The “Information Age” has been around for decades. Whether you date it to the first transistors of the World War II era, the advent of home computing, or the rise of the internet, the “Information Age” has impacted all of our lives, in deeply important ways and warfare is no exception to this rule. From the 1991 Gulf War to repel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, the world has seen firsthand the role of information in modern warfare and the overmatch it can create for the combatant that can best leverage it. Although the use of information in warfare is not new, rapid technological advances have put a new emphasis on the role that information plays in warfare. Both the United States and the People’s Republic of China, as well as every other military, know and appreciate the impact that information has on the development and conduct of military operations, both warfare itself and within military operations short of armed conflict, and all sides are seeking to harness it for their own advantage. Indeed, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) teaches its officers, “In the modern military, each combat unit and each weapon system are coagulated to become one operational body through the bonding action of the military information system and if it loses this bonding action, then the military becomes a plate of loose sand.”
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