Smart Borders, Intelligent Combat, Constructing Future Battlefields, and Hypersonic Missile with AI
Issue 3, 17 October 2021
Smart Borders, Intelligent Combat, Constructing Future Battlefields, and Hypersonic Missile with AI
(Image: BAE Systems)
Smart Borders and Smart Coastal Defence System
This week, multiple articles focussed on the construction of "smart borders" and "smart coastal defense system" using advanced technologies.
This article advocates the use of new-generation information technologies such as big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, etc., to build a "smart chain" for the entire process of discovery, reporting, decision-making, disposal, and evaluation of border and coastal defense. Building such smart systems will be a joint effort by party, government, military, police, and civilians. National Committee on Border and Coastal Defense has asked Guangdong Provincial Coastal Defence Commission to accelerate the development of a demonstration model of proposed "smart border" and "smart coastal defense system" being built in Guangdong province. As per the article, increased informatization efforts have resulted in the construction of thousands of monitoring stations and centers along with video surveillance. The article quoted Liu Jun, Deputy Director of the Border Defense Bureau of the National Defense Mobilization Department of the Military Commission, informing that China has built more than 30,000 km of frontier and coastal defense roads. These roads are equipped with blocking facilities and video surveillance. They also have constructed a basic "three-in-one" management and control system for - civil air defense, physical defense, and technical defense. The article also reports that an opinion document on the construction of smart borders and coastal systems and technical standards for the same will soon be issued under the 14th Five-Year Plan.
According to Chen Zhijie (陈志杰 ), a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Engineering (中国工程院) quoted in the article, building smart border and coastal defense has achieved mixed results. While some areas like network communication and data integration have shown good results, but confidential and secure communication is yet to be achieved.
Another article gives a rough overview of one such pilot smart system at the Southern Theatre Command which has an information management and control system. This system integrates voice, video, data transmission with some other advanced functions of command and control. The article calls it "electronic sentry" (电子哨兵).
Lastly, this article mentions Guanxi border systems being strengthened using the joint military-civilian efforts. This system has been used to detect illegal activities like smuggling.
Intelligent Combat
An opinion piece in PLA Daily talks about combining Linear and Non-Linear Warfare techniques in "intelligent" warfare. The author argues that the first battle is often decisive. Hence, it is important to play smart wars and seize the initiative in future wars. This is to be done by studying and exploring the ingenious combination of linear and non-linear combat to pre-emptively shape the situation, carefully lay out the battle situation, timely create a turning point, and effectively break the situation and control the situation. The focus of such combat system will be on paralyzing the enemy (着眼破体瘫敌), attack mind and control information (力求攻心制智), and multi-domain mixed action (多域混合作用). The later part of the article focuses on practical applications of the linear and non-linear operations such that the resultant combat system is a combination of a "machine + human + network" intelligent system. The author emphasizes cross-domain linkages to focus on precision and flexibility, achieving small gains, using intelligent unmanned swarms to implement multi-domain high-mobility distributed strikes against rapidly changing battlefield situations and different combat objectives. Lastly, the article highlights the importance of a flexible system that adapts to changing times and situations since intelligent warfare is never static. Rather than carrying out actual attacks, the emphasis is on actions like the surprise attacks on the central battle station and quick battles needing quick decision making.
Nonlinear warfare also means Hybrid warfare. It indicates the use of conventional military warfare tactics combined with non-military tactics like psychological warfare, economic warfare, political warfare, cyber warfare, and more. While some argue there is a difference between "hybrid warfare" and "non-linear warfare" (non-linear warfare being a Russian specialty), both use a combination of non-military tactics along with conventional military tactics to achieve their goal.
Constructing Future Battlefields
In this article, the authors outline important considerations for building future battlefields. They argue that the future battlefield will be a multi-dimensional field that will be carried out simultaneously in multiple domains such as the physical domain, information domain, and cognitive domain. They advocate the multi-dimensional deployment of battlefields (land, sea, and air) and the design of a joint combat battlefield system. Using advanced technology and a digital battlefield information chain, a holographic and transparent battlefield should be created. As per the authors, this battlefield information chain can be realized by integrating command, control, and communication units. Next, the design of these battlefields must be according to how battles are fought and according to combat styles. This involves integrating battlefield construction with national security strategy needs and strategic military requirements, following the technical and tactical standards of weapons and equipment, linking military requirements and battlefield construction tasks, implement combat mission requirements, etc. However, the authors argue that the ultimate goal of battlefield construction is to serve the needs of actual warfare. Hence given that the future battlefield will be smart and unmanned, it is crucial to ensure that each system is tested for being combat-ready. Hence, formulation of standards, planning, quality supervision, connecting supporting facilities, etc. is very important. The goal is to build practical technologies, not flashy applications. Finally, developing an economy that can sustain and support the development of such advanced systems is important. According to the article, infrastructure and warehousing, logistics, drones, and other industry systems in the future battlefield will promote the construction of a full-dimensional and multi-functional informatized battlefield that is compatible with national development.
Keep Innovating - Be the First One to Use Latest Military Technology
An opinion piece in PLA Daily argues that the stagnation in development and innovation causes the military to lose its edge in combat effectiveness. This stagnation can be due to a decline in strategic thinking, military culture, insufficient or irregular education and training, etc. Another important factor the author notes is the lack of scientific innovation. The author argues that to win a war, it is important to be the first one to use the latest scientific and technological achievements in the military field. To keep winning, it is necessary to reform and innovate and not use outdated technology.
