Strategic Analysis Report: The Evolution of the PLA's Command and Control (C2) in the Era of Intelligentized Warfare

Preface

This strategic assessment thoroughly examines the evolving Command and Control (C2) within the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The PLA's C2 transformation is driven by the imperative of Intelligentized Warfare (智能化), which aims to replace the traditional decision-making approach with a new paradigm based on the AI-powered Trinitarian Formula. The PLA's objective is to achieve cognitive superiority, enabling Total Control in the crucial Electromagnetic Domain (ED) through Electromagnetic Space Warfare (ESW).

The report focuses on the central paradox of the PLA's modernization: the unresolved tension between the military necessity of adopting Mission Command (delegation and speed) and the political dogma of Total, Centralized Control by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as outlined in the "Five Principles."

This conflict has historical parallels. During World War I, for instance, armies that delegated broad decision-making authority to junior officers on the ground (such as German units with competent, technically trained officers) gained a clear advantage in operational speed and effectiveness. Conversely, military systems characterized by a command chain concentrated at the political/strategic level, often staffed by senior officers lacking immediate tactical autonomy (analogous to the Italian experience), suffered critical decision-making sluggishness, being overwhelmed by the enemy's tempo. The PLA's centralized C2 risks replicating this historical strategic weakness.

The analysis assesses the impact of this evolution on the primary U.S. operational concept, Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), and offers recommendations to the Department of Defense (DoD) to address the risk of an asymmetrical decision advantage and the heightened danger of crises and unauthorized actions stemming from the complex implementation of the human-machine hybrid C2.

Autors: Gabriele and Nicola Iuvinale

1. The Ideological Foundation and Structural Challenge

1.1. The "Five Principles" and Absolute Political Control

The Chinese military strategy is intrinsically linked to Party ideology, codified in the "Five Principles" (Source: Nicola Iuvinale, Extrema Ratio News, Oct. 2025). These principles, rooted in dialectical materialism, mandate the unconditional supremacy of politics over military operations:

• Principle 1 (Uphold Political Leadership): Commands absolute political supremacy and unconditional subordination to the CMC Chairman (Xi Jinping). This requirement guarantees political control but is the primary brake on C2 agility.

• Principle 4 (Balance Overall Planning): Requires Systems Thinking, which favors a holistic approach to the combat system but also reinforces the tendency toward centralization of high-level planning.

1.2. The Command Paradox and Decision Slowdown

The PLA's centralized C2 is historically inadequate for the speed of modern warfare. The requirement for decisions to flow through high-ranking political cadres and the CMC heavily burdens and prolongs field decisions.

• Parallels and Weakness: The PLA's centralized approach contrasts with the historical advantage gained by decentralized systems.

• The Crisis of Control (RAND): Despite the operational benefits of Mission Command (delegation for speed), the PLA is projected to have uneven implementation due to the reluctance to relinquish political control. This unevenness increases the risk of unauthorized actions by frontline forces during crises.

2. The New Decision Paradigm: Intelligentized Warfare (智能化)

The core of the PLA's modernization is the development of an advanced decision system capable of replicating and surpassing human cognitive capabilities, transforming military decision-making into a "scientific method" (Source: Nicola Iuvinale, Extrema Ratio News, Jul. 2025).

2.1. The Trinitarian Formula for Combat Power

The new C2 is based on the synergy between three interconnected components:

Component	Strategic Role	Operational Implication
Large Model	Cognitive Intelligence and Creative Reasoning	Provides hypothetical reasoning for unprecedented scenarios, manages human-machine interaction, and integrates heterogeneous data for cognitive comprehension.
Knowledge (The "Dao")	Professional Military Guidance and Rigor	Transforms AI into a specialized military assistant. Encodes laws of warfare, causal chains, and decision procedures to ensure coherence and professionalism.
Algorithm (The "Shu")	Precise Execution and Optimization	Offers deterministic computational capabilities and high precision (e.g., ballistics, resource allocation), essential for surgical precision in execution.

This synergy creates "New Quality Combat Power," shifting competition to the deep application of knowledge beyond mere information transmission.

2.2. Hybrid C2 and Complexity Management

Intelligentization requires a distributed and adaptive C2 (Source: Hu Xiaofeng, PLA Daily, Jan. 2024):

• Operational Decentralization: C2 models must evolve toward self-organization, self-adaptation, and self-repair of systems in a highly contested environment, guaranteeing greater autonomy for fighting units (Source: Li Haodong, Li Rougang, Li Xia, PLA Daily, Apr. 2025).

• C2 Uomo-Macchina: The Knowledge Guidance Mechanism serves as a common language for deep collaboration, where AI understands human intent and commanders focus on value judgments and creative thinking. This transforms command from an experience-based model to a scientific, intelligence-assisted one.

