
Emulating China’s Systems Confrontation Warfare
Concept for U.S. Army Training
Kevin Freese
Aer observing the U.S. military’s performance in the rst
Gulf War, Chinese military theorists concluded that advanced
weapons and equipment have changed the character of armed
conict, leading the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to develop an
approach to warfare known as ‘systems confrontation.’
1
Since then,
2
The primary objective of systems confrontation is to paralyze the enemy by disabling what the PLA
identies as the ve critical military operational systems: command, repower-strike, information,
intelligence, and support.
3
4
5
Systems confrontation warfare relies on PLA forces’ ability to focus attacks against key nodes—
connection points essential to the enemy’s operational systems.
6
The PLA does not limit its
warfare domain concept
to the same domains
as the U.S. military. In
addition to land, sea,
air, space, and cyber;
Chinese forces consider
the cognitive dimension
and electromagnetic
spectrum to be domains.
"Know The enemy"
Red Diamond
HTTPS://OE.TRADOC.ARMY.MIL/CATEGORY/RED-DIAMOND-POSTS
16 JUNE 2025
U.S. Army
Training and Doctrine Command, G-2
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE. DISTRIBUTION IS UNLIMITED.