, military, and economic power to develop a multi-layered space operations system. The following four suggestions will help the Air Force gain sustainable space superiority.
1. The U.S. Air Force must continue to strengthen space surveillance. The Air Force has taken the first step in this direction: On September 25, 2010, the Air Force launched the Pathfinder satellite, the first satellite of the planned space-based space surveillance system. The role of this system is to improve the Department of Defense’s ability to detect and track objects in orbit. In order to maximize the use of this capability, the Air Force must accelerate the deployment of the space-based space surveillance system or a satellite system similar to it.
2. The U.S. Air Force must ensure its ability to enter space while reducing production and operating costs. The space launch tools currently used mainly include improved launch vehicles such as the Delta 4 rocket developed by Boeing and the Atlas 5 rocket developed by Lockheed Martin. The purpose of using such launch vehicles is to standardize and improve the operability of space launches, reduce government involvement in the launch process, and plan to reduce the cost of the new system by 25% compared to the previous launch system. However, further cost reduction is needed.
3. Strengthening cooperation with private enterprises will help the Air Force achieve its goal of gaining space superiority. The former Obama administration once made some decisions on space activities, shifting investment from government departments to private enterprises, which means that the US space policy may change significantly.
4. To prevent adversaries from exploiting vulnerabilities in U.S. space systems, the United States must make its satellite systems more resilient. As space competition evolves, space systems must become more responsive and less vulnerable to meet the needs of combat forces.
Network Challenges
The establishment of the Cyber Command and the 24th Air Force, whose mission is to operate, expand and protect the Air Force information network and protect mission-critical systems, clearly demonstrates the importance of cyberspace. The Air Force has transformed communications and information majors into cyberspace operations and support majors and established undergraduate courses in cyberspace, which shows the importance the Air Force attaches to cyberspace. The challenge facing the US Air Force is to always be at the forefront of cyber technology.
If cyber remains a tool that can reduce the gap between countries, groups and individuals, cyber superiority will be difficult to achieve and maintain. Therefore, the U.S. Air Force must be at the forefront. Unfortunately, the number of American computer science and engineering graduates is decreasing, while the number of foreign graduates of the same major is increasing. The U.S. Air Force’s cyber education cannot provide enough cyber experts and trained and motivated attackers, which is a very unfavorable situation. The success or failure of the U.S. military depends on an area where it does not dominate. But in the cyber field, this is the case.
Cyber will continue to evolve as a weapon of choice, replacing many of the current kinetic weapons. The U.S. Air Force will have fewer aircraft and operate over larger areas, especially in the Pacific. This makes cyberspace a critical domain of Air Force operations. Adversaries will have the ability to disrupt the software of U.S. aircraft and suppress U.S. air defenses, which will become reality, not science fiction.
To prepare for this future, the Air Force needs to radically change the way it approaches the network. It is not enough to put a firewall on the network. The Air Force should take a more proactive approach to developing the network into a key operational capability. This requires the Air Force to work hard to do the following two things:
1. The U.S. Air Force must assume responsibility for cyber activities in accordance with relevant provisions of the United States Code. As the service most dependent on cyber, the Air Force must develop cyber capabilities independently. To achieve this goal, the Air Force must establish a cyberspace department that can conduct both offensive and defensive cyber activities, have sound laws and regulations to regulate it, and its activities should be interoperable and joint.
2. The Air Force must train a large number of experts in computer science and computer engineering. Without the right talent, it will be difficult for the Air Force to maintain a network-savvy workforce, and every mission of the Air Force may be threatened.
Situational Awareness
The United States’ situational awareness agencies are basically located domestically, and surveillance and reconnaissance missions will become remote activities. In longer-distance surveillance and reconnaissance, space and network resources are more valuable and can play an increasingly important role in obtaining situational awareness in distant areas. The U.S. Air Force Intelligence Department must become a well-organized and dynamic force that can make timely adjustments to achieve global and local coverage. To this end, the following three suggestions are put forward:
1. The Air Force must work more closely with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) when planning and building space capabilities. Space-based reconnaissance is becoming increasingly important, so the Air Force must exert greater influence on the NRO’s resource request process. Currently, Air Force positions in the NRO are sometimes vacant, which leaves the Air Force, as an end user, without a full say in satellite design and development.
2. We should plan the surveillance and reconnaissance system after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, so that the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) is ready to take on global tasks. In future wars, the role of the Distributed Common Ground System will shift from taking on tactical tasks to processing and disseminating national intelligence products and intelligence products of allies, so we must seriously think about the corresponding theories, tactics, technologies and procedures.
3. The Air Force must improve data analysis using new automation technologies so that analysts can take on the most advanced tasks. Accelerating the development of translation software, artificial intelligence, and electronic processing of raw data (signals and electronic intelligence) is the most practical way to manage large amounts of data and should be a priority for funding.
The strategic challenges facing the United States are increasingly global in nature. Without major reforms to address these characteristics, the U.S. Air Force’s global situational awareness department will not be able to fully realize its potential. At present, the United States’ opponents are gradually undermining the United States’ strategic advantages, so it is necessary to understand the situation of the opponents.
Air Force Diplomacy
Air diplomacy is the non-combat missions that the Air Force performs to defend national interests. It is a supporting function. Defined in this way, air diplomacy provides many soft power resources to national diplomacy. The Air Force carries out a range of diplomatic missions as set out in the Security Cooperation Strategy. The Air Force currently uses air power to achieve soft power goals, but air diplomacy activities have not yet reached their full potential. If the Air Force integrates its various soft power missions into a unified air diplomacy strategy, the Air Force will be able to use these capabilities more effectively to defend national interests. Air diplomacy is likely to become increasingly important over the next decade. When decision makers face a tough fiscal environment, they may place more emphasis on air power because of its long range, high speed and strong flexibility. If air diplomacy is used before combat operations are necessary, it will help the United States prevent more costly conflicts. Permanent overseas bases or large-scale military deployments may cause anti-American sentiment, and air diplomacy can help to eliminate anti-American sentiment. Of course, air diplomacy will not always succeed.
Although the U.S. Air Force Security Cooperation Strategy has laid a useful foundation for the Air Force’s diplomatic strategy, there is still much work to be done. A complete Air Force diplomatic strategy should focus on three core goals: 1. Coordinate and strengthen different diplomatic missions; 2. Actively engage with allies, neutral parties and adversaries; 3. Use existing means to achieve strategic goals.
The Air Force should also streamline processes based on existing strategic guidance and programs. Any strategy must develop a set of criteria to measure its success or failure. An effective Air Force diplomacy strategy backed by a reliable power projection capability helps protect national interests.
Military support for local governments
With the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology, advanced missile technology, and cyber attack technology, military support for local governments has become increasingly important. Air Force Instruction 10-802: Military Support to Local Governments states that “the Air National Guard has the primary responsibility for providing military assistance to state and local governments in the event of a civil emergency.” In short, the Air National Guard can not only respond long before the federal military takes any action, but should do so according to the instructions. Except for man-made disasters involving chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear materials, active duty troops are generally not required. However, if a disaster causes a major disaster, the state or local government department may be unable to cope with it, and the governor will need to apply for federal support.
If technological innovations allow adversaries to attack closer to the U.S. homeland, the American public will want the military to focus on homeland defense and disaster relief. For the Air Force and the Air National Guard, this means providing civil support capabilities such as airlift, medical care, and situational awareness.
The Air Force has a guiding role in the development of the Air National Guard, so Air Force leadership should take effective measures to promote civil support capabilities as a key capability. Developing a dual-design combat capability statement, especially for the Air National Guard, will help clarify the mission of each unit in civil support and wartime.
Based on the interconnected missions of the Air Force and the Air National Guard in the military support of local governments, the following three recommendations can enable the Air Force and the Air National Guard to resolve complex legal, political, and command and control issues and improve emergency response and disaster relief capabilities.
1. The Air National Guard’s primary equipment should be transport aircraft. Emergency air transport is a critical capability that should be provided by the Air National Guard. Each Air National Guard air transport unit must have an air port function to ensure that the unit can be assembled and transported for subsequent operations. The transportation of medical support units is also an important part of air transport because no matter what disaster occurs, medical assistance is the first thing needed, and medical assistance will be needed for a long time after the disaster.
2. Air National Guard airlift units should be deployed to 10 federal emergency management regions. This will help airlift units work with state and local emergency responders in disaster relief exercises and establish close ties before disasters occur.
3. State and local government officials will rely primarily on Air National Guard imagery analysts for support, advice, and imagery interpretation. Understanding the scope and extent of a disaster is a critical step in disaster response. To provide emergency responders with better situational awareness, Air National Guard analysts working in the Distributed Common Ground System should provide real-time imagery support during a disaster.
The future is full of uncertainty, the increase in defense budgets will stagnate, and threats will come not only from high-intensity conflicts, but also from low-intensity conflicts. Therefore, the U.S. Air Force must be prepared to deal with increasingly complex situations and should not take it for granted that it will be able to win in the future environment. In short, the U.S. Air Force’s time, resources, and strategic thinking should focus on the five key capabilities described above. (Translated from the U.S. “Armed Forces Magazine” 10641 (US) Adam Lowther (Professor of the U.S. Air Force Research Institute) Translated by Li Youguan)
In the era of intelligence, new scenarios and new forms such as digital twins and “human-machine intelligence” have emerged in large numbers and have been deeply applied in the military field, giving rise to a comprehensive upgrade of the war form. This upgrade is mainly manifested in the integration of combat forces, the operation mode of battlefield energy, and the dominant factors in the generation and release of combat power. Facing intelligent warfare, the organizational form of the military has accelerated its transformation and presented a new development trend.
