Advancing the Large-Scale, Combat-Ready, and Systems-Integrated Development of New-Domain New-Quality Combat Forces
Advancing the Large-Scale, Combat-Ready, and Systems-Integrated Development of New-Domain New-Quality Combat Forces
■ Zhang Wendou, Shi Shuai
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party designated "advancing the large-scale (规模化), combat-ready (实战化), and systems-integrated (体系化) development of new-domain new-quality combat forces (新域新质作战力量)" as an important component of accelerating the development of advanced combat capabilities during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. This is a major scientific judgment and forward-looking strategic arrangement made by our Party on the basis of the objective laws governing combat capability generation and the profound changes in the form of warfare (战争形态), the mechanisms of victory (制胜机理), and operational modes (作战样式) under new-era conditions. It points the way forward for the development of new-domain new-quality combat forces, provides strategic traction for accelerating the generation of advanced combat capabilities, and holds important significance for advancing the modernization of national defense and the armed forces, and for seizing the commanding heights and initiative in future military struggle.
"All warfare is based on engaging with orthodox forces and achieving victory through unorthodox ones (凡战者，以正合，以奇胜)." Since ancient times, seeking the new and embracing change has been the cardinal principle of military strategists for seizing military advantage and the winning position in war. Developing new-domain new-quality combat forces is a key measure for breaking with convention and achieving victory through novelty in the current era. Its underlying logic is to employ new technologies, expand into new domains, and mine new mechanisms, so as to achieve a qualitative leap in combat capability and realize a disruptive reshaping of the form of warfare, operational modes, and the laws of victory—thereby gaining a significant asymmetric advantage in military confrontation. However, it must be recognized that new-domain new-quality combat forces are not inherently equivalent to advanced combat capabilities. Only after achieving a force scale capable of influencing the course of battle, passing the test of wartime practice, and possessing a mature and complete operational system can they truly become advanced combat capabilities with practical combat effectiveness and strategic utility.
Clausewitz noted that "numerical superiority is the most universal factor in victory." Accelerating the large-scale development of new-domain new-quality combat forces is a prerequisite for generating advanced combat capabilities; only by achieving the scale leap from "small detachment" to "main force" can a fundamental and decisive impact be made on the balance of power, the state of the struggle, and the battlefield situation. In the late stages of World War II, Germany developed and employed the V-1 cruise missile and V-2 ballistic missile—weapons of epoch-making significance at the time—but due to their small scale and incomplete technology, they failed to play a strategic role in reversing the course of the war. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, the Qing Navy's Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were the top ironclad battleships in Asia, with armor, firepower, and tonnage clearly superior to Japan's main warships—but "two fists cannot beat four hands": two ace warships were insufficient to close the enormous gap in naval and overall military strength between China and Japan, and this was one of the important reasons for the total annihilation of the Beiyang Fleet.
"To have a strong army, one must have solid armor and sharp weapons, and conduct genuine selection and genuine training (欲得强兵，必须坚甲利器，实选实练)." Combat effectiveness is the core standard for testing whether new-domain new-quality combat forces can become advanced combat capabilities; without combat-ready training and employment, no matter how "new-type" a combat force may be, it cannot form advanced combat capabilities. In the 1960s, the reason our military's newly established surface-to-air missile units were able to achieve the unprecedented feat of shooting down enemy high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft was directly related to their adherence to the technical principles of the new equipment and their solid conduct of combat-ready training. We must fully recognize the critical role of new-domain new-quality combat forces in winning informatized and intelligentized warfare (信息化智能化战争), as well as the characteristics of high concealment, high complexity, and high intensity in new-domain new-quality confrontation. We must design operational scenarios and operational plans in a targeted manner, and through combat-ready adversarial exercises and training (实战化对抗式演训), identify problems, remedy shortcomings, mine potential, and enhance effectiveness. We must actively use overseas peacekeeping, maritime and aerial rights-protection operations, counterterrorism and stability maintenance, and other forms to put new-domain new-quality combat forces through tempering and refinement on the front lines of military struggle—finding gaps, gaining experience, and strengthening capabilities in actual combat.
"The talent needed for the halls of power is not the branch of a single tree (廊庙之才，盖非一木之枝也)." The systems-integrated development of new-domain new-quality combat forces is the key lever for multiplying and releasing advanced combat capabilities. Modern warfare is a contest of system against system (体系与体系的对抗); the characteristics of "platform-based combat supported by systems, tactical actions backed by strategic assurance (平台作战、体系支撑，战术行动、战略保障)" are increasingly prominent, and "no joint operations without systems integration, no victory without joint operations (无体系不联合、无联合不制胜)" has become a basic law. New-domain new-quality combat forces in space, cyber-electromagnetic (网电), deep sea, unmanned systems, and other domains must be deeply integrated into the joint operational system (联合作战体系), leveraging the system's information empowerment, network empowerment, and intelligent empowerment to provide strong support for situational awareness, command and control, and logistical support, thereby achieving a combat power multiplication effect of "1+1>2." In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the reason certain advanced weapons provided by Western countries to Ukrainian forces were able to achieve major battlefield results is fundamentally that these weapons were backed by the powerful operational systems of Western countries, including command-and-control systems and satellite intelligence networks.
"Therefore, in the art of war, do not rely on the enemy not coming; rely on having the means to receive him (故用兵之法，无恃其不来，恃吾有以待之)." Throughout history, taking proactive action to seize the initiative in developing advanced combat capabilities has been a key factor in changing national power and supporting the rise of great powers. Some countries have become world powers precisely by seizing the historical opportunities presented by scientific and technological revolutions, industrial revolutions, and military revolutions—using new-domain new-quality combat forces as the lever to build military strength that leads the world, thereby providing strong security guarantees for the expansion of overseas interests. As the new round of technological revolution accelerates, strategic frontier technologies in artificial intelligence, biology, quantum science, and other fields are being applied ever more broadly to production, daily life, and the military domain; human existence and national security are increasingly extending into new spaces such as the deep sea, the polar regions, cyberspace, and outer space; and competition for interests and military struggle over emerging domains are intensifying. Seizing the era's window for overtaking on the curve (弯道超车), pressing forward with the large-scale, combat-ready, and systems-integrated development of new-domain new-quality combat forces, and accelerating the incubation, cultivation, and effective supply of advanced combat capabilities will provide strong support for our country to calmly respond to the dramatic reshaping of the geopolitical landscape and the accelerating evolution of the form of warfare.
(Authors' affiliation: War Studies Institute, Academy of Military Sciences)