Guo Gaomin: Fully Understand the Significance of New Quality Combat Power in the Military Revolution

Editor's Note: Today, the Chinese People's Liberation Army marks its 98th birthday. Over these 98 years, the people's army has passed through the smoke of gunpowder and the fires of war, hacking through thorns and brambles ^[1] all along the way, making immense sacrifices and achieving one brilliant victory after another, establishing great historical merit for the Party and the people. At present, with the acceleration of a new round of technological and military revolutions, the forms of war and modes of combat are undergoing profound changes, and the struggle for strategic initiative in military competition has become more intense. Responding to the changes of the times, of technology, of warfare, and of development, President Xi Jinping has perceptively grasped world military development trends and the laws of modern warfare to creatively propose the concept of "new quality productive forces," providing a systematic answer to the questions of "what kind of wars our army will fight" and "how it will fight them." Deeply researching the characteristics and laws of modern warfare and accelerating the development of new quality productive forces is both an urgent task for our army to build a world-class military and a requirement of the times for our army to win future wars. So, what are new quality productive forces? How can they be developed? The theoretical section of this newspaper has published articles by experts surrounding these issues for the benefit of our readers.

Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military was formed and developed under the historical conditions of socialism with Chinese characteristics entering the New Era and the occurrence of profound changes in the global, national, and military situations; it is the theoretical crystallization and scientific guide of the great practice of the cause of strengthening the military in the New Era. Focusing on the realization of the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and centering on what kind of powerful people's army should be built in the New Era and how to build it, President Xi Jinping led the entire army in conducting deep theoretical exploration and practical creation. He profoundly answered major questions such as the mission and tasks, struggle goals, fundamental principles, strategic layout, and important paths for strengthening and revitalizing the military in the New Era, forming Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military, the latest achievement of the Party’s military guiding theory. The original and landmark concept of new quality productive forces systematically answers the questions of "what kind of wars our army will fight" and "how it will fight them," profoundly revealing the characteristics, laws, and winning mechanisms ^[2] of modern warfare. It is an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military. Fully recognizing the significance of this important concept for the military revolution will provide scientific theoretical and practical guidance for us to seize the high ground in military struggle, seek new advantages in competitive development, and achieve the Centenary Goal of the People’s Liberation Army ^[3].

The concept of new quality productive forces was proposed by accurately grasping the characteristics, laws, and winning mechanisms of modern warfare, and by firmly grasping the establishment of combat effectiveness as the sole fundamental criterion for strengthening and revitalizing the military.

Engels pointed out: "Theoretical thinking in every epoch, including our own, is a historical product." New quality productive forces is an original and landmark concept proposed by President Xi Jinping through his perceptive grasp of global military development trends and the laws of modern warfare.

Problems are the voice of the times. As the new round of technological and military revolutions accelerates, warfare has shown a trend toward the intangible, the silent, and the unmanned; the question of "where does combat effectiveness come from" has become a question of the times that national defense and military construction must face. Looking at recent local wars and military actions around the world, such as the Ukraine crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the degree of informatization in modern warfare is constantly increasing, and intelligent features are becoming increasingly prominent. Some new technical equipment has created a "dimensionality reduction strike" ^[4] posture against traditional equipment, and the concepts, elements, and modes of victory in war have undergone major changes. Innovative achievements in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence are emerging in clusters and being widely applied in the military sphere, causing warfare to show a new trend of the integrated development of mechanization, informatization, and intelligence. This is manifested in modern warfare characteristics such as the integrated fusion of battlefield space into multi-dimensional space, the leap of combat platforms toward unmanned operation, the evolution of combat command toward intelligence, the development of military strikes toward precision and instantaneousness, and the elevation of warfighting dominance toward "cognitive dominance" ^[5], as well as epochal characteristics of winning mechanisms highlighting information dominance, strategic check-and-balance, integrated operations, and victory through new quality.

