Description
Like modern societies, militaries are increasingly reliant on digital platforms to change the way that planning and fighting are done. From ‘smart logistics’ to automated battle management systems, wars are likely to get more sensors, networks and data centres while legacy and new equipment will be increasingly fitted with digital devices that can send, receive, and decide (Neads, Farrell and Galbreath 2023). This change in war fighting is not only a response to the way society has become increasingly digital but also is the result of a long standing effort by militaries to increase the tempo over and above their adversary. Digital platforms allow for increased data transfer, the introduction of automated and machine learning systems and increasing granularity in the data feedback and analysis. Today’s Western militaries are under increasing anxiety that to outlast the expected war with China, digital platforms are needed to make them more agile, mobile and responsive. At the same time, digital platforms, once at war, become themselves subject to war. As a result, digital systems will have to be more resilient and redundant while the threat of disruption and subterfuge will be persistent. This paper is an initial look at what is referred here as ‘the digital battlefield’ to see how militaries are seeking to use networks, human-machine teams and artificial intelligence to fight the next major war.