Generate new system emergence
System science believes that when several interacting parts form a system in a certain way, they can produce new overall characteristics such as properties, characteristics, behaviors, functions, etc. that only the system as a whole has, but not the parts or the sum of the parts; and once the system is reduced to unrelated parts, these new overall characteristics will no longer exist. This characteristic that only the whole has, but the isolated parts and their sum do not have, is the overall emergence. In the confrontation of military systems in the intelligent era, emergence is mainly presented in two ways: one is the formation of swarm intelligence. That is, a single low-intelligence, relying on the group to form a high-intelligence collective behavior. This phenomenon is produced in a self-organized way after each individual in the system obeys local rules and continuously interacts. In recent years, supported by artificial intelligence technology, swarm intelligence has developed rapidly. In the military field, drone “swarm” tactics and unmanned boat “school of fish” tactics are typical applications in this regard. Another way is to form “human-machine” advanced intelligence. That is, through the effective combination and reliable operation of man and machine, a higher level of intelligence based on the “man-machine” combination is formed. This is a new intelligence that is higher than human intelligence, robots, and artificial intelligence.
In fact, the emergence phenomenon is not uncommon in human military activities, especially in military organizations with clear and stable operating rules and a strong sense of common goals and beliefs. An army with a highly consistent collective identity can play a reliable role in mutual support and self-organization and self-coordination in combat operations, and then burst out with new capabilities that far exceed the sum of the individual capabilities within the organization. Entering the era of intelligence, the system’s emergence has taken on new forms and connotations. An important trend in the transformation of the military’s organizational form is to promote the realization of highly autonomous “man-machine” collaboration by improving functional elements and setting up scientific structures, so that the entire system can burst out with new functions that are not possessed by the accumulation of elements.
Forming new intelligent bonding force
The prominent feature of information warfare is the formation of “information structural power”. That is, due to the embedding of information platforms, the information chain movement based on information systems, data chains, and sensors has broken the originally closed and separated state between combat elements, allowing the military system to form a new structure and trigger a nonlinear leap in combat power. On the information battlefield, people and weapons, weapons and weapons, people and platforms, etc., all rely on information systems to establish effective connections to achieve efficient flow of data and information. The effectiveness of commanders in investigating the situation and judging the enemy has been greatly improved, and the realization method and iteration rhythm of command intentions have undergone a qualitative leap. This revolution in the interactive method from sensors to shooters is ultimately reflected in the overall upgrade of the combat power of the military system and combat system.
Entering the era of intelligence, the connotation of “information structural power” has undergone a fundamental change. Based on the widespread use of artificial intelligence technologies such as big data and big models, problems such as “information redundancy” and “decision-making delays” that have troubled commanders in the information age have been alleviated. The “cloud brain” decision-making and planning, the “human-machine” coordination of command and control, and the automation of action coordination have made the overall intelligence of the entire combat system higher. The reason why new models and methods such as “autonomous decision-making”, “order-based coordination” and “unmanned strikes” can be realized is the result of “wisdom” empowerment on the intelligent battlefield. The effective “glue” from the integration of several unit intelligent agents into a consensus-based, large-scale comprehensive intelligent agent is a higher level of intelligent bonding. To accelerate the transformation of the military’s organizational structure, we must establish scientific working and driving mechanisms on the basis of improving its structure and functions, build an autonomous, intelligent and efficient system link, allow the vitality of all combat power elements to compete and burst forth, and allow all sources of the military’s modernization to flow fully.
Reflecting the overall new quality of combat capability
New-quality combat power is a brand-new combat capability that is fundamentally supported by new-quality combat forces and is different from traditional combat capabilities in terms of mechanism, logic, and generation method. Therefore, simply designating a certain type of force as a new-quality force does not necessarily lead to the formation of new-quality combat capabilities. Just like using rifles as cold weapons, large combat platforms as vehicles, and network forces for attacking and defending cities, although from the external appearance, the elements of combat force composition and personnel ratios have changed greatly, the way people interact with weapons, the way weapons are used, and the way unit combat power is generated and released have not changed in essence, and they are far from being called new-quality combat power.
New quality combat power comes from the new combat capability of new combat forces, from the effective integration of a series of new combat capabilities, and from the new capabilities generated by the integration and innovation of new capabilities. Whether comprehensive and systematic new quality combat power can be generated is an important criterion for judging whether the modernization of organizational form for intelligent warfare is effective. To accelerate the transformation of the organizational form of the military, it is necessary to generate new “information structure power” within the military system through the optimization of system structure, operation mechanism, and energy form, and then use it to emerge a new and revolutionary system combat power.
Give full play to the structural frame support
Structure determines function. In engineering structures, the structural framework mainly refers to the key support for the balance of the beam-column system and the stability of the structure. This concept is transferred to organizational form management, and is mainly used to describe the link relationship and the action space for the effective interaction of various elements in the military organization. To give full play to the structural framework support of the organizational form involves two aspects: static support and dynamic support. The so-called static support is to focus on forming a scientific military organization force structure and to set up a scientific military organization structural framework as much as possible. It involves the scientific configuration of various elements in the combat power system, which is specifically manifested in three aspects. The first is the ratio of combat elements and force units. For example, the composition ratio of the military services in the combat system, or the ratio of military services, the ratio of offense and defense, the ratio of personnel and equipment, etc. The second is the distribution of combat elements and force units. It mainly refers to the scientific deployment of combat forces on the battlefield, the distribution and configuration of various combat elements within the troops, and the evolution and development of the battlefield situation. The third is the hierarchical setting and morphological design of the system. Including the hierarchy of the army, the level of integration, the command system, the command method, etc. Dynamic support emphasizes that the structural support of an organization is also a specific organizational operational capability, including the ability of the military organization to operate efficiently and exert its effectiveness under the established configuration framework, and also the ability of the organization to quickly adapt and respond to changes in the external environment and adjustments in internal needs. This capability is more reflected in the macro governance structure, business process system, talent team and resources of the military organization. To accelerate the transformation of the military organization’s form, it is necessary to lay the foundation for the effective interaction of various elements in the organization and the realization of organizational functions by building a scientific and reasonable framework structure.
Improve autonomous iterative growth
Autonomous iterative growth capability refers to the ability of military organizations to achieve orderly development and active growth through active and continuous self-adjustment and optimization in the face of ever-changing war situations, external environments, and competitive pressures. The diversity and integration of combat power, the sequentiality and integration of combat power generation, and the jointness and nonlinearity of combat power release all put forward new and higher requirements for the autonomous iterative growth capability of military organizations. First, we must have a keen ability to perceive the environment. We must be able to detect defects or shortcomings in a timely manner, accurately judge the problems and risks that may result, and scientifically determine the timing and methods of intervention; second, we must have reliable innovation and correction capabilities. The ability to face problems with an open mind, analyze problems with effective mechanisms, and study problems with innovative ideas, and then propose feasible, reliable and highly consensus-based correction plans; third, the ability to execute efficiently. The ability to achieve the specific goals of evolutionary correction with full enthusiasm and high consensus, and to promote growth and optimization with a proactive attitude, so that each individual can implement with full trust when facing innovative and revolutionary adjustments. Facing the future intelligent warfare, promoting the transformation of the military organization is to focus on improving the iterative growth capability of the military organization. In the whole process of promoting the construction of institutional mechanisms, force structures and legal systems, we should simultaneously think about building a scientific consultation and evaluation mechanism for major decisions, building a sound supervision, feedback and correction mechanism, forming a benign innovation incentive mechanism, and promptly dealing with key and difficult issues with a dynamic perspective and a development vision.
In short, the transformation of the military organization is a process of adapting to the development of technology, following the development of the war form, actively optimizing and innovating the combat power form, and constantly liberating and developing combat power. The advanced military organization form should include static contents such as “appearance” and “structure”, and on this basis, it should effectively streamline business processes, improve operating mechanisms, and stimulate organizational dynamics, so that the military organization can achieve comprehensive transformation and transformation in terms of structure, mechanism, function, etc., and fully adapt to the requirements of the era of future intelligent warfare.
(Author’s unit: College of Military Management, National Defense University)
Source: China Military Network – People’s Liberation Army Daily Author: Zhou Hui Editor: Sun Zhiying Release: 2024-06-18 07:xx:xx
Modern warfare practice has proved that high-tech has become the core combat power and has promoted the rapid advancement of warfare towards intelligence. Especially under the guidance of new technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence, and supported by algorithms and computing power technologies, the degree of military intelligence is gradually deepening, and the characteristics of intelligent battlefield warfare are becoming more and more apparent.
The combat space is developing towards full-domain multi-dimensional integration
The widespread application of artificial intelligence technology in the military field will integrate combat units distributed in different battlefield spaces, accelerate the expansion of combat space, cross-domain linkage, and simultaneously exert efforts in multi-dimensional battlefield space and focus on multiple combat capabilities at the same time, so as to achieve precise energy concentration and release in the entire domain.
The pan-connection of data cloud networks has expanded the combat space in the information domain. With the development of new-generation information technologies such as big data and cloud computing, information domain operations will penetrate various combat spaces, and modular combat units dispersed in space will be connected into a decentralized distributed combat system. When combat missions change or certain nodes are damaged, by adding new nodes or upgrading other nodes, the original combat functions can be maintained or new combat functions can be formed. Relying on information infrastructure, the combat system presents the characteristics of distribution, self-organization, and self-synchronization, which greatly improves the reliability, anti-destruction, and flexibility of the combat system. The combat system has developed from a task-based, static-oriented direction to a capability-based, dynamic-oriented direction.
Intelligent weapons and equipment expand the physical domain combat space. With the development and application of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, autonomous control, and the Internet of Things, weapons and equipment are becoming more and more intelligent, more powerful, and more widely used. The battlefield of intelligent combat has expanded from traditional land, sea, and air to near-space, polar regions, deep space, deep sea, and underground.
The human brain and computer complement each other to expand the cognitive domain space. With the integrated development of artificial intelligence and cognitive science, human brain intelligence and artificial intelligence promote each other, which can realize the complementary advantages of human brain logical thinking and computer high-speed computing. In intelligent warfare, the cognitive domain combat space will become the main battlefield, and “brain control” and “brain control” will become the focus of future wars.
Combat forces are developing towards mixed human-machine formations
In intelligent warfare, new types of unmanned combat forces will become the main combat force and a new growth point for the military’s combat effectiveness. New types of unmanned combat forces such as space, network, electromagnetic and intelligent ammunition will directly participate in combat, achieving a seamless link from strategy to tactics, and forming a multi-dimensional, all-domain attack and defense, and rapid assault overall force.
Combat force formations are organized in a variety of styles. Human-machine mixed formations. According to different tasks, combined with unmanned combat forces with different functions, reasonable human-machine formations are carried out to give full play to human subjective initiative on the one hand, and the special functions of unmanned combat forces on the other hand, so as to achieve the best combination to achieve combat objectives. Autonomous formation of unmanned forces. In intelligent warfare, unmanned tactical units, as the smallest combat units, can autonomously form combat groups or teams according to combat mission requirements to attack or defend targets. They can also automatically coordinate and cooperate according to changes in battlefield environment and tasks to ensure the achievement of unified combat objectives.
Combat command develops towards autonomous intelligence
In intelligent warfare, the application of high-tech in the military field with artificial intelligence as the core has had a profound impact on combat command and even triggered disruptive changes.
Command information acquisition is more autonomous. The sensor platform of the intelligent battlefield can implement intelligent fusion processing of multi-source intelligence with “large volume, multiple types, fast transmission speed and low value density”, obtain valuable data from massive data, and automatically transmit it to the command and control center to provide information support for commanders’ decision-making.
Human-machine collaboration in command and decision-making. In intelligent warfare, the use of intelligent robot systems to assist in decision-making has greatly reduced the burden on commanders, freeing them from heavy tasks and allowing them to concentrate on studying operations and command. They can hand over some tedious intelligence information judgment, identification and disposal work to artificial intelligence-assisted decision-making systems, giving full play to the role of human-machine integration, reasonable division of labor and mutual complementation, greatly improving the commanders’ command efficiency.
Dynamic planning. An intelligent system based on artificial intelligence technology and intelligent human-machine interface technology can speed up the pace of updating battlefield dynamic information and quickly propose suggestions for adjusting and improving plans, which will help commanders update mission plans in a timely manner and improve the troops’ ability to act quickly.
Agile control response. With the support of artificial intelligence technology and sensor technology, the ability of intelligent control of troops will be further improved in the future. Specifically, intelligent weapons and equipment can use sensors similar to human vision and hearing to track and detect targets, and process the information obtained and provided by the command information system through computers similar to the human brain, so as to achieve autonomous analysis, identification, judgment, and make corresponding decisions, thereby regulating the attack on the target.
Combat equipment is becoming more intelligent
With the widespread use of artificial intelligence technology in the field of military equipment, intelligent combat platforms and systems, intelligent ammunition and intelligent weapons and equipment have been successively equipped in the army. Combat equipment will develop from manned equipment as the main and unmanned equipment as the auxiliary to manned/unmanned equipment coordination and unmanned equipment as the main direction. UAVs, unmanned combat vehicles, unmanned ships, unmanned spacecraft, military robots and intelligent individual systems will become the main force of intelligent combat. They have good combat performance, fast response speed, strong mobility and high combat accuracy, which plays a key role in seizing the initiative in war and even affects the entire war process.
The entire process of technological infiltration war
Intelligent warfare in modern warfare is supported by Internet technology, unmanned technology, data processing and prediction technology, target recognition and search technology, and artificial intelligence technology. Various high-tech platforms and systems are increasingly likely to replace human actions in various combat links such as intelligence reconnaissance, efficient command, precise action, and comprehensive support in war. These intelligent combat platforms or systems also have super computing, recognition, and autonomous control capabilities, especially the ability to complete urgent, difficult, and dangerous tasks under harsh conditions that are difficult for humans to complete. This trend is attracting more and more interest and investment from military powers.
China Military Network Ministry of National Defense Network
Friday , August 13, 2021
Since the 21st century, global scientific and technological innovation has entered an unprecedented period of intensive activity. A new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is reshaping the global innovation landscape and reshaping the global economic structure. Some people therefore call the current era the era of “deep technology”.
The military field is the most sensitive to technological change. At present, some major disruptive technologies are constantly emerging, showing a trend of cross-integration and group leaps. Their military applications will bring about sudden and revolutionary consequences, and even bring about a new form of war.
Artificial Intelligence: Opening the Door to Intelligent Warfare
Artificial intelligence was born in 1956. Its essence is to simulate the human thinking process, that is, to make machines understand, think and learn like humans, form experience, and generate a series of corresponding judgments and processing methods. In the past 10 years, with the continuous development of new theories and technologies such as big data, neural networks, and deep learning, artificial intelligence has pressed the fast-forward button and started to develop rapidly, bringing fundamental changes to all areas of human society.
In 2016, the artificial intelligence program AlphaGo defeated the world Go champion Lee Sedol. By 2020, the latest algorithmic programs can teach themselves to play Go, chess and other games without even being told the rules of the game.
As a strategic technology leading a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, the application of artificial intelligence in the military field has accelerated the transformation of warfare from informationization to intelligence. This transformation will be full-dimensional and full-spectrum, involving almost all links in the military chain. The most prominent impacts basically include the following aspects:
——Assisting unmanned combat. The rapid development of artificial intelligence will greatly enhance the collaborative and autonomous combat capabilities of various unmanned combat systems. This will undoubtedly promote structural changes in the composition of combat forces, and unmanned combat mode will gradually become the “main theme” of war. In a simulated confrontation in August 2020, an intelligent system funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency controlled a fighter jet and defeated experienced air force pilots. The trend of unmanned combat seems to be increasingly unstoppable.
——Reshape command and control. Complex adaptive systems supported by artificial intelligence, such as swarm systems, will have increasingly strong self-organizing capabilities, thereby breaking the traditional strict hierarchical command system and incubating a new command and control model. The action control of a swarm composed of thousands of unmanned systems will be completed by an intelligent and efficient algorithm system, which can achieve a high degree of decentralization and dynamic aggregation, demonstrating a new concept of group intelligent combat.
——Achieve intelligent decision-making. That is, generate intelligent evaluation and auxiliary decision-making capabilities, realize automatic generation, dynamic optimization, and real-time adjustment of combat plans, and enable combat planning to flexibly adapt to changes in the mission environment and battlefield uncertainties. At present, the new generation of artificial intelligence technology is in a stage of vigorous development, and new technologies will continue to emerge.
Quantum technology: writing the winning code in “entanglement”
Quantum is the smallest, indivisible unit of energy. The biggest feature of quantum technology is that it can break through the physical limits of existing information technology, play a huge role in information processing speed, information capacity, information security, information detection accuracy, etc., and thus significantly improve human ability to obtain, transmit and process information, providing strong impetus for the evolution and development of the future information society.
Quantum theory has gone through more than a hundred years of development since its birth. The development of quantum technology has directly given rise to modern information technology. Nuclear energy, semiconductor transistors, lasers, nuclear magnetic resonance, high-temperature superconducting materials, etc. have come into being, changing human production and life. In recent years, the continuous combination of quantum mechanics and information technology will usher in a new quantum technology revolution, impacting the traditional technology system and even causing the reconstruction of the traditional technology system.
Compared with the macroscopic physical world, quantum has many wonderful properties, the most representative of which are quantum superposition and quantum entanglement. Quantum superposition means that a quantum can be in different states at the same time, and can be in a superposition of these states. A vivid metaphor is the cat in a state of “both dead and alive” imagined by physicist Schrödinger. Quantum entanglement means that independent particles can be completely “entangled” together. No matter how far apart they are, when the state of one quantum changes, the other will change accordingly like “telepathy”.
These special properties of quantum contain great military potential. In quantum detection, quantum communication, quantum imaging, quantum computing, etc., they are gradually showing great military application value. For example, by taking advantage of the characteristics of quantum state superposition and the inability to accurately copy unknown quantum states, quantum codes that cannot be deciphered can be developed.
In addition, based on the characteristics of quantum entanglement, the high correlation between two microscopic particles with a common source can be utilized, and entangled photons can be used as light sources to achieve quantum imaging, which can greatly improve the resolution and anti-interference ability of imaging.
Gene technology: a new weapon that can be “edited”
Genes are the genetic information that controls various characteristics of organisms and are known as the “master switch” of various life activities of organisms. Gene editing is equivalent to a pair of “gene scissors”, which can accurately achieve gene “modification” such as insertion, removal, and replacement of specific target genes of organisms, thereby achieving control over the genetic information of organisms.
In 2012, researchers from the United States and Sweden found a very effective pair of “gene scissors”, namely the CRISPR/Cas9 system, which can cut any genome at any desired location. Since then, the development of gene editing technology has achieved unprecedented “acceleration”, realizing gene editing of fruit flies, mice, pigs, sheep, rice, wheat and other organisms, and also providing new medical means for treating diseases such as tumors, AIDS, and thalassemia.
While genetic technology is gradually unlocking the mysteries of life, it will also cause unpredictable military security issues. If gene editing is used in the development of biological weapons, it means that developers can modify genes to obtain new pathogenic microorganisms according to their own needs, or implant biological gene fragments with different characteristics and transform existing biological warfare agents, or even artificially design and synthesize new viruses that do not exist in nature. These may produce new biological weapons that humans cannot prevent and control, and even use the precision of genetic technology to make attacks more targeted. This new coronavirus epidemic has made the world suspicious of Fort Detrick and more than 200 American overseas biological experimental bases. The United States should disclose more facts and give an explanation to the international community.
Brain science: heading towards the battlefield of “brain control”
The human brain is a highly complex information processing system that consists of billions of neurons that communicate with each other and complete a variety of cognitive tasks in an overall coordinated manner.
The brain’s complex neural information processing and cognition are so complex that even supercomputers pale in comparison. Therefore, brain science research is regarded as the “ultimate frontier” of natural science research, and the International Brain Research Organization believes that the 21st century is the “era of brain science.”
In recent years, major countries in the world have announced the launch of brain science research programs. With the emergence of new imaging technologies, convergence technologies, and computing and information communication technology platforms, brain science research has made new breakthroughs in the fields of neural circuits, brain-like intelligence, and brain-computer interfaces.
As a branch of cognitive science, the “brain-computer interface” technology was born in the 1970s. It collects the EEG signals generated by the activity of the cerebral cortex nervous system, and converts them into signals that can be recognized by computers through methods such as amplification and filtering, so that external devices can read the brain’s neural signals, identify people’s true intentions, and achieve effective control of external physical devices. In other words, a certain operation is performed by the human brain without the need to complete it through the body.
As a new type of human-computer interaction, brain-computer interface technology provides a new intelligent development direction for the control of weapons and equipment. Realizing the direct control of weapons and equipment by the human brain and giving them the intelligent features of “moving at will” are becoming the goals pursued by Western military powers. In 2013, the US Department of Defense disclosed a research project called “Avatar”, which plans to control remote “machine warriors” through thoughts in the future to replace soldiers in the battlefield and carry out various combat tasks.
If the above research is regarded as “brain control”, then the use of “brain-computer interface” and other technical means to interfere with, destroy or even control people’s neural activities and thinking abilities is the so-called “brain control”. For example, electromagnetic waves and sound waves are used to affect the normal activities of human brain cells, and even suggestions and commands are directly “projected” into the human brain. In March 2018, a Western country proposed the “Next Generation Non-Invasive Neurotechnology (N3)” plan to develop a new generation of non-invasive two-way brain-computer interfaces to further improve the high-level interaction capabilities of soldiers and weapons and equipment.
In the future, the rapid development of brain science will give rise to a new cognitive domain combat model centered on the brain, and “brain control” will also become a new battlefield for the competition in the cognitive domain.
At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and military revolution is in a “qualitative change period”. Science and technology have never had such a profound impact on national security and military strategy as today. In the face of the rapid development of science and technology, we must vigorously enhance our scientific and technological cognition and acumen, strive to seize the commanding heights of science and technology, seek military competitive advantages, and seize the initiative in future wars.
Professor Liu Yangyue from the College of Arts and Sciences at the National University of Defense Technology
●To understand the laws of intelligent warfare, we must grasp the foundation of intelligence and autonomy, the key of building a war knowledge and action system, and the essence of the changes in the connotation of war power.
●War leaders must examine intelligent warfare dynamically, keenly capture the new elements spawned by intelligent warfare, correctly analyze the changes in the relationship between the new elements, and constantly re-understand intelligent warfare.
President Xi pointed out that we should seriously study the military, war, and how to fight, and grasp the laws of modern warfare and the laws governing war. Today, the intelligent characteristics of war are becoming increasingly prominent, and intelligent warfare has already shown its early form. In order to seize the initiative in future intelligent warfare, we should actively follow the development of modern warfare, keep close to the actual military struggle preparations, proactively understand the laws of intelligent warfare, deeply grasp its guiding laws, focus on answering questions such as “what is it” and “how to do it”, and constantly innovate war and strategic guidance.
Answering the question “What is it?” and understanding the laws of intelligent warfare
Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: “The laws of war are a problem that anyone who directs a war must study and must solve.” Today, as intelligent warfare begins to emerge, we should proactively understand “what” intelligent warfare is. Otherwise, we will not be able to solve “how to do it,” let alone control future wars.
The laws of intelligent warfare are the reconstruction of the war knowledge and action system. The laws of intelligent warfare, like the laws of cold weapon warfare, hot weapon warfare, mechanized warfare, and information warfare, are the inherent and essential connections between the elements of war. The difference is that it has new elements and new modes of composition between elements. It is essentially the reconstruction of the war knowledge and action system caused by the intelligent revolution. Today, to understand the laws of intelligent warfare, we must grasp the foundation of intelligence and autonomy, grasp the key to building a war knowledge and action system, and grasp the essence of the change in the connotation of war power. Mastering these laws can overcome the chaos and uncertainty in future wars and find order and certainty from them. This is the objective requirement for dealing with intelligent warfare.
The laws of intelligent warfare are the basis of the laws of war guidance. In “Problems of Strategy in China’s Revolutionary War”, Mao Zedong first analyzed the characteristics of China’s revolutionary war and revealed the laws of war, and then “derived our strategies and tactics from this”, that is, the laws of war guidance; in “On Protracted War”, he first explained “what it is”, and then turned to the question of “how to do it”, reflecting a logical order of the cognitive process. Today, the study of intelligent warfare should still follow this order, and neither put the cart before the horse, nor reverse the order; nor add, reduce or replace links. On the basis of mastering the fundamental law of intelligent autonomy, we must reveal the laws of war guidance such as autonomous perception, autonomous planning, autonomous implementation, autonomous linkage, and autonomous evaluation.
If you don’t understand the laws of intelligent warfare, you can’t guide the war. “Sun Bin’s Art of War” points out: “Know, win” and “Don’t know, don’t win.” Tao is the law of war. If you master it and act in accordance with it, you can win; otherwise, you will lose. Mao Zedong also emphasized: “If you don’t know the laws of war, you don’t know how to guide the war, and you can’t win the war.” Similarly, mastering the laws of intelligent warfare is the premise for correctly guiding intelligent warfare. Otherwise, it is inevitable to be confused by the superficial phenomena of intelligent warfare. Today, we need to analyze the basic, long-term and subversive impact of intelligent technology groups on war, and study what intelligent warfare looks like? What are the laws? How should it be fought? These are all major issues that must be answered in the guidance of intelligent warfare.
Solve the “how to do it” problem and reveal the guiding principles of intelligent warfare
The guiding laws of intelligent warfare are the medium for guiding practice by using the laws of intelligent warfare, playing the role of “bridge” and “boat”. We should solve the problem of “how to do it” on the basis of answering “what is it” and propose the “swimming skills” of intelligent warfare.
The guiding laws of intelligent warfare are the laws of applying the laws of war. The purpose of understanding the laws of war is to apply them. Marx pointed out: “Philosophers only interpret the world in different ways, but the problem is to change the world.” Similarly, intelligent warfare itself forces commanders to discover the laws. Once discovered, they will combine initiative and use the laws to serve winning the war, which will inevitably lead to the emergence of guiding laws for intelligent warfare. Today, war is the continuation of politics, which is still the law of intelligent warfare. From this, it can be concluded that intelligent warfare must obey the guiding laws that serve politics; soldiers and civilians are the basis of victory, which is still the law of intelligent warfare. From this, it can be concluded that the guiding laws of mobilizing the people in the broadest possible way are derived, and so on. These guiding laws for intelligent warfare are derived from the laws of war and are “swimming skills in the sea of intelligent warfare.”
Give full play to the active role of people in intelligent warfare. Engels said: “It is people, not guns, who win the battle.” The guiding laws of intelligent warfare are the laws of practice and use. It is not a simple “transfer” or “copying” of the laws of intelligent warfare, but it can be transformed into the guiding laws of war with the addition of people’s subjective initiative. Today, military talents who master artificial intelligence are not only the operators of intelligent weapons, but also the creators of artificial intelligence. People still occupy a dominant position in the intelligent human-machine system and are the decisive factor in the victory or defeat of intelligent warfare. Commanders should give full play to their initiative on the basis of mastering the laws of intelligent warfare and adhere to the “technology + strategy” combat theory generation model, so as to change from answering “what is” to solving “how to do”.
The laws governing intelligent warfare are constantly evolving. War is a “chameleon”. Intelligent warfare itself will also go through different stages such as germination, development, and maturity, which will inevitably lead to the development of laws governing intelligent warfare. War leaders must dynamically examine intelligent warfare, keenly capture the new elements of intelligent warfare, correctly analyze the changes in the relationship between the new elements, and constantly re-recognize intelligent warfare. We must keep up with the historical process of the accelerated advancement of war forms towards intelligence, grasp the direction of development of intelligent warfare and the pulse of the times, push the research on the laws governing intelligent warfare to a new level, and seize strategic initiative and opportunities on future battlefields.
Keep a close eye on the “initiative” and continue to innovate intelligent warfare and strategic guidance
As the military is ever-changing, water is ever-changing. As intelligent warfare has already arrived, we must follow the laws and guidance of intelligent warfare, keep close to the actual military struggle preparations, strengthen research on opponents and enemy situations, take the initiative to design “when”, “where” and “who to fight”, innovate war and strategic guidance, and firmly grasp the strategic initiative of future wars.
You fight yours, I fight mine. The highest realm of the art of war guidance is that you fight yours, I fight mine. “Each fights his own” requires commanders to use their own forces independently and autonomously in future intelligent wars, no matter how complex and difficult the environment is. In particular, enemies with high-tech equipment may cause a temporary local situation where the enemy is active and we are passive. At this time, we must use comprehensive means such as politics, economy, and diplomacy to make up for the disadvantages in weapons with an overall favorable situation, quickly reverse this situation, and restore the active position. If you are led by the nose by your strategic opponent, you may suffer a great loss.
Seize the opportunity and use the troops according to the time. The Six Secret Teachings pointed out: “The use depends on the opportunity.” Jomini emphasized: “The whole art of war lies in being good at waiting for the opportunity to act.” On the one hand, if the time is not right, do not force it. Be cautious about the opportunity, and have great patience before the opportunity comes to prevent strategic blind action. On the other hand, the time will not come again, so don’t miss the opportunity. Be good at seizing the opportunity, and once you encounter a favorable opportunity, you must resolutely use it and avoid being timid. It should be pointed out that we should look at the issue of the maturity of the opportunity dialectically. The future intelligent war is changing rapidly, requiring quick decision-making, but in the face of uncertain factors, we must make careful decisions. Sometimes making a decision early may be more effective than making a more perfect decision tomorrow. Therefore, we must dare to take a little risk, otherwise we will sit back and watch the loss of the opportunity for success.
Different domains are different, and operations are based on the local conditions. Clausewitz pointed out: “War is not like a field full of crops, but like a field full of trees. When harvesting crops, you don’t need to consider the shape of each crop, and the quality of the harvest depends on the quality of the sickle; when chopping down trees with an axe, you must pay attention to the shape and direction of each tree.” Different strategic spaces lead to different wars, and war guidance is also different. At present, the battlefield space is constantly expanding from traditional spaces such as land, sea and air to new spaces such as space and the Internet. War leaders should explore new intelligent war laws and guidance laws based on the characteristics of multi-domain, three-dimensional, and networked.
Aim at the opponent and win by taking advantage of the enemy. The Art of War by Sun Tzu states: “Follow the enemy and decide the battle.” Jomini also said: “No matter who you are, if you don’t understand the enemy, how can you know how to act?” Looking to the future, smart strategists should classify combat targets into primary combat targets and general combat targets, actual combat targets and potential combat targets according to their importance and urgency, and comprehensively and objectively understand the strategic intentions, force deployment, combat concepts, etc. of different combat targets, propose new intelligent war guidance laws that can give full play to the advantages of their own combat power, and implement correct war actions.
In short, the laws of intelligent warfare are the laws of the cognitive process, solving the problem of “what”; the guiding laws are the laws of the practical process, solving the problem of “how”. The two are dialectically unified and inseparable, forming a complete chain of understanding and guiding intelligent warfare. “Victory is not repeated, but should be formed in infinity.” Today, war and strategic leaders should, based on objective conditions, deeply explore and flexibly apply the laws of intelligent warfare and the laws of war guidance, and innovate war and strategic guidance in line with the times.
(Author’s unit: Academy of Military Science, Institute of War Studies)
Source: Liberation Army DailyAuthor: Hao Jingdong Niu Yujun Duan FeiyiEditor-in-charge: Wang Feng2021-03-16 10:12
In today’s world, the new military revolution has entered a critical qualitative change stage. Intelligent warfare with ubiquitous intelligence, interconnectedness, human-machine integration, and full-domain collaboration is accelerating. In order to consolidate its position as the world’s hegemon, the United States actively promotes the third “offset strategy” to “change the future war situation”, formulates an artificial intelligence development strategy, accelerates the actual combat testing and exercises of artificial intelligence, and regards intelligent technology as the core of a “disruptive technology group” that can change the “rules of the game”. Military powers such as Russia, Britain, and Israel are unwilling to lag behind and are also stepping up to improve their respective strategic layouts in the field of artificial intelligence. As competition among major powers intensifies, military intelligence will become the new commanding heights of the arms race.
【Key words】military conflict, artificial intelligence strategy, AI war 【Chinese Library Classification Number】D81 【Document Identification Code】A
In 2017, Master, known as the evolved version of “AlphaGo”, swept the top Go players on the online Go platform and won 60 consecutive games; in 2019, in the StarCraft II man-machine competition, two top human players were defeated with a score of 1:10; in 2020, in the “Alpha” air combat competition held by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the United States Department of Defense, the F-16 piloted by the US military ace pilot was completely defeated by the artificial intelligence fighter with a score of 0:5. These events show that the era of artificial intelligence that humans both look forward to and fear has quietly arrived.
Engels said, “Once technological advances can be used for military purposes and have been used for military purposes, they will immediately and almost forcibly, and often against the will of the commander, cause reforms or even changes in the way of warfare.” At present, the militarized application of artificial intelligence has caused “the winning mechanism of war to undergo an unprecedented transformation, and the center of gravity of combat power generation is undergoing a historic shift.” A new round of scientific and technological revolution, industrial revolution and military revolution provides support for the intelligent era of “controlling energy with intelligence.”
Military artificial intelligence demonstrates its powerful power in modern warfare
The drive of the arms race among the major powers is triggering a chain of changes in the military field. In recent years, the world situation has been in a turbulent period, which has triggered a series of geopolitical crises. The concept of “hybrid warfare” has entered the war stage, and military artificial intelligence has entered a new stage of development. The rapid development and comprehensive integration of technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and reconnaissance and strike drones have demonstrated their powerful power in modern warfare. Whether it is the physical domain of firepower strikes, the interest domain of economic sanctions, or the cognitive domain of public opinion and psychological control, it makes people deeply feel that military artificial intelligence is becoming popular.
Assassinating senior Iranian officials, AI becomes a “killing tool” for the US military. On January 3, 2020, then-US President Trump ordered the US military to launch an airstrike on Baghdad International Airport in Iraq without the consent of the US Congress. This airstrike directly killed Iranian senior official Soleimani. Soleimani is the top commander of the “Quds Brigade” of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Why was he successfully assassinated by the United States in the capital of Iraq? It is reported that the “Reaper” drone carried out this mission, which “targeted and eliminated” Soleimani by projecting “Hellfire” missiles. The operation was very secretive and could not be detected by radar. Even the US spy satellites did not know the location of the “Reaper” at the time. It should be emphasized that the assassination of Soleimani was an illegal and brutal act of the United States using terrorist means, “one of the war crimes committed by the United States by abusing force”, and its so-called “rules-based international order” is a pure whitewash, and its essence is a true manifestation of hegemony.
In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel launched the “first AI war”. In May 2021, Israel launched “Operation Rampart” against Hamas. During the 11-day battle in the Gaza Strip, Israel relied on advanced information collection technology, analytical algorithms and AI-led decision support systems to quickly and effectively select attack targets and use the most appropriate ammunition as needed. Through hundreds of intensive and precise strikes from multiple combat platforms, it paralyzed Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization’s rocket positions, rocket manufacturing plants, ammunition depots, military intelligence agencies, senior commanders’ residences and other key facilities, destroyed several autonomous GPS-guided submarines of the Hamas Maritime Commando, and killed Bassem Issa and other Hamas senior commanders and senior agents.
It has been disclosed that the artificial intelligence system used in the war is an algorithm system developed by an elite team code-named 8200. The three systems “Alchemist”, “Gospel” and “Deep Wisdom” hatched by the team were all used in this military operation. The “Alchemist” system can analyze the enemy’s attempt to launch an attack and provide real-time warnings through the communication device carried by individual soldiers. The information fed back by the soldiers will also be collected again and evaluated for the next attack; the “Gospel” system can generate target strike suggestions and mark target information in real time. Commanders can flexibly select important targets and implement strikes based on battlefield conditions; the “Deep Wisdom” system can accurately draw a map of the tunnel network of Hamas armed organizations in the Gaza Strip through intelligence collection and big data fusion such as signal intelligence, visual intelligence, personnel intelligence, and geographic intelligence, forming a situation map that fully reflects the conflict area scenario. The use of these technologies has greatly enhanced the Israeli army’s battlefield situation awareness capabilities. A senior intelligence official of the Israel Defense Forces said that this is “the first time that AI has become a key component and combat power amplifier in fighting the enemy.” The Israeli military believes that the use of AI has brought “super cognitive ability” and even directly calls it “the first artificial intelligence war.”
In order to seize the technological commanding heights, countries are stepping up their strategic layout of military intelligence
Artificial intelligence is regarded as a key strategic technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In order to gain the upper hand in the new round of disruptive technology competition, the world’s military and technological powers, led by the United States, have stepped up their strategic layout around military intelligence, and are working intensively and spare no effort.
The United States attempts to rely on artificial intelligence to maintain its military hegemony. Since 2016, the U.S. Department of Defense has successively issued documents such as “Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence”, “National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan”, and “Department of Defense Artificial Intelligence Strategy”, which have elevated the development of artificial intelligence to the national strategic level. In order to establish its own “rules of war”, the Pentagon has successively formulated artificial intelligence technology research and development plans, key project concepts, and technical standards and specifications, and focused on building a research and development production and combat application system. In summary, the U.S. military’s layout for the future development of artificial intelligence can be roughly divided into three stages: near, medium, and long. In the first stage, before 2025, with unmanned, stealth, and remote combat platforms as the development focus, a “global surveillance and strike system” will be built, and unmanned systems will become the main means of military intervention by the U.S. military. In the second stage, before 2035, with intelligent combat platforms, information systems, and command and decision-making systems as the development focus, an intelligent combat system will be initially established, and unmanned systems will surpass manned systems and occupy a dominant position in combat. The third stage, before 2050, will focus on the development of technologies such as strong artificial intelligence, nanorobots, and brain networking, fully realize the intelligence of combat platforms, information systems, and command and control, promote the expansion of combat space to biospace, nanospace, and intelligent space, and strive to seek the intelligent combat system to enter the advanced stage.
The various branches of the U.S. military have also launched and continuously updated their artificial intelligence development plans. The ground unmanned autonomous system has the “U.S. Ground Unmanned System Roadmap” and the “U.S. Robot Development Roadmap”, etc., and plans to achieve intelligent formations and coordinated actions of manned and unmanned by 2030, and realize the mobility of synthetic forces by 2040. The aerial unmanned autonomous system has a special drone development plan, and the long-term goal is to form a complete aerial unmanned equipment system covering high, medium and low altitudes, large, medium, small and micro, ordinary and long flight time. The maritime unmanned autonomous system is divided into two directions. One is to create a new underwater combat system, using multiple unmanned submarines to form a mobile integrated reconnaissance, detection, and strike network, and form an “advanced underwater unmanned fleet”; the other is to accelerate the development of surface unmanned ships and make breakthroughs in the “human-machine cooperation” of surface unmanned ships. In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense has also established partnerships with industry, academia and allies to ensure access to the most advanced artificial intelligence technology support.