As early as 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must focus on strengthening the construction of new-type combat forces, reduce the quantity of old equipment within a time limit, and 'empty the cage for new birds' ^[6] for new-type combat forces." The concept of new quality productive forces began to take its initial shape. In January 2019, at the Central Military Commission's military work conference, President Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must strengthen the construction of new-type combat forces and increase the proportion of new quality productive forces." The concept of new quality productive forces was formally proposed. On the eve of "August 1st" ^[7] in 2020, while inspecting the Air Force Aviation University, President Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must closely follow the development trends of the world's new military revolution" and "promote the accelerated incubation and generation of new quality productive forces." In October 2022, President Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC: "We will coordinate the building of a powerful system of strategic deterrence and increase the proportion of new-domain and new-quality combat forces." In March 2024, while attending the plenary meeting of the delegation of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force at the second session of the 14th National People's Congress, President Xi Jinping emphasized: "Promote the efficient integration and mutual promotion of new quality productive forces ^[8] and new quality productive forces," and "create growth poles for new quality productive forces and new quality productive forces."

Combat effectiveness is the combat capability of the military. In the agricultural age, combat effectiveness manifested as "muscle competition" of human power plus iron tools; in the industrial age, combat effectiveness manifested as "mechanized crushing" of oil plus steel; in the information age, the dominant form of combat effectiveness presents as "informatized confrontation" based on system-of-systems strength.

Relying on emerging technological means and advanced combat concepts, new quality productive forces are system-of-systems combat capabilities based on information systems. Their "newness" lies in implanting informatized genes into all elements and merging them into networked channels. By utilizing new technologies, new equipment, and new tactics, the military system presents new advantages such as strategy-guided energy, information-empowered energy, network-aggregated energy, technology-strengthened energy, and system-released energy. Taking artificial intelligence technology as an example, through technical means such as machine learning and big data analysis, it can achieve real-time perception and advanced prediction of the battlefield situation, effectively improving the scientific nature of decision-making, the ability to control the battlefield, and the success rate of winning in combat.

President Xi Jinping pointed out: "The military is for fighting wars; all work must adhere to the criterion of combat effectiveness and focus on being able to fight and win." Only by grasping the characteristics, laws, and winning mechanisms of modern warfare can we clarify what wars will be fought and how they will be fought in the future, thereby anchoring the logical starting point of war preparation and accurately finding the direction for the development of military combat effectiveness. The concept of new quality productive forces was proposed precisely by accurately grasping the characteristics, laws, and winning mechanisms of modern warfare, firmly grasping the establishment of combat effectiveness as the sole fundamental criterion for strengthening and revitalizing the military, and focusing on improving our army's combat capabilities.

The transition from "combat effectiveness" to "new quality productive forces" is not only an evolution of terms and concepts but also reflects the profound grasp by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core of the changes unseen in a century, the development trends of the new round of technological and military revolutions, and the laws of the modernization and development of the Chinese military.

Military revolution is not a simple update of weapons but a systematic project with the application of disruptive technologies as the engine, the innovation of combat theory as the guide, the adjustment of systems and structures as the lever, and the needs of strategic maneuvering as the traction. New quality productive forces are the core component and measurement standard of this systematic project. In this constantly developing and changing systematic project, the military revolution provides broad space and sufficient conditions for new quality productive forces to exert themselves, while new quality productive forces provide intelligent support and directional guidance for the deepening evolution of the military revolution. The two are mutually conditional and interact with each other, jointly determining a country's status in winning or losing future wars. Historically, every military revolution has been prominently manifested by the generation-gap crushing of old systems by new-type combat forces. From a technical level, new quality productive forces essentially originate from cluster breakthroughs in key technologies. At present, frontier technologies represented by artificial intelligence, quantum information, hypersonics, directed energy, and biological intersection are forming "technology clusters" in the military field. Through the full-link coupling of computing power carriers, algorithms, data, platforms, and systems, they generate system-of-systems combat effectiveness that far exceeds the efficacy of a single weapon. From the perspective of military systems and structures, new quality productive forces require the military organizational system to compress middle layers, transforming from a "building-beds-upon-beds" ^[9] hierarchy to a networked and flattened structure, and from services being systems unto themselves to the flexible combination of forces guided by combat missions, "emptying the cage for new birds" for new quality productive forces. From the perspective of the strategic competition landscape among major powers, whoever takes the lead in forming and effectively utilizing new quality productive forces will gain the "first move" and the "initiative" in the strategic game.

Regarding how to promote the generation of new quality productive forces, President Xi Jinping pointed out several key points. First, regarding fundamental principles, we must persist in and strengthen the Party's absolute leadership over the military. President Xi Jinping pointed out: "The Party's absolute leadership over the military is an essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics, an important political advantage of the Party and the state, and the foundation and soul of the people's army." Second, regarding the supporting carrier, he clarified that "technology is the core combat effectiveness of modern warfare." We must seize the "ox's nose" ^[10] of emerging technology, promote major projects in national defense technology and weaponry to achieve "overtaking on a curve" ^[11] in key areas such as intelligent unmanned systems and networked information systems, and build a system of new quality productive forces. Third, we must persist in the essential requirements of Chinese characteristics. The "Decision" of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee clearly proposed "building a modern military force system with Chinese characteristics," and the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed "flourishing and developing the culture of strengthening the military and strengthening the cultivation of the fighting spirit," clearly answering the question of how new quality productive forces reflect the essential requirements of Chinese characteristics. These three aspects are both a continuation and development of our army's fine traditions and an innovation of Marxist military theory for China and the times, which has been fully verified in the practice of strengthening the military.

The concept of new quality productive forces achieves multiple strategic value breakthroughs in the history of military thought, academic history, and practical history.

New quality productive forces are, in essence, the product of technological and theoretical innovation. Engels pointed out: "Every new view of a science involves a revolution in the technical terms of that science." Standing at the forefront of the times, President Xi Jinping, on the basis of the existing military thoughts of classical Marxist writers, has carried out a "revolution in terms" through original terms such as "new-type combat capabilities," "strategic capabilities in emerging fields," and "new quality productive forces." This has formed the unique markers of Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military, added new cornerstones to the building of Marxist military theory, and achieved multiple strategic value breakthroughs in the history of military thought, academic history, and practical history.

A conceptual transcendence in the history of military thought. President Xi Jinping pointed out: "Scientific military theory is combat effectiveness." Scientific military theory can reveal the laws of war, the laws of war guidance, and the laws of military construction, and guide the construction and employment of military forces; scientific military theory always grows from specific concepts of combat effectiveness. From ancient to modern times, combat effectiveness has always been understood as a complex composed of people, weapons, and the combination of the two. In Anti-Dühring, Engels pointed out that the army "depends primarily on the level of production and the state of communications of the time," examining combat effectiveness within the overall chain of social modes of production for the first time.

The significance of the concept of new quality productive forces in the history of military thought lies in shifting the focus of combat effectiveness from weapon competition to system-of-systems confrontation, achieving a transcendence of traditional combat effectiveness theory. First is the transcendence of the conceptual base. The traditional concept of combat effectiveness is based on mechanical and chemical energy, always following a linear competition logic of "sharper spears" and "thicker shields." The concept of new quality productive forces relies on new types of energy such as data, algorithms, and computing power to form non-linear advantages. Second is the transcendence of the composition of conceptual elements. The traditional concept of combat effectiveness focuses on the three-element composition of personnel, weapons, and force configuration, emphasizing the tactical combination of "human-machine coordination." On this basis, the concept of new quality productive forces pays more attention to the "new three elements" of data elements, algorithmic elements, and cross-domain elements, emphasizing the integrated role of the trinity of "human, machine, and intelligence," forming new quality advantages. Third is the transcendence of conceptual combat domains. The traditional concept of combat effectiveness focuses on the struggle for control over physical spaces such as land, sea, air, and space; the concept of new quality productive forces focuses on emerging fields, directly intervening in the enemy's decision-making in the network, information, and cognitive domains to achieve the strategic goal of "subjugating the enemy without fighting" ^[12].

Terminological innovation in the history of military academia. Engels pointed out that "the whole organization and method of fighting of even an army... proves to be dependent on material, that is, economic conditions," laying the historical materialist methodology for the study of combat effectiveness. Soviet Marshal Ogarkov once proposed a "military-technical revolution," but failed to break through "technological determinism"; the frequent "military transformations" in the United States fell into a logic of "combat platform replacement" from old weapons to new ones. Since the New Era, President Xi Jinping has made the important discourse of "promoting the efficient integration and mutual promotion of new quality productive forces and new quality productive forces," enriching and developing the conceptual system of Marxist military theory.

Its contribution to the history of military scholarship lies in using "new" to denote technological mutation and "quality" to characterize a qualitative change in the structure of combat effectiveness, thereby avoiding the "technological omnipotence" mindset where one key is expected to open all locks. By integrating data, algorithms, talent, and organization into a fused driving system of productive forces and combat effectiveness, it has reshaped the underlying logic of combat effectiveness generation and opened a channel for complexity science to enter military research. A system of terminology determines a system of discourse. Innovation in military terminology plays a foundational, pioneering, and supportive role in military science innovation; it is not a simple update at the linguistic level, but rather the theoretical shaping of deepening military cognition, upgrading strategic thinking, and innovating modes of operation. Once a new military concept is fixed in the form of terminology, it signifies that the theoretical abstraction of the characteristics, laws, and winning mechanisms of war has been completed. Only by forming a theoretically self-consistent cluster of terms can we break free from the simple transplantation of foreign military terminology and lay the foundation for the systematic development of military science.

In recent years, as emerging fields and battlefield spaces continue to expand, new theories of war and operations have emerged in succession. For instance, the United States proposed "Network-Centric Warfare," "Global Quick Strike," and "All-Domain Operations"; Russia proposed the "Strategy of Non-Nuclear Deterrence" and "Strategic Aerospace Operations"; and Japan proposed "Cross-Domain Defense." These are all attempts to gain new military advantages through theoretical innovation.

The introduction of the original and landmark concept of "new quality combat effectiveness" creatively reveals the dialectical unity between "new" and "quality." It elucidates the theoretical connotation of new quality combat effectiveness and profoundly reveals the general laws of its generation and development. This expands the new horizons of military theory and deepens the new understanding of military theory, thereby breaking away from traditional combat effectiveness generation modes and development paths. It achieves the optimized adjustment and innovative transformation of the constituent elements of combat effectiveness, opening a new path for liberating and developing combat effectiveness, and significantly increasing the discourse weight of China's military scientific research in the global field of military scholarship.

Qualitative breakthroughs in combat effectiveness in the history of military practice. The core of a qualitative breakthrough in combat effectiveness lies in the generation and development of new quality combat effectiveness. The concept of new quality combat effectiveness has promoted the development of Marxist military theory, innovated combat effectiveness generation modes, and led the leap in the practice of strengthening the military. During the revolutionary war years, our army persisted in "learning warfare through warfare" and created the strategy and tactics of people's war, marked primarily by the "Sixteen-Character Formula" ^[13]. This generated extraordinary combat power that defeated powerful enemies with inferior equipment. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, facing the perilous situation on the Korean battlefield, the Volunteers created operational methods such as "skimming the cream" ^[14] to accumulate small victories into a large one, breaking the myth of the U.S. military's invincibility. With the successful development of "Two Bombs, One Satellite" ^[15], our army achieved a qualitative leap in strategic deterrence capabilities, winning a precious environment for peace and development for our country.

Entering the New Era, faced with bottlenecks in generating combat effectiveness under conditions of long-term peace, President Xi Jinping profoundly perceived the crux of developing new quality combat effectiveness. He required the military to "strengthen the consistency between combat and training, persist in leading training with combat and promoting combat with training, ensure training is conducted according to actual combat requirements, and achieve the integration of operations and training." This pointed out a "combat-oriented" ^[16] mode of tempering troops for generating new quality combat effectiveness.

President Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must accelerate the development of advanced equipment, intensify the cultivation of professional talent, strengthen targeted and confrontational training, and promote the accelerated enhancement of new quality combat effectiveness." To get as close as possible to actual combat, the Central Military Commission unified standards and requirements, establishing specialized oppositional training bases and well-equipped, first-rate "Blue Army" (OPFOR) units. This completely broke the traditional fixed pattern of confrontational exercises where the "Red Army" (friendly forces) must win, even leading to scenarios where the "Red Army" was routed by the "Blue Army" before it could even deploy. Consequently, officers and soldiers were guided to treat failure as a whetstone, tempering their hard skills for winning through "lost battles." This has gradually fostered a training culture of genuine fighting and real opposition, ensuring that the qualitative improvement of combat effectiveness is aimed directly at the future battlefield.

The concept of new quality combat effectiveness has profound strategic guiding significance for winning the initiative on the future battlefield.

President Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must stand tall and look far, perceive the minute to know the significant ^[17], see the trends of development and changes in the world military field, see the major impact of the world's new military revolution, and form scientific understanding and judgments." This important discourse has profound strategic guiding significance for us to accelerate the generation and application of new quality combat effectiveness and win the initiative on the future battlefield.

