People’s Liberation Army: Army Campaign Doctrine in Transition (Kevin McCauley) (January 2023)

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The PLA develops generic offensive, defensive, and special conditions campaign models
    to support planning and training for operational scenarios it believes are relevant to
    potential conflicts. These generic campaigns provide planning factors, force organization,
    and operational methods for combat.

  • The choice of campaigns reveals that Taiwan and Indian conflict scenarios are the key
    scenarios for which the PLA is planning and training.

  • Some of the campaigns do not appear to represent operational situations the PLA is likely
    to face in the near to mid-term.

  • PLA doctrinal change is evolutionary, and in the past slow. The available PLA sources on
    Army doctrine appear to show incremental change to date due to developing technologies
    such as artificial intelligence or research on operational methods exhibited in recent foreign
    conflicts such as the United States military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

China’s PLA Explores “Battlefield Metaverse” Training Base To Simulate Future Warfare

“In the face of the surging wave of new technological revolution, military construction can continue to develop and advance only by adhering to integrity and innovation. Keeping an eye on the frontiers of scientific and technological development, constantly absorbing the latest scientific and technological achievements, and applying them to the practice of military reform and preparation for military struggle in a timely manner are the only way and effective measures to win future wars.”


According to a recent article in the official People’s Liberation Army Daily newspaper, the PLA has been reforming its training methods to enhance combat capabilities and create realistic combat environments for troops, in part to overcome a lack of combat experience.  The PLA believes that a “battlefield metaverse” simulating future combat environments can be created where troops can experience a future multi-domain space approaching actual combat conditions.  Such a complex, dynamic, and harsh battlefield environment requires the use of advanced technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, brain-computer interface technologies, “super bionic” technology, and the Internet of Things.  

The PLA describes a metaverse as a highly technologically developed virtual world existing in parallel and reacting to the real world.  The battlefield metaverse can simulate the effects of new concept weapons such as meteorological weapons creating harsh environments or an unmanned “blue army” to prepare troops in a complex immersive environment.

Creating such a battlefield metaverse to simulate future warfare would not only increase unit combat capabilities.  It would also improve tactics and test emerging technologies required to prepare for and win future military struggles.  The PLA currently employs Battle Labs for testing tactics and new technologies, but short of actual combat, a truly immersive experience would better prepare troops to win future conflicts.


Source:

“Create a realistic and applicable ‘battlefield metaverse’ (打造逼真适用的“战场元宇宙),” PLA Daily (official People’s Liberation Army newspaper), 14 April 2022, http://www.81.cn/jfjbmap/content/2022-04/14/content_313630.htm

In recent years, with the development of information network technology, various new terms, new concepts and new things emerge one after another. After big data, cloud computing, Internet of things and blockchain, the “meta universe” has attracted more and more attention.In fact, “metaverse” is not a new term. It originated from a sci-fi concept in the novel “Avalanche” 30 years ago, and now refers to the Internet applications and social life forms that are formed by technologies such as extended reality, digital twins, blockchain, and artificial intelligence. Although it is not known how the “metaverse” will develop in the future, it at least provides us with an idea: with a series of advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc., it is possible to create a “battlefield element” that simulates future wars. “Universe” provides a super space-time environment that combines virtual reality and Internet of Things for training and preparing for war.

China’s PLA Increasing Use of Simulators and Simulations

“In order to build a real training scene to the greatest extent, the brigade makes comprehensive use of photoelectric, information, audio, virtual reality and other technologies to simulate the actual feeling of equipment operation, set up a variety of combat environments and complex special situations, ensure that officers and soldiers of different specialties can be effectively tempered in a near real operating environment, and promote the rapid generation of combat effectiveness. At the same time, the simulation training platform can flexibly set the training difficulty, and automatically store the operation process, time, and other training data to further improve the training quality and efficiency. It is understood that relying on the simulation training platform, many new soldiers of the brigade have obtained work qualification certificates, and the talent training cycle has been significantly shortened.”


