Since its inception, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has undergone fundamental changes in its military strategy. To anticipate the turbulent international environment and maintain a favourable balance of power, the PLA has made incremental adaptations to its military strategy, reformed its organisational structure, and modified its operational concepts. Currently, the arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum computing, Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) has compelled the PLA to capitalise on the first-mover advantage to prevail in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The paper analyses the concept of intelligentised warfare and associated impacts on China’s military strategy. It highlights the organisational reforms and strategies adopted by the PLA to embrace a major change in its organisational structure. Based on these factors, the paper argues that embracing intelligentisation will enable the PLA to emerge as a formidable actor against its adversaries on the future battlefield.
Share this article
Emerging Geopolitical Alliances and Implications for Pakistan
The year 2025 has dramatically reshaped global and regional geopolitics through a series of crises: the India–Pakistan war, the Israel–Iran confrontation, and renewed instability on the Pakistan–Afghanistan border.
Pakistan in 2025
As 2025 draws to a close in few days, it is time to reflect back on the chain of events that have shaped the year. Apart from the typical highs and lows – the year saw some unprecedented events that will have a lasting imprint.
Cognitive Dominance in Air Power Employment: From Machines to Minds
In contemporary air warfare, there is a silent battle that begins long before the first missile is fired: the battle of the mind. The Indo-Pakistan conflict of 2025 reaffirmed this truth. In that short but decisive engagement, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) demonstrated that in modern warfare, victory is no longer about airframes destroyed but in the mastery of cognition, which is the ability to think faster, act smarter and control perception under stress. To make victory second nature, institutionalisation of cognitive gains through AI, cross-domain integration and leadership development is paramount for modern air forces.
