Bits And Bullets: Cyber Warfare In Military Operations

Experts have been predicting the onset of cyber warfare for decades. Yet, despite the relative ease and anonymity with which cyber-attacks can be conducted on military targets, the preponderance of historical cyber-related actions has been largely confined to the realms of espionage and crime. So far, close integration of cyberspace operations with terrestrial military operations is a rare, if slightly growing, occurrence in warfare. While discussions about cyber warfare have raged in academia and government in recent years, they have primarily focused on the impacts and implications that cyberspace operations have at the strategic level of war. Comparatively little research has been done to analyze how cyberspace operations will impact the battlefield. We propose a framework for military planners to envision ways that cyberspace operations can be used to affect the battlefield and integrate with terrestrial combat operations. We then apply that framework to analyze a thought experiment involving a hypothetical conflict on the Korean peninsula in an attempt to catch a glimpse of what cyberspace operations may mean for the future of land warfare.