China's strategy in a large war may be through exploiting systems of systems and attacking that of the enemy
WASHINGTON – So “systems of systems” -- not individual warriors, ships, planes, or tanks -- go to war? That’s what China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) thinks, at any rate. China’s 2015 Military Strategy, for example, vows to employ “integrated combat forces” to “prevail in system-vs-system operations featuring information dominance, precision strikes and joint operations.” The National Interest reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
7 Dec. 2021 -- This is how the China armed forces intend to put the Maoist “military strategic guideline of active defense” -- the “essence” of Communist China’s way of warmaking -- into practice.
They will fabricate systems-of-systems for particular contingencies and send them off to battle. Once there they will strive to incapacitate or destroy enemy systems-of-systems. Firm up your own weak spots while assailing an opponent’s and you shall go far.
You might call this “joint operations with Chinese characteristics” after the Chinese fashion. Earlier this year RAND analyst Jeffrey Engstrom’s monograph Systems Confrontation and System Destruction Warfare shone a spotlight on this dimension of Chinese strategy.
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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
