Russian perception of its network-centric warfare capabilities in Syria

Abstract

This article examines Russian military and defence intellectuals’ reflection on Russia's military involvement in Syria. The research is based on a mix of open-source Russian military writings, mainly analytical texts in prominent Russian military journals. The aim of the study is to analyse Russian narrative of its military campaign in Syria. The first part begins by providing Russia's internal discussions about probable military coalitions-building variants, risks, and operational-level decisions and objectives. The second part deals with Russian Armed Forces’ network-centric warfare capabilities and limitations. The article concludes by showing that in Syria Russia introduced a modified network-centric warfare as its main feature of new method of operations is the combination of advanced intelligence-command assets and old-fashioned munitions.

Keywords

• russia
• syria
• military thought
• network-centric warfare
• intelligence-command-strike system