Automation of high-tech war command and control

When the computer went to the battlefield, it also brought revolutionary changes to the command means, and its symbol was the emergence of the military command automation system. Since the 1970s, a large number of new technology weapons have been applied to the battlefield, and the number of arms and services participating in the war is increasing day by day, and the battlefield is expanding day by day, which makes the troops move at a high speed, the battlefield situation changes dramatically, the fighters are fleeting, the workload of war command is greatly increased, and the command time is greatly shortened. This requires commanders and command organs to grasp and understand the rapidly changing battlefield situation in real time, carefully analyze, accurately judge and make up their minds quickly. It has become the most important issue in military command. The rapid development of microelectronics and computer technology provides a new command tool for military combat command, so the military command mode has undergone a major change-the implementation of automated command.

In the battlefield space under high-tech conditions, in a very short time, without highly automated command and control means, it is difficult to effectively command various combat forces and modes and give full play to the overall power. For example, during the Gulf War, the theater automation command system established by the US military in the Gulf formed a communication network through communication satellites and ground communication equipment, and was integrated with the command systems of the Pentagon, the central headquarters and the armies of the participating countries. The central headquarters of the US military coordinates various operations of 780,000 people in more than 30 countries every day. Command and coordinate more than 2,000 aircraft of more than 40 models from 12 countries, take off from dozens of airports and multiple aircraft carriers, and * * * dispatched more than 1 100000 sorties to bomb thousands of targets in Iraq. The "air raid mission procedure" published daily alone is more than 700 pages long, and the military information processed during the whole war reached tens of millions of words, which is quite impressive. This is entirely due to its advanced command automation system.

The Iraq war is an information war in the United States. Based on information technology and information environment, the command, control, communication, computer, intelligence and electronic warfare systems are integrated with digital equipment to realize the sharing of information resources and the timely exchange of operational information among services and arms. Greatly improved the commander's ability to command operations.

Similarly, from the process of Britain sinking Argentina's only 10,000-ton cruiser during the Falklands War, we can also see the great role of the command automation system. When the American reconnaissance satellite found the Argentine cruiser "General Bei Grana" driving near the Falklands, it provided this information to the British task force in time. The fleet immediately made a battle plan to destroy the cruiser and submitted it to the British wartime cabinet. The wartime cabinet approved this plan, and the task was given to the British nuclear-powered submarine "Conqueror" which was already beside the ship. "Conqueror" immediately fired two torpedoes and buried "belgrano" at the bottom of the sea. As can be seen from this example, the war took place at sea, but the information came from reconnaissance satellites in the sky. The battle was fought in the southern hemisphere, and the orders were indeed issued from the northern hemisphere. Information is transmitted many times from the air to the ground, from east to west, from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. All this cannot be carefully checked and controlled by the senses alone, and orders must be executed by automatic means.

As can be seen from the above two examples, command and control automation is an inevitable requirement of high-tech war. Without command and control automation, high-tech wars cannot be carried out. In a sense, there is no high-tech war without command and control automation, which is also an important reason why command and control automation has become the characteristic of high-tech war.

The development of modern science and technology, especially the development of reconnaissance technology, communication technology and computer technology, has promoted the establishment of military C4ISR system and made it possible to automate military command. C4ISR system (command, control, communication, intelligence, monitoring and intelligence) is closely integrated to help commanders make correct decisions and command. Moreover, it is like "adhesive", which forms the whole of various forces on the battlefield and doubles the combat capability. Therefore, people usually call C4ISR system "force multiplier". Some people have realized the automation of army command and control, which is the "third military revolution" after aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons.