"In-depth precision strikes will be the key combat form, requiring the creation of a joint operations theory, while concepts such as a nonlinear battlefield and non-contact combat will dominate. Offensive-defensive IW [Information Warfare] will be the focus of coming wars. The aim of belligerents will be to seize the information high ground and pave the way for ultimate victory, with the struggle for information supremacy becoming the crux of battle, in a sense acting as a strategic deterrent. [..] [T]he ability to control information resources, both friendly and enemy, will determine victory or defeat, as well as the ability of information capabilities to break the enemy's will to resist (by attacking his cognitive understanding and convictions). [..] Stated somewhat differently, invisible forces (computing capabilities, communication capacity and system reliability) are now as important in measuring military strength as the number of divisions, wings and battle groups. [..] [T]he main target of IW is the ability to disrupt the enemy's cognitive and trust systems, and to exert control over his actions. [..] Here the term cognitive system refers mainly to information and computer decision-making systems. This thinking is similar, Weiguang notes, to a U.S. air force colonel who recommended "electronic beheading" at the beginning of an IW operation. [..] Non-governmental organizations in society and individuals will make use of the global computer network to take part in IW. This will make it increasingly difficult to define where and who are the belligerent parties on the information battlefield since the latter now has nearly unlimited parameters. Computer programmers will return to their offices or homes to fight, denying servicemen the chance to engage in close combat. "Unity of a nation" is the source of power in such a war, where the people are extensively mobilized.
Information was viewed in 1996 as a weapon that could cause various types of injury. These "information injuries" were caused by deception, occupation (information overload), contamination, blocking or sabotaging, and guidance. The latter is so named because it intentionally transmits certain information to an opponent so as to cause him to take an action conforming to the opposite side. Guidance injury is thus much like the U.S. perception management theory or the Russian reflexive control theory [..].
[..] Finally, Huan noted that command structures would be "thin and flat" since networked systems would eliminate the need for middle-level commanders, reducing the number of levels and producing a structure that is wide horizontally and short vertically.
The idea of a People's War also found expression in 1996. One author noted that there would now be a new kind of political mobilization, one based on "generating and distributing political mobilization software via the Internet, sending patriotic e-mail messages, and setting up databases for traditional education." These factors greatly increase the ability of people to participate in future wars, aiming to maintain the "peace of hardware through software confrontations." For example, one report noted the following warfare plans:
computer virus warfare (to paralyze core equipment)
network warfare (designed to infiltrate information systems)
broken circuit warfare (designed to disrupt the flow of command and control information)
[..] In addition, the Chinese stress the importance of people as the obvious "new heros" of the information age. In particular, they believe that the professions of electronics, computer, and information engineers will be just as vital in destroying an opponent's center of gravity as the infantryman. They may just be right."
http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/docume
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