Russia has also put forward its own strategic plan in the field of artificial intelligence. In recent years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has attached great importance to the development of artificial intelligence. He proposed that artificial intelligence is the future for both Russia and all mankind. Whoever becomes a leader in this field will stand out and gain a huge competitive advantage. Artificial intelligence is related to the future of the country. Russian Chief of General Staff Gerasimov said that the Russian army is “developing non-nuclear strategic deterrence forces” through artificial intelligence equipment. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Russian army is stepping up the research and development and deployment of military robots, and combat robots will be put into mass production.
As early as November 2014, Russia adopted a plan to develop combat robots by 2025, proposing that robot systems will account for 30% of the entire weapons and military technology system by 2025. In December 2015, Putin signed a presidential decree to “establish a national robotics technology development center”, providing institutional support for the development of artificial intelligence from a strategic level. In recent years, Russia has successively issued strategic plans such as “Future Russian Military Robot Application Concept”, “National Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy by 2030”, and “Russian Federation Defense Plan 2021-2025”, carried out war games in various complex combat environments, studied the impact of artificial intelligence on various levels such as strategy, campaign and tactics, and strived to build a multi-level and multi-dimensional unmanned intelligent combat system that is interconnected.
From the perspective of medium- and long-term goals, attacking unmanned equipment is the focus of Russia’s development. In 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed at the Russian Federation Security Conference that in the next 10 years, the Russian army will vigorously develop combat robot systems that can perform tasks on the battlefield. The short-term goal is to build a multifunctional combat robot force with certain autonomous control capabilities by 2025. According to information, the force will be composed of 5 types of robots, each of which can be independently divided into combat units and can basically complete battlefield combat tasks without or with very little human intervention. At present, the Russian army has started the experimental design work of the heavy and light robot “assault” and “comrade” systems. Some experts analyzed that the combat robot force may become an independent and brand-new branch of the Russian army.
The United States is wooing its allies to prepare for AI wars, and the AI arms race is intensifying. In recent years, in order to maintain its absolute leading position in the field of artificial intelligence, the United States has stepped up its own AI militarization construction while trying to win over its allies to jointly develop a joint operation AI system in the name of serving the alliance combat system. According to the U.S. “Defense News” website, in September 2020, the U.S. Joint Artificial Intelligence Center has launched the “Defense Partnership Program”, which covers the United Kingdom, France, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden and other countries. It aims to develop an AI system that is interconnected with the above-mentioned allies and lay the foundation for joint operations in intelligent warfare. It is reported that relevant defense representatives of the United States and its allies have held several meetings around this plan. The United States also claimed that this defense cooperation will “open the door” to more interested U.S. allies.
The United States’s push will undoubtedly intensify the AI arms race among the world’s major military powers. Among the United States’ many allies, Israel’s AI level is the best. Israel is the world’s largest exporter of military drones; it has the world’s first controllable autonomous unmanned vehicle, the Guardian, which has been equipped to the troops; it is the only country in the world, except the United States, equipped with unmanned surface vessels, and has many types of unmanned surface vessels such as the Protector, Stingray, and Seagull.
Other major countries are also stepping up their layout in the field of artificial intelligence. The United Kingdom has formulated an artificial intelligence development path of “universities as the source, military-civilian integration”, and issued the “National Artificial Intelligence Strategy” and the “Robots and Artificial Intelligence” strategic plan. France has formulated the “French Artificial Intelligence Strategy” and the “French Artificial Intelligence Plan”. Since 2018, it has increased its defense budget year by year and continuously increased investment in the research and development of artificial intelligence weapons. Germany has the world’s largest artificial intelligence research center. In 2018, it issued the “Artificial Intelligence Strategy” and planned to create an “Artificial Intelligence Made in Germany” brand by 2025. Japan has successively issued the “Artificial Intelligence Strategy”, “New Robot Strategy” and “Comprehensive Science and Technology Innovation Strategy”, and established the “Innovative Intelligence Comprehensive Research Center” to focus on the development of artificial intelligence-related technologies. In January 2021, the Australian Department of Defense issued the “Fighting the Artificial Intelligence War: Operational Concepts for Future Intelligent Warfare”. This document focuses on how to apply artificial intelligence to land, sea and air combat.
As some experts have said, “Intelligent technology is a double-edged sword. While it promotes the evolution of warfare to intelligent warfare, it also brings about a series of new war ethics issues and dilemmas in the law of war.” What changes will artificial intelligence bring to human society? This issue deserves in-depth thinking and continued attention.
(The author is the director of the News Research Department of Guangming Daily)
【References】
①Wu Mingxi: Intelligent Warfare—AI Military Vision, Beijing: National Defense Industry Press, January 2020.
③ Ding Ning and Zhang Bing: “Development of Intelligent Weapons and Equipment of Major Military Powers in the World”, “Military Digest”, Issue 1, 2019.
④ Ge Yan and Jia Zhenzhen: “Future Combat Concepts and Combat Styles under Military Transformation”, “Military Digest”, Issue 15, 2020.
⑤He Fuchu: “The Future Direction of the New World Military Revolution”, Reference News, August 23, 2017.
⑥Ma Junyang: “Russian-made unmanned intelligent weapons debut in Syria”, People’s Liberation Army Daily, December 30, 2019.
Geng HaijunPeople’s Forum (July 1, 2022, Issue 03)
At present, judging from the reform and development of the establishment system in major countries in the world, the military is developing towards a lean, small, efficient, intelligent, and integrated “man-machine (robot-drone)” direction, seeking to coordinate and fight together with robot soldiers, drones and human soldiers. According to statistics, the armies of more than 60 countries in the world are currently equipped with military robots, with more than 150 types. It is estimated that by 2040, half of the members of the world’s military powers may be robots. In addition to the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Iran and other countries that have successively launched their own robot warriors, other countries have also invested in the research and development of unmanned weapons.
The world’s military powers will set off a wave of forming unmanned combat forces to compete. The so-called unmanned combat forces are a general term for combat robots or battlefield killing robot systems. With the development of various types of information-based, precise, and data-based weapons and equipment, intelligent platforms have become the driving force for pre-designed battlefields, combat robots have become the main force on the battlefield, and the combination of man and machine has become the key to defeating the enemy. In the future, battlefield space forces will highlight the three-dimensional unmanned development trend of land, sea, and air.
USA Today once published an article titled “New Robots Take War to the Next Level: Unmanned Warfare,” which described unmanned warfare like this: drone fleets swarm in, using sophisticated instruments for detection, reconnaissance, and counter-reconnaissance; after locking onto a target, they calmly launch missiles; automatically programmed unmanned submarines perform a variety of tasks including underwater search, reconnaissance, and mine clearance; on the ground battlefield, robots are responsible for the delivery of ammunition, medical supplies, and food… In future wars, these may become a reality.
On land, various robots that can perform specific tasks are highly integrated mobile strike platforms with mechanization, informatization, and intelligence. For example, unmanned tanks are unmanned tracked armored platforms that are mainly controlled by their own programs. They can be remotely controlled by soldiers, and are dominated by long-range attack intelligent weapons and informationized weapons. They can automatically load ammunition and launch autonomously, and carry out long-range indirect precision strikes, effectively reducing the casualties of soldiers. In the ocean, various unmanned submarines, unmanned warships, etc. can sail thousands of miles and perform various maritime combat missions without the need for onboard personnel to operate. In the air, the human-controlled drone system deployed in actual combat is a drone system platform with its own reconnaissance and judgment, human control, integrated reconnaissance and attack, autonomous attack, and human-machine collaboration.
The use of drone weapons in wars highlights their combat capabilities, which will inevitably lead the armies of countries around the world to form unmanned combat units in full swing. In the Iraq War, the United States began to test the actual combat capabilities of unmanned combat vehicles. In March 2013, the United States released a new version of the “Robotics Technology Roadmap: From the Internet to Robots”, which elaborated on the development roadmap of robots, including military robots, and decided to invest huge military research funds in the development of military robots, so that the proportion of unmanned combat equipment of the US military will increase to 30% of the total number of weapons. It is planned that one-third of ground combat operations in the future will be undertaken by military robots. It is reported that the US military deployed the first future robot combat brigade (including at least 151 robot warriors) before 2015. In 2016, the US military conducted another experimental simulation test of the “modular unmanned combat vehicle” in a multinational joint military exercise. In 2020, the US Pentagon issued a contract with a price tag of 11 million US dollars to form a “combined arms squad” with the ability to cooperate with humans and robots, and plans to complete the construction of 15 future combat brigades by 2030. All squad members have human-like vision, hearing, touch and smell, can send information and attack targets in a timely manner, and can even undertake tasks such as self-repair and vehicle maintenance, transportation, mine clearance, reconnaissance, and patrol. The US Daily Science website reported that the US Army has developed a new technology that can quickly teach robots to complete new crossing actions with minimal human intervention. The report said that the technology can enable mobile robot platforms to navigate autonomously in combat environments, while allowing robots to complete combat operations that humans expect them to perform under certain circumstances. Currently, US Army scientists hope to cultivate muscle cells and tissues for robots for biological hybridization rather than directly extracting them from living organisms. Therefore, this combination of muscle and robot reminds the author of the half-cyborg Grace in the movie “Terminator: Dark Fate”.
On April 21, 2018, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) special forces launched a raid against extremist terrorists in Derbent, Dagestan, and for the first time publicly dispatched armed unmanned combat vehicles equipped with machine guns as pioneers. During the 2018 Russian Red Square military parade, the United States discovered a large number of Russian “Uranus-9” robots and other combat systems that had exchanged fire with Syrian anti-government forces in southern Syria, and showed their appearance characteristics to the audience. In August 2015, the Russian army used combat robot combat companies to carry out position assaults on the Syrian battlefield. The tracked robots charged, attacked, attracted the militants to open fire, and guided the self-propelled artillery group to destroy the exposed fire points one by one. In the end, the robot combat company took down the high ground that is now difficult for Russian soldiers to capture in one fell swoop in just 20 minutes, achieving a record of zero casualties and killing 77 enemies.
