On January 7, a motorized infantry division of the Shenyang Military Area Command conducted a new, exciting training exercise on IT application. Commanders sat in front of large displays, receiving real time information from battlefield and processing it on a timely basis. This system of information transmission was built on a software-supported platform, integrating the system's analysis and judgment. With the system, orders could be given and integrated attack could be conducted.
During the past years, the division has managed to build an integrated fighting mode with an eye to meeting the requirements of future information warfare, which has boosted the overall capabilities of fighters involved. How to give full play to its individual fighting units had been an insurmountable hurdle preventing the division from generating combat capability as a whole. To overcome this, the division used the technologies of computer, GPS and satellite communication to develop commanding software applications. It also built a public network platform and explored each single piece of military equipment and resources to combine all sub-systems of the division into an integrated fighting system and mode.
On the training exercise site, all information transmission, including calling meeting, giving orders, transmitting information from battlefield and other activities, was all done over the network. The speed of information transmission was greatly improved. The integrated air defense intelligence information system and the commanding system of the artillery regiment of the division were all able to deliver real time information regarding battlefield without any delays, which has shortened the time needed in operation and can give commanders advantages in capturing ideal fighting chances.
Meanwhile, basing its efforts on present establishment and equipment and in accordance with its principles of "grafting, revitalizing, and integrating", the division has overcome difficulties caused by incompatible interfaces, information transmission troubles and some pieces of equipment vulnerable to weather conditions by employing useful measures such as "embedding" and "mating". In collaboration with the Nanjing Army Commanding Institute, the Harbin Institute of Technology and other research and education organizations, the technologies of embedding and mating have been developed, and as a result, the time needed for artillery troops and air defense intelligence units to respond has been shortened.
By Zhou Xiaobo and Han Guoxian
(January 29, PLA Daily)