Foreseeing the borderless transformation of war forms. In 2015, President Xi Jinping emphasized that the Army must "accelerate the realization of the transformation from a regional defense type to an all-domain operations type." "All-domain" is a multi-dimensional concept. "All-domain operations type" refers to the army's combat effectiveness form possessing all-domain coverage capabilities. Currently, the spatial and temporal characteristics of war have undergone major changes; multi-dimensional battlefield spaces are merging into one, and the boundaries between strategy, campaigns, and tactics are becoming blurred. This requires our military to implement the Holistic Approach to National Security and adapt to the trend of borderless transformation in war preparations. We must break through the barriers that constrain traditional operations—such as those between military and civilian, front and rear, offense and defense, local and global, war space and peace space, and national boundaries and the expansion of national strategic interests. From a global strategic perspective, we must generate all-domain operational combat effectiveness to provide comprehensive security guarantees for the nation and society.

From the perspective of combat effectiveness mechanisms, traditional combat effectiveness was dominated by physical and chemical energy. Operations were generally movements of "points" and "lines," and war was bounded and bordered. New quality combat effectiveness is dominated by information energy and intelligence. Operations are generally movements of "surfaces" and "networks," and war is boundless and borderless. For example, for rapidly evolving cyber weapons, there is neither a time barrier—they are "present at all times"—nor a spatial barrier—they "penetrate every opening." This revolutionary change in the form of energy causes war to present a borderless form.

From the perspective of war elements, whether it is a war filled with smoke or one without it, there are no longer clear boundaries between the subjects, objects, tools, and methods of operation. Both the Ukraine crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict exhibit "globalized" characteristics where a move in one place affects the whole world: besides the direct combatants, many countries are drawn in as indirect participants or associated parties.

From the perspective of war space, whether in "hard battlefields" such as gun battles, ship and aircraft battles, and unmanned platform battles, or in "soft battlefields" such as trade wars, tech wars, and cyber wars, warfare has integrated multi-dimensional spaces—land, sea, air, space, electromagnetism, cyber, information, psychology, and intelligence—into an infinitely vast "super battlefield." A prominent feature of the borderless transformation of war is that non-military forces increasingly demonstrate extraordinary power. This requires us, in promoting the construction of new quality combat effectiveness, to grasp the new characteristics and requirements of people's war under new era conditions, inherit and carry forward the fine traditions of people's war, innovate and develop the strategy and tactics of people's war, and enhance national cohesion and military combat effectiveness to build a "Great Wall of Steel" for winning wars that have no borders and no smoke.

Insight into the revolutionary changes in the winning mechanisms of war. President Xi Jinping pointed out: "Modern warfare has indeed undergone profound changes. These changes may look dazzling, but there are laws to follow behind them; fundamentally, the winning mechanisms of war have changed." Only by clarifying the winning mechanisms can we grasp the laws of war and win victories.

Currently, with the rapid development and deep application of science and technology, many elements of war—such as war forms, operational domains, operational methods, and weaponry—have undergone profound changes. The winning mechanisms of war have followed suit with revolutionary changes, unfolding primarily in four aspects.

First, the shift from firepower dominance to information dominance. In the past, war was concentrated in physical-domain firepower confrontation; superiority in manpower and firepower often determined victory or defeat. Now, the development of informatization makes operational confrontation highlight the systemic contest across the physical, information, and cognitive domains. New combat methods have appeared, such as controlling "space" to break the "network," striking nodes to sever chains, and hitting "key points" to paralyze the "system." Systemic advantage is primarily achieved through using information power—such as data and algorithms—to create cognitive and decision-making advantages.

Second, the shift from campaign-level decisive battles to strategic gaming. In the past, war mainly consisted of decisive campaign battles between "iron torrents," where war decision-makers often formulated plans based on relatively vague situational judgments. Now, the intelligent development of weaponry has continuously enhanced battlefield situational self-awareness, thereby catalyzing the elevation of war to the level of strategic gaming. Through "pre-practice of war" platforms such as wargaming systems, precise judgments can be made regarding the progression of war, the costs to both sides, and the outcome, making war increasingly manifest as a strategic contest at the "pre-war" level.

Third, the shift from local confrontation to holistic operations. In the past, war manifested as local confrontations; even in the two World Wars, there existed peaceful spaces for countries not involved in the fighting. Now, as the borderless transformation of war deepens, the "globalized" characteristics of war are becoming increasingly prominent.

Fourth, the shift from a duel of elements to winning through new quality. In the past, manpower, material resources, and human strategic capability were the core elements for measuring victory or defeat; the traditional framework for winning war remained unbroken—for example, the U.S. military dominated the world by relying on troop deployments in strategic locations and generational advantages in weaponry. Now, with the "new-quality-oriented" development of war, new quality combat effectiveness has become the key variable in victory or defeat.

Promoting the iterative transformation of military organizational forms. The development of new quality combat effectiveness inevitably requires corresponding adjustments in the military command system. Battlefield information emerges in massive quantities and changes instantaneously, presenting new "instant kill, instant decision" scenarios. This requires the military command system to upgrade from the traditional layered hierarchy to a "distributed network structure," ensuring the military possesses the agile response capability of real-time "speed." For example, after the Cold War, driven by "Network-Centric Warfare," the U.S. military abolished traditional service agencies like the Tactical Air Command and established new types of operational forces like Multi-Domain Task Forces to adapt to the requirements of information-age warfare.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, through deepening the reform of national defense and the armed forces, our military has formed a new pattern: "the CMC [Central Military Commission] exercises overall leadership, the Theater Commands are responsible for operations, and the Services are responsible for development." This achieved a holistic and revolutionary reshaping. Operational command has become increasingly flat, while operational organization and management have become increasingly standardized, process-oriented, and refined. A major step has been taken in building a modern military force system with Chinese characteristics. Aiming at the needs of winning wars, our military has also established new types of operational force systems, such as the Strategic Support Force and the Information Support Force, laying a solid organizational foundation for the full development of new quality combat effectiveness.

High-efficiency integration and mutual driving of new quality combat effectiveness and new quality productive forces

President Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must ride the momentum, grasp the characteristics and laws of development in emerging fields, and promote the high-efficiency integration and mutual driving of new quality productive forces and new quality combat effectiveness." This important discourse by President Xi reveals the internal unity and reciprocal relationship between new quality productive forces and new quality combat effectiveness, pointing out the direction and providing the fundamental follows for us to promote high-quality development and guarantee high-level security.

New quality productive forces and new quality combat effectiveness support and drive each other. The level of development of new quality productive forces determines the level of development of new quality combat effectiveness. As Engels pointed out: "The victory of force is based on the production of arms, and this in turn on production in general." Only by fully developing new quality productive forces can a country possess a solid economic foundation and strong scientific and technological strength to forge powerful new quality combat effectiveness. In addition to advanced weaponry and technological resources, new quality productive forces can provide new quality combat effectiveness with high-quality military talent, scientific operational concepts, and abundant operational means.

From another perspective, the development of new quality combat effectiveness can effectively guide and boost the development of new quality productive forces, because "if society has a technical need, that helps science forward more than ten universities." Meanwhile, the development of new quality combat effectiveness provides the military with a stronger capability to win, which helps safeguard national security and economic construction, ensuring the development of new quality productive forces. In the early stages of human history, tools such as stone implements and wooden spears were used both for production activities like gathering and hunting and for war activities. With the development of history, the emergence of metal smelting technology and industry led to the birth of metal weapons. In agricultural society, with the prosperity of gunpowder and firearm manufacturing technology and the metallurgy industry, firearms and cannons—thermal weapons—were used in war, and the focus of combat effectiveness generation shifted from close combat to long-range attacks. In industrial society, the steam engine, internal combustion engine, and electricity gave birth to mechanized combat weapons such as tanks... Every transformation of the productive forces inevitably injects new vitality into the development of military combat effectiveness, catalyzing the qualitative upgrade and leap of combat effectiveness.

Currently, the rapid development of a new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, virtual reality, and brain-computer interface technology continuously demonstrates the unity and symbiosis of the internal mechanisms of productive forces and combat effectiveness. Promoting the high-efficiency integration and mutual driving of new quality productive forces and new quality combat effectiveness is an inevitable requirement for continuously enhancing the overall strength of the country. It holds strategic significance for promoting the high-quality development of our military, winning modern wars, and comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation.

We must promote the "two-way embedding" of the innovation chains for new quality productive forces and new quality combat power. At present, there remains significant space for the integrated use of elements and collaborative innovation between new quality productive forces and new quality combat power within emerging fields. It is necessary to clear the paths for mutual transformation between the two via innovation mechanisms, addressing the issue of the integrated generation of strategic systems and capabilities in emerging fields at their source. We must anchor our efforts on key nodes in emerging fields and further improve the docking platforms that link "military industrial requirement lists" with "civilian technology catalogs." This involves both transplanting military technological achievements into various sectors of the national economy and actively promoting the participation of superior civilian technologies in military research and production. Such efforts will create a favorable situation of two-way transformation, positive interaction, and a spiral ascent ^[18] for military-civilian technology. We should further refine the military-local registration system for scientific and technological innovation achievements to stimulate innovative vitality. Targeting weak links in basic research, we must increase the construction of shared infrastructure, such as national laboratories and large-scale scientific facilities, to catalyze the efficient generation of original [innovation] capabilities.

We must promote the deep coupling of industrial chains and combat chains. New quality productive forces and new quality combat power are mutually coupled and mutually reinforcing; the demand for "military-to-civilian" and "civilian-participation-in-military" ^[19] is constantly increasing. This requires us to deeply couple industrial chains with combat chains and cultivate an industrial support system that complements new quality combat power. We must continuously improve the systems and mechanisms for the efficient integration and mutual driving of new quality combat power and new quality productive forces. We should establish and perfect a strategic emerging industrial system characterized by complete, independent, and controllable industrial, supply, and innovation chains. This will realize the interconnection and complementary advantages of civilian industry and the national defense science and technology industry, providing secure, powerful, stable, and reliable industrial support for the iterative replacement and innovative development of weaponry and equipment, thereby better promoting the generation and development of new quality combat power.

We must promote the cross-border flow of talent elements. President Xi Jinping has pointed out: "The way to strengthen the military lies in obtaining people. Talent is the key factor in promoting the high-quality development of our military and winning the initiative in military competition and future wars." Whether in productive activities or military activities, humans are the organizers and practitioners. When human innovative capacity is strong, it can empower various elements of the productive forces and combat power, driving their upgrade and generation shift. Therefore, talent remains the most important resource and driver guiding the development of new quality productive forces and new quality combat power. We must improve talent cultivation methods adapted to the integrated development of new quality productive forces and new quality combat power. We should fully utilize our country’s higher education system—the largest in the world—to cultivate talent in emerging interdisciplinary fields such as intelligent unmanned systems and cyberspace security, and to train "engineer-plus-commander" composite talents. This will ensure that military education and national higher education resonate at the same frequency ^[20] and develop in coordination. We must increase policy incentives and optimize the cultivation, introduction, and utilization mechanisms for leading, high-end, and general-purpose talents in integrated military-local development, providing a strong talent guarantee for the formation and development of new quality combat power.

The efficient integration and mutual driving of new quality combat power and new quality productive forces have powerfully promoted the overall leap in our country's comprehensive strength. In 2016, at the Symposium on Cybersecurity and Informatization Work, President Xi Jinping pointed out that core technologies "can be understood from three aspects: first, basic and general-purpose technologies; second, asymmetric and 'assassin's mace' ^[21] technologies; and third, frontier and disruptive technologies. In these fields, we stand on the same starting line as foreign countries. If we can deploy in advance and concentrate our efforts on key problems, it is highly possible to realize the transition from 'running behind' / 'running alongside' to 'running alongside' / 'leading the pack'." This important judgment and instruction regarding the state of international scientific and technological competition points the strategic direction and injects strong momentum for our military’s combat power construction to transform toward intelligence and to sprint toward "leading the pack." To seize the initiative in international competition in emerging fields, President Xi Jinping emphasized that the military must "strengthen pre-positioning in emerging fields, strengthen the construction of frontier disciplines, strengthen the cultivation of new types of talent, and promote the accelerated incubation and generation of new quality combat power." President Xi Jinping has personally visited the front lines of combat power transformation and upgrading many times to conduct research and provide guidance, emphasizing the need to focus on "strengthening military-local synergy and making good use of local superior forces and resources." This has significantly accelerated the pace of building new quality combat power and substantially enhanced the country's comprehensive strength. The powerful combined force generated by the interactive development of new quality productive forces and new quality combat power is sufficient to support our country in assuming the responsibilities and obligations it should for realizing its own development and maintaining world peace.