Several recent articles published in the People’s Liberation Army Daily highlight the increased use of training simulators and simulations to improve unit training, lower training costs, reduce wear on equipment during field training, and enhance unit combat capabilities.   A combined brigade of the 74th Group Army in the Southern Theater Command employs simulator platforms for driver and firepower training.  The armor simulator provides training for desert, jungle, snow, and other complex environments encountered in the Southern Theater.  The first article claims that using simulators accelerates the training cycle for crew members compared to field training, providing practical experience and training qualification certificates.  Simulator platforms include multi-function, networked training systems for armor, artillery and other combat disciplines.  The article also indicates that the increased use of simulators provides both quality training and an efficient means to rapidly generate combat power within units.

The second People’s Liberation Army Daily article illustrates how the Southern Theater Navy uses simulations to boost the combat capability of its destroyer detachments.  The destroyer formation found that use of training simulations was an efficient means to supplement actual combat training.  Units can execute various operational scenarios and missions including logistics functions.   The third??? excerpted article from People’s Liberation Army Daily examines standardization of military medical simulation platforms for medical support at the brigade and battalion level.  The combat medical system is a pilot project by the Logistic Support Department of the Central Military Commission.  The article states that the system consists of multiple pieces of equipment simulating various injuries, wound treatment, and wartime rescue.  The brigade-level system provides medical training for advanced first aid and some emergency treatment.  The battalion-level system provides medical training for basic treatment of battlefield casualties.


Sources:

“第74集团军某旅: 模拟训练平台加快人才成长(A brigade of the 74th Group Army: Simulation training platform accelerates talent growth),” People’s Liberation Army Daily (official news outlet of the PLA), 4 April 2022. http://www.81.cn/jfjbmap/content/2022-04/04/content_312941.htm

The leader of the brigade said that the traditional training model has a long training cycle and slow accumulation of practical experience. It takes a long time to train a qualified combatant. In order to effectively solve this problem, they actively innovated training methods, and introduced simulation training platforms in accordance with the idea of ​​”multi-functional training systems, networked training platforms, and practical training standards”, covering armor, artillery and other major combat disciplines, officers and soldiers. You can complete a variety of equipment operation training in the virtual environment, and quickly master the basic skills of professional operation.

Source: “南部战区海军某驱逐舰支队模拟训练助推实战能力提升(Simulation training of a Southern Theater Navy destroyer detachment enhances actual combat capability),” People’s Liberation Army Daily (official news outlet of the PLA), 11 April 2022. http://www.mod.gov.cn/power/2022-04/11/content_4908646.htm

“The combination of overseas training and indoor simulation training has effectively improved the technical and tactical level of officers and soldiers,” said the leader of the detachment. Not long ago, they conducted a maritime confrontation exercise. When encountering “enemy” ships, the officers and soldiers seized the opportunity to occupy a favorable position and carried out fire strikes, successfully reversing the passive situation.”

Source: “全军规范旅营卫勤战救模拟训练器材配备标准 (All army standardization of combat rescue simulation training equipment for brigade and battalion medical service),” People’s Liberation Army Daily (official news outlet of the PLA), 10 April 2022. http://www.81.cn/jfjbmap/content/2022-04/10/content_313260.htm

The battlefield medical aid simulation training equipment is mainly used to simulate common injuries in wartime and provide relatively realistic training conditions for military personnel, which is of significance for the generation of wartime rescue capabilities….

The standards include11 types of simulation training equipment for the battlefield medical aid in 6 categories, basically covering the primary first aid, advanced first aid, and some early treatment requirements as specified in the provisions on medical aid in wartime.

Among others, the military medical aid training platform at battalion level, equipped with two types of simulation training equipment for CPR and field first-aid, mainly functions to provide training for self-rescue and mutual medical aid skills for service members, including ventilation, hemostasis, bandaging, fixing, transferring, CPR, respiratory tract opening and respiratory maintenance.

The military medical aid training platform at brigade level mainly serves for advanced first aid and some emergency treatment simulation training targeting medical professionals. It is equipped with 6 types of simulation training equipment for CPR, advanced airway management, puncture training, and so on.