According to the British Daily Star website, after the British Army conducted a large-scale combat robot test at an event called “Autonomous Warrior 2018”, it unified drones, unmanned vehicles and combat personnel into a world-class army for decades to come. Future British Army autonomous military equipment, whether tanks, robots or drones, may have legs instead of tracks or wheels. In early 2021, after the UK held the “Future Maritime Air Force Acceleration Day” event, it continued to develop a “plug-and-play” maritime autonomous platform development system, which, after being connected to the Royal Navy’s ships, can simplify the acquisition and use of automation and unmanned operation technologies.
In addition to the development of robots by Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, other powerful countries have also successively launched their own robot warriors. It is expected that in the next 20 years, the world will usher in robots on land, sea, and air to replace soldiers to perform high-risk tasks. The future battlefield will inevitably be unmanned or man-machine integrated joint combat operations. The world’s military powers will launch a human-machine (drone) integrated combat experiment
The style of air combat is always evolving with the advancement of aviation technology. Since 1917, with the successful development of the world’s first unmanned remote-controlled aircraft by the United Kingdom, the family of unmanned equipment has continued to grow and develop, and various drones are increasingly active in the arena of modern warfare.
Since the 21st century, with the large number of drones being used on the battlefield, the combat style has been constantly updated. In the Gulf War, drones were limited to reconnaissance, surveillance and target guidance, but in the Afghanistan War, Iraq War and the War on Terrorism, the combat capabilities of drones have become increasingly prominent, and the combat style and methods have shown new characteristics, allowing countries around the world to see drones as a sharp sword in the air, thus opening the prelude to the integrated combat test of man-machine (drone).
It is reported that the total number of drones in NATO countries increased by 1.7 times between 1993 and 2005, reaching 110,000 by 2006. The United States, other NATO countries, Israel, and South Africa all attach great importance to the development and production of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and multi-purpose drones.
In 2019, more than 30 countries in the world have developed more than 50 types of drones, and more than 50 countries are equipped with drones. The main types are: “password” drones, multi-function drones, artificial intelligence drones, long-term airborne drones, anti-missile drones, early warning drones, stealth drones, micro drones, air combat drones, mapping drones, and aerial photography drones. The main recovery methods: automatic landing, parachute recovery, aerial recovery, and arresting recovery.
On September 14, 2019, after Saudi Aramco’s “world’s largest oil processing facility” and oil field were attacked, the Yemeni Houthi armed forces claimed “responsibility for the incident” and claimed that they used 10 drones to attack the above facilities. On January 3, 2020, Qassem Soleimani, commander of the “Quds Force” under the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was “targeted and eliminated” in a drone raid launched by the United States at Baghdad International Airport in the early morning of the Iraqi capital. At the end of 2020, in the battle between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh (Nagorno-Karabakh region), it was obvious that drones played an important role in the conflict between the two sides. In particular, many military experts were shocked by the videos that the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense kept releasing of the TB-2 “Flagship” and Israeli “Harop” suicide drones just purchased from Turkey attacking Armenian armored vehicles, artillery, cars and even infantry positions and S-300 air defense missiles. In December 2020, local conflicts in the Middle East and Transcaucasus showed that drones are playing an increasingly important role. Based on this, some military experts even predicted that the 21st century will be the “golden age” for the development of drones. Drones are bound to completely replace manned aircraft and become the “battlefield protagonist” of the 21st century.
Currently, the US Air Force plans to expand the teaming of manned and unmanned platforms between drones and manned aircraft, and by 2025, 90% of fighters will be drones. In other words, larger aircraft (F-35 fighters or F-22 fighters) can control a nearby drone fleet. For example, the F-35 fighter is like a flying sensor computer, which can obtain a large amount of data, and communicate, analyze and judge on its own, and finally upload the conclusion to the pilot’s helmet display. The pilot analyzes and processes the information obtained, formulates a combat plan based on the combat plan, battlefield situation, and weapons equipped by the formation, and then issues it to the drone… to achieve the purpose of manned aircraft commanding drones to cooperate in combat. In other words, the mixed formation of manned and unmanned aircraft will change the previous ground control to air control of drones, and the pilot will directly command the combat operations of drones. The US military envisions a modular design so that soldiers can assemble drones after taking out the parts of drones from their backpacks when needed in future battlefield operations, and can also use 3D printing drones. In August 2020, the U.S. Air Force defeated top F-16 fighter pilots in a simulated air battle with AI, which also proved that AI pilots can “think” creatively and quickly, and it may not be long before they surpass the skills of human pilots. The U.S. Navy’s new MQ-25 “Stingray” carrier-based unmanned tanker will be tested in 2021 and have initial operational capability in 2024, which will help expand the combat radius of aircraft carriers.
Since 2013, Russia has been equipped with a large number of drones, of which unmanned reconnaissance aircraft alone exceeded 2,000 by the end of 2019, most of which are light drones, such as the Kalashnikov drones that participated in the military operations in Syria. In the next step, each brigade or division-level unit of the Russian Army will have a drone company, and the airborne troops will also be equipped with a large number of drones. The Russian Northern Fleet will have a drone regiment, and some modern Russian warships will also be equipped with drones. In addition, from 2021, the “Orion” reconnaissance and strike drone developed by the Kronstadt Group will be equipped with the Russian army. This heavy drone can carry a variety of guided ammunition to perform combat missions. In addition, the Russian army is also testing two heavy drones, the “Altair” and the C-70 “Hunter”. These are enough to show that Russia has made significant progress in the field of drone research and development.
Israel is a true pioneer in the field of drones. The drones it develops are not only advanced, but also exported to other countries. It has equipped its troops with hundreds of drones, including the “Bird’s Eye” series of single-soldier drones, the “Firefly” drone, the light “Skylark-I” drone, the light “Hero” drone, the medium “Skylark-II/III” drone, the “Heron” drone, etc. In the mid-1980s, Israel had developed a land-based launch and patrol drone named “Harpy” or “Harpy”. The Harpy is a “suicide drone” capable of autonomous anti-radar attacks. It weighs 135 kg, can carry 32 kg of high explosives, and has a range of 500 km. Due to confidentiality reasons, the specific number and type of drones equipped by the Israel Defense Forces are not yet known. In order to deal with threatening targets such as enemy ground-to-ground missiles, Israel Aircraft Industries is developing a high-altitude, long-flight stealth unmanned fighter. The aircraft combines stealth technology with long-range air-to-air missiles, can carry Moab missiles, penetrate into the rear of the enemy’s battle zone, and intercept and attack ground-to-ground missiles in the boost phase.
On February 5, 2013, the British army stationed in Afghanistan used a micro unmanned helicopter for the first time to carry out front-line work of spying on military intelligence. This unmanned helicopter is equipped with a micro camera, which can transmit the captured images to a handheld control terminal in real time; it can fly around corners and avoid obstacles to identify potential dangers. Next, the UK plans to enable one manned aircraft to command five unmanned aircraft at the same time. According to a report on the website of the British “Times” on January 26, 2021, the British Ministry of Defense invested 30 million pounds to develop the first unmanned aerial vehicle force in Northern Ireland. According to reports, the contract for the design and manufacture of the prototype has been given to the American “Spirit” Aerospace Systems. The company has a branch in Belfast, and the contract is expected to provide 100 jobs. The British Ministry of Defense plans to start manufacturing the first prototype of this new type of unmanned aerial vehicle by 2025. It will be equipped with missiles, reconnaissance and electronic warfare technology equipment, becoming the British Army’s first unmanned aerial vehicle capable of targeting and shooting down enemy aircraft and avoiding surface-to-air missile attacks. Its partner manned fighters will be able to focus on missions such as electronic warfare, reconnaissance and bombing, thereby reducing costs and the high risks faced by British aircrews.
The French Navy will form its first carrier-based drone squadron at a base near Toulon, the 36F carrier-based aircraft squadron of the French Naval Aviation. The squadron will be equipped with S-100 drones and carried on the Navy’s Mistral-class amphibious landing ship. The formation of this carrier-based drone squadron reflects the French Navy’s desire to integrate drone expertise into a single professional team. Previously, the French Navy discussed the establishment of a dedicated drone squadron and the option of equipping the 31F, 35F or 36F squadrons with drones.
At the Paris Air Show in June 2004, the full-scale model of the NX70 Neuron unmanned combat aircraft displayed by the French Dassault Aviation Company rekindled people’s interest in the development of European drones. Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates…some new countries have disrupted the geopolitical landscape of drones and are writing a new page.
It can be predicted that drones will become the biggest highlight in the development of weapons and equipment in various countries around the world, and become the “trump card” of land warfare, naval warfare, air warfare, and space warfare in the 21st century. It will become a new combat force in offensive and defensive operations. It can not only use the various ground attack weapons it carries to strike enemy ground military targets in frontline and deep areas, but also use air-to-ground missiles or bombs to suppress enemy air defense weapons; it can not only use weapons such as anti-tank missiles to attack enemy tanks or tank groups, but also use weapons such as cluster bombs to bomb enemy ground forces; it can not only detect targets and judge the value of targets and then launch missiles autonomously, but also deceive and interfere with enemy command and control systems, etc. The world’s military powers will set off a battle to form a “man-machine (robot drone)” integrated force
With the deepening of military-civilian integration, the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, and the rapid development of big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things, not only will the development of unmanned weapons and equipment bring about tremendous changes, but it will also subvert the existing military force formation form. The “human-machine (robot-drone)” integrated intelligent army is bound to come.
In December 2015, in addition to sending traditional combat forces to the Syrian battlefield, the Russian army also sent a robot combat company mainly composed of unmanned combat platforms to participate in the battle for the first time. The company adopted a new combat mode of mixed manned and unmanned formations, built an intelligent combat system with the “Andromeda-D” automated command system as the core, and launched an attack on Hill 754.5 using a combination of full-dimensional reconnaissance and saturation attack, successfully seizing the hill. A few years ago, U.S. Navy officials in charge of expeditionary operations mentioned the vision of building a thousand man-machine combined warships, that is, a larger fleet of unmanned ships controlled by humans and coordinated with each other. The U.S. Navy announced that it plans to build an unmanned fleet of 10 large unmanned surface ships in the next five years for independent operations or joint operations with surface forces. According to the conceptual plan currently disclosed by the U.S. Navy, the unmanned fleet composed of large unmanned surface ships will mainly assist the Navy in completing highly dangerous combat missions. By combining with the Aegis combat system and other sensors, the coordinated combat capabilities of manned and unmanned systems will be enhanced. Its deployment will help reduce the demand for the number of large manned warships and reduce casualties in combat. According to the National Interest Network on January 20, 2021, the U.S. Navy Chief of Operations Michael Gilday released the “Navigation Plan of the Chief of Naval Operations” document on January 11, calling for the establishment of a mixed fleet of man-machine ships including large warships, various types of unmanned ships, submersibles and air strike equipment to prepare for all-domain operations in the new threat environment in the next few decades. The document states: “It is necessary to establish a larger fleet of underwater, surface and water platforms that meet the strategic and campaign needs of the troops, and a mixture of manned and unmanned platforms.”
In the “man-machine (robot-drone)” integrated forces, artificial intelligence technology is used to achieve an organic combination of “man-machine”, and cloud computing, new algorithms, and big data are used to formulate “man-machine” collaborative combat plans. Artificial intelligence is like an engine, big data + cloud computing is like a spaceship, and intelligent robots are astronauts. The organic combination of the three will surely add wings to the tiger and integrate man and machine. The future army is a human-machine integrated army. The squad and platoon commanders are gradually replaced by robots. Robots are gradually transformed from human control to autonomous decision-making or mind control through human brain cells. There may also be canteen-free barracks in the military camps. The military management may also be led by one or several military personnel to lead multiple or even dozens of intelligent robot teams with different division of labor tasks to complete the combat training management tasks that were previously completed by squads, platoons, and companies. Or there may be only one military commander in the command and control center for military training, and all intelligent robots in the training grounds may be controlled through video command and control for confrontation training, or remote control robot commanders may issue new training instructions, adjust task deployment, and change training grounds in real time.
The urgent need for the intelligent quality of military talents will also force the readjustment of the setting of the first-level military disciplines in the field of artificial intelligence. In the future, military academies will also open intelligent robot control disciplines, establish relevant human-machine integration laboratories and training bases, and focus on training intelligent professional military talents who understand computer control programs, intelligent design and management, image cognition, data mining, knowledge graphs, and can systematically master intelligent science and technology and have innovative consciousness. Future military talents must be proficient in intelligent technology, big data applications, and cloud computing, especially in the use of 3D or 4D printing technology to make various military equipment at any time, proficient in the control procedures, command methods, command issuance, and adjustment of tasks of intelligent robots, and proficient in the essentials of human-machine integrated autonomous combat coordination, so as to achieve the best combination of human information technology quality and efficient operation of intelligent robots. In addition, it is not ruled out that human-machine integration squads, combat simulation centers, imaginary enemy forces, combat units, intelligent headquarters, unmanned brigades, divisions, etc. will be established. By then, the military chief may also have one human and one machine, or the robot may serve as a hand or deputy.
In recent years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology and its widespread application in the military field, the form of war and combat style have been constantly changing. Some foreign academic articles believe that artificial intelligence is reshaping the form of combat forces, enhancing the effectiveness of combat systems, improving the effectiveness of combat command, and improving the quality of combat coordination, promoting profound changes in combat activities.
Reshaping the combat force
These academic articles point out that combat forces are mainly composed of combat personnel, weapons and equipment, and organizational structures, and are undergoing tremendous changes under the influence of artificial intelligence technology.
From the perspective of personnel structure, with the widespread application of artificial intelligence technology and related equipment systems in the military field, the demand for professionals with the ability to develop, manage, use and maintain artificial intelligence technology has increased significantly, and the proportion of technical personnel in combat forces will continue to increase. Frontline combat personnel are no longer just direct operators of weapons, but are gradually transforming into battlefield monitors, system commanders and key decision makers in human-machine collaborative operations, and the requirements for their scientific and technological literacy and information processing capabilities have been greatly improved.
From the perspective of the equipment system, intelligent weapons and equipment such as drones, unmanned combat vehicles, and intelligent missiles will appear in large numbers and become an important part of the equipment system. These equipment are highly accurate and flexible, with stronger autonomous combat capabilities, and can independently complete tasks such as reconnaissance and strikes, greatly changing the traditional equipment structure and combat mode. In addition, traditional weapons and equipment will also accelerate intelligent transformation by adding intelligent sensors, communication modules, and automatic control systems, so as to have the ability to interconnect and cooperate with artificial intelligence systems. For example, old tanks can be upgraded and transformed to realize functions such as automatic driving, automatic aiming, and intelligent ammunition loading, thereby improving overall combat effectiveness.
From the perspective of combat unit formation, unmanned combat systems will gradually develop from auxiliary combat forces to independent combat units and organize them, relying on their unique advantages in high-risk and high-intensity combat environments. Research reports from some think tanks in Western countries believe that drone swarm combat forces and unmanned combat vehicle battalions will become common combat formations, which can complete a variety of tasks such as reconnaissance and surveillance, intelligence analysis, and firepower strikes. In order to give full play to the respective advantages of artificial intelligence and human warriors, human-machine mixed formations will also become the main form of future combat forces. In this formation, human warriors and intelligent weapons and equipment work closely together to complete combat missions.
Enhance combat system effectiveness
Judging from the evolution trend, intelligent technology will integrate unmanned equipment across domains and empower traditional combat platforms, and will become the “enabler” of future system warfare.
At present, many military experts in Western countries believe that artificial intelligence can conduct a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of various elements of the combat system, identify weak links and optimization space in the system, and provide a scientific basis for the construction and adjustment of the combat system. By optimizing the structure and function of the combat system, the overall effectiveness and stability of the combat system can be improved, making it more competitive when facing a changing battlefield environment and a powerful combat system.
During the combat process, artificial intelligence can analyze the combat systems of both sides in real time, predict the opponent’s possible actions and weaknesses, propose targeted system confrontation strategies, and continuously adjust and optimize according to the actual situation in the combat process to achieve efficient operation of one’s own combat system and improve the quality and effectiveness of combat system confrontation.
Western militaries believe that based on the advantages of artificial intelligence empowerment, they can greatly enhance security risk defense capabilities. By automatically predicting, identifying, discovering, and handling complex security risks, they can autonomously protect personnel, equipment, and materials from various attacks, improve all-domain and all-round defense capabilities, and ensure the safety and stability of the combat system.
Improving combat command effectiveness
At present, artificial intelligence has been deeply integrated into all aspects of combat command, affecting the external manifestations and main activities of combat command. Human-machine intelligent fusion control supported by artificial intelligence technology will become the basic form of combat action control.
Some foreign research institutions have found that artificial intelligence systems can quickly analyze the situation based on real-time battlefield situations and a large amount of historical data, generate multiple combat plans, and timely deduce and evaluate plans, adjust and optimize actions, provide commanders with more scientific and reasonable decision-making suggestions, and efficiently guide the execution of plans, so that combat planning can keep up with the rapidly changing battlefield rhythm. Especially when facing rapidly changing battlefield situations, it can help commanders make accurate judgments more quickly.
With the continuous development of artificial intelligence technology, some intelligent combat systems have a certain degree of autonomous decision-making capabilities. In certain situations, such as facing sudden threats or the temporary appearance of fighter jets, combat command systems assisted by artificial intelligence can make decisions and take actions autonomously within the preset rules and authority range, shorten the decision-making chain, and improve the response speed and flexibility of combat. When the combat terminal has stronger intelligent autonomy, it can even realize the self-generation, self-evaluation, and self-adjustment of combat plans, breaking through the limitations of human reaction capabilities and forming a more adaptive combat command.
Many experiments have proved that based on the accumulation of massive combat data and the enhancement of big data analysis technology, artificial intelligence technology can accurately calculate the entire process of combat planning under simulation conditions, helping commanders to accurately analyze the situation in advance, comprehensively judge trends, and reasonably plan trends. Then, through combat simulation, simulation and deduction, etc., it can virtually carry out activities such as calculation of combat force requirements and optimization of tactics and actions. In the planning process, it can scientifically and dynamically adjust combat plan strategies to form the best option, provide more reliable reference basis for combat command, and improve the accuracy of command and control.
Improve the quality of combat coordination
As artificial intelligence technology is deeply integrated into the combat system, the responsiveness of various combat elements on the battlefield continues to improve, the response time is gradually shortened, the adaptability level is gradually enhanced, and the quality of combat coordination is continuously improved.
Some military experts in Western countries believe that the battlefield of the future will be cross-domain, networked, and nonlinear. Artificial intelligence can break the boundaries between various combat domains and combat elements through efficient algorithms, making the coordination between different combat forces closer and more efficient. Based on artificial intelligence technology, autonomous coordination and cooperation between manned and unmanned combat forces can be achieved, so that manned and unmanned combat forces can complement each other and complement each other, significantly improving combat effectiveness. Moreover, the application of unmanned combat systems is becoming more and more extensive. Artificial intelligence technology can perform cluster control and collaborative management of a large number of unmanned combat platforms, achieve efficient coordination and task allocation between them, and improve the overall effectiveness and safety of unmanned combat.
China Military Network Ministry of National Defense Network
