Beijing, Dec 5 (PTI) Chinese President Xi Jinping has asked the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to build a strong and modernised information support force to acquire a combat edge in modern warfare.

The new information force should boost its build-up in capacity to counter the challenges of modern warfare, said Xi who also heads the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the PLA.

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“The form of warfare has evolved rapidly, along with the swift unfolding of a new round of technology and military revolution. The network information system has gained unprecedented prominence in modern warfare,” Xi said.

The President made the comments while inspecting the information support force, official media here reported.

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The Information Support Force must be fully aware of the “extreme importance” of building a network information system to accelerate capacity build-up and support for battle readiness, Xi said.

He listed network platform construction, data integration, network protection and innovation in command modes and combat patterns as priorities, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

In traditional wars, commanders spend 85 per cent of their time dealing with massive amounts of information using manual methods, leaving only 15 per cent of the time for operational decisions, according to the Post, which quoted a PLA Daily report last year.

However, by using network information in the combat command system, commanders could now use 85 per cent of their time making decisions, significantly improving command efficiency, the report said.

The Information Support Force was inaugurated in April amid military reform to boost capacity in information gathering, sharing and support of other units, the report said.

It has taken over some of the functions of the Strategic Support Force that was established in 2015 and disbanded in April.

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