• The Weapon of Complexity: The PLA seeks an asymmetrical decision advantage by imposing complexity on the adversary through: limiting intelligence ("black swan" events), weakening reactivity, creating boundary confusion in operations, and pushing the enemy system toward a critical point (overload or collapse).

3. The Primary Objective: Electromagnetic Space Warfare (ESW) and Strategic Comparison with MDO

The immediate technological focus of intelligent C2 is Electromagnetic Space Warfare (ESW), aimed at Total Dominance of the Electromagnetic Domain (ED), deemed the "super domain" and the nervous network of modern conflict (Source: Nicola Iuvinale, Extrema Ratio News, Oct. 2025). ESW is the operational realization of Intelligentized Warfare and poses a direct challenge to the U.S. Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) doctrine.

3.1. Strategic Clash: PLA ESW (Total Control) vs. US MDO (Distributed Resilience)

The confrontation between the two doctrines reveals a philosophical conflict over complexity and control. The Chinese approach is markedly ideological, aiming for the Marxist Total Control of the spectrum to achieve the pervasive disruption of the adversary's C2. Conversely, MDO aims for Distributed Resilience and Pragmatic Flexibility, through the rapid convergence of effects across all domains:

Characteristic	PLA Intelligentized ESW	US Multi-Domain Operations (MDO)
C2/ED Goal	Total Control for pervasive destruction of enemy C2.	Temporary Superiority and creating "windows of opportunity."
Methodological Basis	Dialectical Materialism and AI Cognitive Autonomy (Trinitarian Formula).	Pragmatism and System of Systems (JADC2) (Mission Command).
Vulnerability Exploited	MDO's reliance on assured, central connectivity for domain synchronization (C3I).	The inherent tension between required tactical autonomy and the CMC's absolute political control.

3.2. MDO Vulnerability and Cognitive Warfare

The PLA, through ESW and its capacity for cognitive/deception warfare, aims to exploit the vulnerability of U.S. C3I (Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence). MDO, by its nature, requires highly integrated real-time coordination (JADC2) that is extremely sensitive to disruption in the Electromagnetic Domain.

The deployment of Chinese intelligent systems enables the PLA to flood or contaminate the adversary's information ecosystem with false or distorted data, effectively blinding U.S. decision systems. This is not merely a technical attack, but a cognitive one. Unless adequately resilient, MDO risks paralysis in an environment where trust in data is compromised. The competition is thus waged between the PLA's ability to impose its centralized vision of control versus the U.S.'s necessity to maintain a distributed and trustworthy decision process in a hostile environment.

4. Conclusions and Recommendations for the DoD

The PLA's Intelligentized Warfare project represents the central strategic challenge of the 21st century. Its success would grant China an asymmetrical decision advantage and render traditional U.S. operational concepts obsolete.

Strategic Recommendations:

1. Prioritize C2 Resilience (Anti-ESW): Invest massively in highly resilient, decentralized C2 architectures (aligned with Mission Command) that can operate successfully even in degraded ED environments and under hybrid soft-kill and hard-kill attacks.

2. Defense Against Cognitive Warfare: Develop active and passive defenses against the ESW's cognitive and deception warfare, ensuring that U.S. decision systems are not blinded by contaminated data.

3. Exploit the PLA Paradox: Continuously monitor the uneven implementation of Mission Command, exploiting the tension between tactical autonomy and political control. The DoD must engage in efforts towards crisis management to mitigate the risk of escalation due to unauthorized actions by subordinate Chinese forces under operational stress.

Sources

PLA Daily (China Military Online) Articles

• Hu Xiaofeng. Trends in command and control transformation from the perspective of complexity science. Published: 2024-01-02.

• Li Haodong, Li Rougang, Li Xia. Discussion on the construction of combat command and control systems based on large language models. Published: 2025-04-XX (Implicit reference in the text).

• Hu Wei, Jiang Kaifeng, Fan Chen. Strengthening the building of the Party leadership system for a strong military. Published: 2025-11-XX (Implicit reference in the text).

• Liang Haimin, Li Jianping, Ji Fengzhu. Development of cognitive support for intelligent command decision-making process. Published: 2025-10-XX (Implicit reference in the text).

Reports and Strategic Analyses

• RAND Corporation. Mission Command with Chinese Characteristics? Exploring Chinese Military Thinking About Command and Control in Future Warfare. Published: October 2025.

• Nicola Iuvinale (Extrema Ratio News). Artificial Intelligence at the Core of Chinese Military Power: The New Paradigm of PLA Intelligentized Warfare. Published: 16 July [2025].

• Nicola Iuvinale (Extrema Ratio News). The Future of Warfare: Ideology, Technology, and Domain. Strategic Comparison (PLA ESW vs. US MDO). Published: 28 October [2025].