Humans are Still Important in Battlefield Decision Making
The state media rarely holds back in praising Beijing's efforts to modernize the military, but they are also vigilant about the drawbacks of intelligent systems. For example, this article talks about the pros and cons of using computers and data for decision-making and emphasizes that humans still play a leading role in decision-making on the battlefield. The author cautions users to not rely on intelligent systems blindly. Following quotes from the article capture the essence of the author's arguments.
"Once the enemy has mastered the law, it is very likely to find system loopholes and lead to system misjudgements. Therefore, despite the introduction of intelligent auxiliary means, people are still the dominant factor in command and decision-making." (一旦敌方掌握规律，就很可能找出系统漏洞，导致系统误判。所以尽管引入了智能化辅助手段，在指挥决策方面，人仍是主导因素。)
"The battlefield in the future will change rapidly, and no matter how clever the algorithm is, it is impossible to predict the whole situation, and there will be some shortcomings and defects that are difficult to avoid." (未来战场瞬息万变，再高明的算法也不可能预想全部情况，也会存在一些难以规避的短板和缺陷。)
Hypersonic Missile with AI
Stephen Chan from South China Morning Post (SCMP) has reported that PLA scientists have proposed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can increase the accuracy of hypersonic weapons by 10 times, given that control is taken out of human hands and given to a machine. The article reports that the PLA scientists have published their findings in the peer-reviewed journal Systems Engineering and Electronics. A study by Professor Xian Yong and Li Bangjie and their team from PLA Rocket Force University of Engineering (RFUE) (中国人民解放军火箭军工程大学) showed that AI-based system could keep a hypersonic weapon on course with an accuracy of about 10 meters (32 feet). The article states that Chinese scientists have used AI to address other aspects of hypersonic flight, including engine control and communication, but the civilian aspects of this technology are still a challenge.
I could not get my hands on this paper. I will add it to the Additional Reading section if I find it later. However, this claim seems credible. RFUE was placed in a high-risk category by the ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre for its involvement in China's missile program. According to ASPI, scientists from RFUE have collaborated with researchers from several countries and produced over 100 papers on flight control and hypersonic missiles.
In Short
National Standardization Development Outline
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued the "National Standardization Development Outline" recently. The following thread by Tim Rühlig aptly summarizes the details:
The United States as Destroyer of Space Security
An article in PLA Daily on Germany's new Space Command calls the United States (US) "initiator" of disturbing the pattern of space security and the destroyer of space security. In this article, an academic from the University of Aerospace Engineering argues that space security was jeopardized and other countries rushed to form Space Commands after the US established Space Command in August 2019. Soon after the announcement by the US, France established Space Command in September 2019, Japan established Space Combat Force in May 2020, the United Kingdom announced Space Command in April 2021, and now Germany.
Another article in the same issue of PLA Daily alleges that the US is militarizing Space to maintain the US military hegemony. This article by an academic from the Academy of Military Sciences, University of Aerospace Engineering outlines the US Military's efforts to establish space warfare centers and integrate them with other forces.
Addressing shortcomings in IoT
The "Three-year Action Plan for the Construction of New Internet of Things Infrastructure (2021-2023)" released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and other eight ministries and commissions also seeks to address issues such as shortcomings in key core technologies, insufficient industrial ecology, insufficient large-scale applications, and support systems that cannot meet the needs of industrial development.
2021 National Cyber Security Promotion Week
The National Cyber Security Promotion Week was held from 11 October to 17th October in Xi'an, Shaanxi. It is being held every year since 2014. This year's theme is "Network security for the people, and network security depends on the people."
The concept of cybersecurity is central to the 2021 National Cyber Security Publicity Week.
The overall rise of internet users in each aspect of life seems to have worried authorities. One of the reasons for organizing such awareness programs is also to prevent unintentional leakage of sensitive information by military personnel.
On the occasion of 2021 Military Cybersecurity Publicity Week, several talks, awareness programs, conferences, and workshops were organized. For example, this article is about a special course on network security or internet security conducted by the Army Frontier and Coastal Defense Academy (陆军边海防学院). Another one is about the activities conducted by the Department of Military Information and Network Public Opinion, School of Political Science, National Defense University.
Cybersecurity in National Security
Emphasis on the importance of cybersecurity/network security is also for the sake of national security. For example, this article from Xinhua published by ST daily argues, "without network security, there would be no national security, there would be no stable economic and social operation, and the interests of the broad masses of people would not be guaranteed." The efforts to build safe cyberspace are inspired by Xi Jinping's thoughts on cyber power and the spirit of the "Four Persistences" on cyber security. The article talks about various measures implemented and laws enacted to ensure the safety of cyberspace. These include Cyber Security Law, Data Security Law, Personal Information Protection Law, National Cyberspace Security Strategy, and Critical Information Infrastructure Security Protection Regulations, Cyber Security Review Measures, Cloud Computing Service Security Evaluation Measures, etc. According to the article, a total of 322 national standards have been formulated and issued by various authorities.
Additional Reading
Hybrid Warfare with Chinese Characteristics, Michael Raska, RSIS Commentaries. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University.
Making Sense of Hybrid Warfare, James K. Wither, Connections Vol. 15, No. 2 (Spring 2016), pp. 73-87.
Picking Flowers, Making Honey, by Alex Joske, ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre.