THE FOURTH DIMENSION OF WARFARE

Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu once said the art of war is like water and the tides - fluid and ever-changing.

That is why, through the passage of time, military forces need to evolve, generate new concepts and validate them through experimentation.

To stay relevant in this cyber-age where technological advances in computing and networking have taken root, a new "information dimension" of warfare has been created, altering the way battles are fought.

"Network-centric fighting concepts employing low-cost precision weapons, high-resolution sensors and advanced unmanned platforms are expected to dominate in the next major conflict," declared Singapore's Chief Defence Scientist Professor Lui Pao Chuen (top right).

Prof Lui said this in his keynote address at the C4I (command, control, communications, computers and intelligence) Asia Conference held in Singapore on 20 Feb.

The theme for this year's conference is Force Transformation in Action: Information Dominance. Over 500 military leaders and technologists attended the conference.

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has been actively pursuing Integrated Knowledge-Based Command and Control (IKC2) as a key enabler in its transformation journey.

Network-centric and knowledge-based warfighting allows for self-synchronisation in an unstructured battlespace. This, in turn, helps to decentralise the chain of command and transcends boundaries between fighting units.

"Decentralisation is necessary to gain time advantage and spatial advantage can be achieved with the domination of the fourth dimension," said Prof Lui.

"The first battles in the future will be between sensing and counter-sensing systems. Cyber warriors will be the 'shock troops' of the future," he added.

Since its inception in 2002, the C4I Asia Conference has been held once every two years and focuses on command and control in network-centric warfare, its ongoing evolution and the implementation challenges faced by armed forces.