Toward an Understanding of People's Liberation Army Information Warfare Doctrine
Abstract
Chinese and American Information Warfare (IW) terminology and concepts overlap due to the Chinese incorporation of established American airpower doctrinal concepts into their own publications. Leaders and theorists within the People's Liberation Army must reexamine this incorporation of American IW thinking into the development of their own IW doctrine because the incorporation is incomplete and will cause fundamental problems for the PLA in implementing information warfare operations. This is true for two primary reasons. First, Chinese military doctrine lacks an awareness of the important role of targeting frameworks in long-range precision attack missions. Targeting frameworks are essential for providing the necessary constructs for corporate, as opposed to individual, decision-making on target selections. Second, the Chinese doctrine functions under a fundamental principle of information control, which runs contrary to the tenets of speed and flexibility. Yet the recognition and utilization of these two tenets is central and fundamental in American airpower doctrine, which the PLA has seemingly begun to adopt into the development of their own information warfare doctrine. The problematic subjects of targeting and information control are each vital enough to render Chinese IW doctrine ineffective. Together, they will prevent success on the battlefield.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 28, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA379682
Entities
People
- Carson L. Tavenner
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology