Excuse me for a moment…

Subscribe Today

• Subscribe to Armchair General Magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!
 

(Doctor Sinister climbs down from the podium, walks past the General and then steps outside into the hall. The door closes behind him. There is a long and anguished scream of despair from outside. He comes back in)

Sorry about that.

No problem.

I think the IT department has a lot to answer for.

Shall I send in The Imperial Guard?

Not yet – perhaps we can salvage something from this. Or am I wrong in assuming that real Virtual Battlefields exist?

Oh no Sir, they do exist. Nowadays it’s possible for a modern military commander to control all of his forces from his CP, be it onboard a ship, in a tent or back at home in his office. Weapons systems can be fully integrated to make use of what they call the "Digital Battlefield".

Go on.

Well, let’s say that a patrolling fighter plane sees a target, say, a bunker, but it doesn’t have the weaponry capable of taking it out.

Right.

It can transmit the coordinates to a satellite, which then relays the information to the command centre, and then the commanders can calculate what other military assets are in the area with the firepower to eliminate the target, and whether or not they are themselves in range.

OK.

So, in theory, a ship just off the coast could remotely fire a missile at the bunker without having ever seen it, but using targeting information from the plane – all fully integrated.

Fantastic. And we could do that? From here?

If we had the cash yes, this centre would be perfect, it’s certainly a great start.

Right then, we’ll do it – but first…

First?

Do you fancy a game?

I thought you’d never ask my Lord. Shall I be the Chinese?

A J Summersgill and Jim H. Moreno

andrew@armchairgeneral.com

jim@armchairgeneral.com

If you want to talk more sensibly about military history from any era, don’t forget to visit the ACG Forums.

Visit the Incorrect HQ for more episodes!

Help Armchair General by bookmarking to