The reality of modern warfare as confronted by the Gulf War (late 1980s-early 1990s)

The reality of modern warfare as confronted by the Gulf War (late 1980s-early 1990s)

The 1991 Gulf War was an event that shook Chinese military thinking to its very core, even though China did not directly participate in the war. The overwhelming air superiority, precision-guided weapons, and command and control via satellite communications showed that the superiority of information processing and communications, rather than troop size and morale, would determine victory or defeat. At the end of the Cold War, the Chinese military still had a strong mass mobilization mentality, but this war quickly rendered it obsolete. The Chinese leadership realized that future conflicts would be short-lived and high-intensity, and that if it lost its information superiority in the initial response, it would be difficult to recover. Thereafter, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) assumed local warfare under information conditions and shifted its emphasis to the integration of command and control, reconnaissance, and communications. The Gulf War was a warning for China that an
ticipated future wars.