Recently, the information support force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was formally established. Correspondingly, the number of the Strategic Support Force has been revoked, and the leadership and management relationship between the Military Space Force and the Cyberspace Force has been adjusted. Judging from the current readjustment of forces, the Chinese People's Liberation Army has already taken the lead in the world in adapting to modern warfare.
The phenomenon of informationization of military activities has long appeared. Electronic computers have greatly promoted the process of informatization. With the miniaturization and miniaturization of computers, Western militaries are increasingly delegating computers to the tactical level and grassroots units. The maturity of the single-chip microcomputer quickly spread to weapon platforms and ammunition, forming a situation in which no war could be fought without a computer. The advent of the Internet has further deepened the role of computers and computer networks in military activities. People have fully realized that fighting a war is not only about firepower and logistics, but also about information. The concepts of information-based warfare and information-based armies have gradually spread throughout the world.
From ancient times to the present, human military activities correspond to different battlefield geographical spaces, and gradually form different branches of the military, such as the army, navy, and air force. Under each branch of the armed forces, different branches of the armed forces have been formed according to their different combat missions and functions. From the most traditional infantry, it has developed into armored troops, artillery, and army aviation units of the army, while the navy has developed surface ship units, submarine units, aviation units, and marine corps, and the air force has developed fighter aviation, bomber aviation, ground-to-air missile troops, and airborne troops. The information-based army is a new thing, and how it should be formed has always been studied and practiced. Generally speaking, in order for the armed forces to acquire information-based combat capability, they cannot do without the three elements of theoretical design, force organization, and armament. In practice, informationization runs through all operational fields of land, sea, air, and space power grids, and it is very difficult to separate the elements of informationized operations from various branches of the armed forces and form an independent branch of the armed forces. When it is necessary to carry out information-based combat training, it is necessary to carry out cross-service coordination, and the wartime process is long, which may delay fighters. Therefore, information-based personnel and information-based equipment should be synthesized to the grass-roots level as much as possible. However, if there is no unit at the branch level to coordinate the informationization work, it will also be unfavorable, and it will be difficult to carry out standardized construction and provide standardized services, and there is also a need for a leading unit for informationization coordination between the services and arms.
Since the 80s of the last century, the US military has been discussing the issue of forming informationized troops, but due to the serious mountaineering of the US military system, it is difficult to set up a brand-new informationized military branch like the independence of the Air Force after World War II. Since the beginning of the new period, the PLA has made great progress in the field of information-based equipment and personnel training, and through in-depth research on armed conflicts and military operations around the world, our army has gained a deeper understanding of information-based warfare. Any war is inseparable from the support of intelligence information and the smooth flow of communication and liaison, and in combat, all branches of the armed forces are not only the clients of intelligence information use, but also the providers of intelligence information collection. The information support unit is deeply integrated into the joint operations system of the whole army, and is responsible for the collection, fusion, analysis, processing, and distribution of intelligence information, and provides accurate and efficient information support to other services and arms, so as to serve and support military struggles in all directions and fields.
In the news on the establishment of the information-based support force, the names of the military space unit and the cyberspace unit were also officially disclosed. This is also the first time in the history of the PLA. Previously, foreign countries have been speculating about the existence and organization of the PLA's aerospace forces and cyber forces. Today, the PLA has generously announced the existence of these two units, which means that the establishment system, personnel allocation, and equipment system are all in place, and they can carry out combat missions in special fields as independent arms. It should be said that in today's world, apart from China, the United States, and Russia, other countries probably do not even have the basic resources to form these two arms of the armed forces. Forcibly formed, it is nothing more than an empty shelf. Those who regard China as an imaginary enemy will probably have to carefully weigh whether they have the strength to compete with China.