“Here’s an overview of past to present warfare. According to General Flynn and other experts in warfare intelligence, we are currently in fifth generation warfare.” – KClancy at Telegram
“If one has to summarize fifth-generation warfare it could be done best through Sun Tzu’s quote, ‘All warfare is based on deception.”
Its helpful to bear this in mind as the current battlefield dynamics intensify. To be honest, it is scary. However it would be unconscionably scary if we were truly alone. We are not alone. We are on the right side of history with an experienced, highly-skilled General and a growing army of digital soldiers paving a new road to a great awakening.
FIRST-GENERATION WARFARE
First-generation warfare refers to conflicts in the ancient and post-classical periods that were fought with a large number of men, utilizing line and column tactics, and under state control.
SECOND-GENERATION WARFARE
In 1989, the American military coined the term, ‘Second generation warfare’ which refers to the Early Modern strategies adopted following the introduction of the rifled musket and breech-loading weapons. It also employed the use of machine gun and indirect fire.
THIRD-GENERATION WARFARE
Third-generation warfare is centred on utilizing strategies from technology that rely on speed, stealth, and surprise to go beyond the enemy’s lines and devastate their forces from behind.
In essence, this marked the end of linear warfare from a tactical perspective where troops sought to outmanoeuvre one another rather than just engage in combat to obtain the upper hand. Aerial battles were extensively part of third-generation warfare.
FOURTH-GENERATION WARFARE
With the nation-states losing their monopoly on wars and battles fourth generation warfare came into being where non-state actors started playing roles in wars. The majority of people believe that non-state actors are terrorists. While their understanding is alright, they still can’t comprehend the complete interpretation of a non-state actor.
It is pertinent to note that civil society and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) are also considered non-state actors. In this generation of warfare, states are to collaborate to fight these non-state actors. Fourth-generation warfare is characterised by a ‘postmodern’ return to decentralized forms of warfare, blurring the borders between war and politics, soldiers, and civilians.
FIFTH-GENERATION WARFARE
With the emergence of the Internet in the digital age, we have entered fifth Generation warfare. Fifth-generation warfare is mostly non-kinetic activity, such as social engineering, disinformation campaigns, usage of cutting-edge technologies like Information Technology and artificial intelligence to initiate cyber attacks.
Gray zone warfare, psychological warfare, information warfare, cyber warfare, and biological warfare are all part of fifth-generation warfare. Daniel Abbot described fifth-generation warfare as a struggle of ‘information and perception’.
Fifth-generation warfare is distinguished by its ‘omnipresent battlefield’ and the use of a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic force rather than exclusively military power.
Colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui of the People’s Liberation Army noted in their 1999 book ‘Unrestricted Warfare’ that the conventional military violence had decreased in the years following the Gulf War, which was correlated to an increase in ‘political, economic, and technological violence,’ which they argued could be more destructive than a conventional war.
If one has to summarise fifth-generation warfare it could be done best through Sun Tzu’s quote, ‘All warfare is based on deception’.
