Eight Principles For A New System of Warfare

Eight Principles for a New System of Warfare:

1.        Spiritual Warfare, Surveillance and Espionage. Intense dedication to spiritual warfare and conventional espionage for the prevention of warfare on the political level, reconnaissance and total victory without a shot being fired. This is to be achieved via observation and influence upon the political and military leadership. For more on spiritual warfare, see my book Spiritual Warfare: Battling the Forces of Darkness.

2.        The China Playbook. The pursuit of economic influence by using one’s corporations to invest capital in a variety of potentially threatening nations. The protection of one’s own economy via tariffs, regulation and making rival nations dependent upon your economy. Making the economy independent of other nations – or as close to total self-sufficiency as possible – is also crucial in warfare. Preparing the civilian population via the installation of bunkers, SAM batteries and the preservation of rations and reserves, as demonstrated in Switzerland, is also a shrewd precaution. ‘If you want peace, prepare for war.’

3.        Disinformation campaigns online and offline to spread confusion amongst the enemy and the civilian populace. Modern technology enables such a proliferation of disinformation tactics that it can be practically impossible to anticipate the exact nature of an attack. The main thing is to mislead the enemy about the location, nature and timing of any attack. Once the assault is underway, every effort should be undertaken to exaggerate enemy losses in manpower, materiel and territory to demoralise the enemy.

4.        Drone Warfare.  As the Iranians have demonstrated, swarms of thousands of cheaply made drones can overwhelm enemy air defences. They can also be used to distract from more sophisticated bomber drones and other valuable air assets such as stealth bombers, B1 bombers and fighter jets. Drones could swiftly overcome resistance via bombing campaigns and capture territory by airdropping armed robots. The Ukrainians have recently demonstrated the effectiveness of this strategy by dropping ground systems such as the ARK-1 platform from hexacopter bomber drones, bypassing difficult terrain. The drone and robotics element should be in the vanguard of any conventional assault force, followed by conventional mechanized and manned elements. This enables not only the rapid capture of enemy territory, it also facilitates encirclements of enemy ground forces. The main countermeasure against enemy drone and robotics assaults will be batteries of radio frequency weapons to disrupt their electronics and render them inoperative. The use of military corporations and venture capital is critical to ensuring technological advantage (see my article Military Financing and Innovation).

5.        The Corps System. Following the use of drones and air-dropped robotics systems, a more conventional force deployment is envisioned. The rapid capture of territory via manoeuvre warfare – air strikes, targeted special forces operations, drone swarms, paratrooper drops, electromagnetic warfare and cyber infrastructure strikes, followed by rapid deployments of tanks and mechanized infantry divisions, moving in carefully spaced yet independent diamond shaped corps across the battlefield to capture land as fast as possible, according to a modernised version of Napoleon Bonaparte’s battalion carré system. The system involves a vanguard for reconnaissance to scout and make first contact with the enemy, two units to protect the flanks, a rearguard and reserve and the Corps commander in the centre of the diamond. A heavy weapons or artillery element could also bring up the rear. The army should be organised on the basis of units of 10, 100, and 1,000.

6.        Deterrence. Mobile missile launchers would follow close behind the shifting frontline to capture territory rapidly and in all probability, on a lasting basis. These launchers would include fuel-air bombs and tactical nuclear weapons, with a firm warning issued that any attempts by the enemy to retake land already captured will result in a missile launch, the nature of which may be left ambiguous or plainly stated. One could even automate the process or allow the enemy to believe that a nuclear launch is automatic should they make incursions beyond a certain point, increasing the deterrent effect. Russian President Vladimir Putin successfully deployed mobile nuclear missile launchers following his annexation of Crimea in 2014 and this deterred armed Ukrainian attempts to retake the peninsula. This tactic prevents loss of territory already gained and the associated lengthy engagements. Strategic nuclear weapons would of course be maintained in readiness as an additional deterrent. The objective is to deter prolonged conflict, not to trigger a nuclear war, although the military should be prepared for all scenarios.

7.        The Future Warrior. Warfighters making use of advanced uniforms and nanomachines for rapid communications, increased endurance, higher intelligence, easier access to information, superior resistance to enemy weaponry, and synchronised military manoeuvres. The use of robotics systems will also play an increasing role in the future of warfare; there is less risk to human warfighters, making such systems more politically feasible.

8.        Counter-Insurgency. Counter-insurgency can be facilitated via the use of advanced population surveillance and electromagnetic radiation directed via personal devices to prevent attacks, followed up by precision drone strikes and military raids. It is also possible to ward off insurgencies via the use of military affiliated corporations to disseminate products, services and innovations to the populace (at a profit) and issue stronger, inflation-proof currencies, perhaps backed by captured public assets of the enemy nation, winning hearts and minds. Combined with religious freedoms and an occupation that respects local cultural and political norms, the desire for resistance will diminish significantly. Better yet, the target is simply eliminated without a ground invasion and a lengthy occupation, with the concomitant alienating influence on the local population, is avoided altogether. This is what should have occurred in Afghanistan in response to 9/11.