How does the PLA define informationized warfare and what domains are involved?

• A. Warfare relying on physical force without information superiority.
• B. Warfare relying on information dominance; domains include space, cyberspace, electronic warfare, and networks across land, sea, air, and cyberspace.
• C. Warfare confined to terrestrial networks.
• D. Warfare conducted only in space.

Answer: (B)

Informationized warfare is about winning through information superiority—controlling information flows, enabling faster sensing, decision-making, and action, and weaving together all parts of the force through networks. In PLA thinking, this means leveraging advanced data, sensors, and communications to create an edge that spans multiple domains.

The domains involved include space for surveillance, communications, and navigation; cyberspace for operations to defend own networks and disrupt the adversary’s information; the electromagnetic domain (electronic warfare) to gain spectrum dominance; and networks that tie together land, sea, air, and space forces. In practice, informationized warfare uses space assets for ISR and comms, conducts cyberspace and EW operations to shape the battlespace, and relies on integrated networks to connect sensors, command centers, and weapons across all domains.

That combination—information dominance across space, cyberspace, electromagnetic operations, and the interconnected networks linking land, sea, air, and space—best matches the PLA concept. The other options are too narrow, focusing only on physical force, terrestrial networks, or single domains.