Starting from the deputy company commander of the Soldier Assault Team

The moment those words were spoken, the entire conference room fell silent. Good grief, you really dare to say that! And have you forgotten who the acting battalion commander of this pilot combined arms battalion is? This babbling on and on, aren't you just ruining your own chance?

Everyone in the conference room, from major generals to lieutenant colonels, deputy army commanders, deputy political commissars, directors, and section chiefs, had rather interesting expressions on their faces.

Some frowned slightly, while others looked shocked.

There's no way around it; once a pilot program is launched, everyone will assume it's an advanced project that's ahead of its time for the entire military.

While not everyone praised it and made steady progress, no one ever dared to openly admit that it was all show and no substance.

Such harsh words would only occur during discussions about whether or not to conduct a pilot program; no one would pour cold water on a decision made by the top leader.

Today, a young major who had just been promoted to the position of pilot commander pointed out the core drawbacks of the pilot program at the highest party committee meeting of the army group, when all the senior leaders of the army group directly pointed out the pilot program's shortcomings.

It can be said that his boldness, keen insight, and pragmatic attitude far exceeded everyone's expectations.

Amidst the complex and varied gazes and expressions of the crowd, only two people—Commander Gao Shijun and the Political Commissar—had eyes filled with admiration, curiosity, and inquiry.

Gao Shijun tapped the table lightly with his finger. "That's very well said. It's a bit like you're going to say something really shocking. Since you've explained it so clearly, then continue."

As I just mentioned, today there are no frameworks, no empty phrases, and no restrictions on your thinking. Feel free to speak your mind.

The political commissar nodded. "Old Gao is right, that's exactly it. As the old saying goes, it's better to talk about the ugly things upfront than to do them later. Go on, we'll learn something new from you."

"Yes, Commander, Political Commissar," Zhang Anbang replied calmly and composedly, neither humble nor arrogant.

"Commendations, based on the existing equipment, communication architecture and command system, the first-generation digital system we are building has four major weaknesses."

First, there is the problem of fragmented data and information silos across the entire domain.

Currently, our tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled mortars, reconnaissance vehicles, small drones, and individual soldier radios all use independent systems, independent protocols, and independent data ports, making each unit incompatible and unable to communicate with each other.

The enemy coordinates, fortification distribution, and armored group deployments identified by forward reconnaissance troops cannot be automatically transmitted back or shared in real time.

The only methods available were verbal communication via radio, manual recording, paper reporting, and hierarchical transmission, which were cumbersome and severely delayed, resulting in a complete disconnect between the static situation of the command vehicle and the actual battlefield.

Second, the communication bandwidth is extremely low and the network is rigid, making it prone to disconnection and failure in complex battlefields.

Military radios have a bandwidth of only a few thousand bits, barely enough to maintain basic voice calls and unable to support large data transmissions. Even a simple reconnaissance screenshot requires tens of seconds to transmit, and lag, packet loss, and delays are commonplace. Furthermore, they lack dynamic self-organizing networks and relay capabilities, making it extremely easy for combat units to lose contact during mountain incursions, urban building obstructions, and rapid troop movements.

Once subjected to enemy electromagnetic suppression, the entire digital system will be directly paralyzed and rendered ineffective, even less reliable and practical than traditional mechanized forces.

Third, the kill chain is lengthy and delayed, and decision-making relies entirely on manual deduction.

Target positioning, elevation conversion, meteorological correction, fire control data calculation, and fire allocation planning all rely on staff members manually looking up tables, performing calculations, obtaining approvals at each level, and issuing orders layer by layer.

It took several minutes from target detection to the completion of the fire strike.

The modern battlefield is constantly changing. This time difference is enough for the enemy to complete the transfer, concealment, and air defense deployment. Our digital equipment can only make things visible, but it cannot make them fast, accurate, or timely.

Fourth, there are issues with combat tactics and concepts, resulting in some wasted potential in equipment.

Our hardware equipment has barely reached the threshold of informatization, but our training methods, tactics, and simulation models still follow the same routine of frontal assault, dense advance, and step-by-step advancement used by mechanized forces in the 1990s.

This concept began to take shape during the Gulf War, but I believe it is not yet fully developed, so the tactical approach must be changed.

At this point, Zhang Anbang paused, his tone becoming increasingly firm, each word resounding and powerful: "If these four major flaws are not thoroughly resolved, this pilot battalion will forever remain a vanity project, a mere show unit."

It may look very glamorous, but in reality, it's no different from a traditional military unit, and might even be unable to unleash the combat power of a traditional unit, completely failing to achieve the original intention of the military region and group army's pilot construction!

"Tactical concepts," Gao Shijun and the army group's political commissar exchanged a glance and uttered these four words with considerable interest.

Not only the army commander and political commissar, but also the colonels and lieutenant colonels present found it unbelievable that tactical concepts came from the mouth of a mere major. To put it simply, it was an awkward and out-of-place statement.

Which of you here hasn't served in the military for many years and knows the rules of the military inside and out?

Tactical concepts, the iteration of combat systems, and the direction of troop transformation have always been the top-level assessment areas for army and division-level leaders and training departments, and are high-level tasks that set the tone and direction.

Given the hierarchical structure, the primary responsibility of grassroots units has always been to thoroughly understand the superiors' ideas, strictly align with and implement them, and ensure the effective implementation of training and combat readiness tasks.

Especially for battalion-level commanders, attending the meeting only requires understanding the intentions, accepting the tasks, obeying the arrangements, and conscientiously solving the specific problems in front-line operations.

At the enlarged meeting of the army group's party committee, you talked at length about the overall tactics and the merits and demerits of the system construction. To be frank, is this something a mere major should be saying?

Gao Shijun smiled and said, "Zhang Anbang, since you mentioned the old model and tactical concepts, I suppose you already have your own ideas. It's alright, speak freely and boldly. It's good for us old guys to broaden our horizons."

"Uh," Gao Shijun's words startled Zhang Anbang slightly. He immediately realized that he had spoken a bit arrogantly, but since he was already here, he couldn't care less.

He paused briefly, then spoke again with a sincere tone and upright posture, "Commander, esteemed leaders, you are giving me too much credit for my knowledge."

My understanding is based on following up on pilot equipment trials, reviewing foreign military combat examples, and addressing shortcomings in frontline operations. I have come up with some preliminary thoughts, which I welcome your feedback and corrections.

In my view, the development direction of combined arms battalions, especially digitized combined arms battalions, should be point-to-point precision strikes, multi-point coordinated field control, multi-path mobility, and small-group multi-path, distributed warfare.

Before anyone could ask, Zhang Anbang continued, "The Gulf War has been studied by the entire military for many years, and armies around the world are repeatedly reviewing it."

This war truly demonstrated a completely new form of modern warfare to the world, and it was precisely this war that forced us to continuously promote the reform of our armed forces in order to better defend our motherland.