China Military Online Outlines PLA Focus on Data-Driven Command and Joint Training

Chinese state military media has reiterated Beijing's strategic directive to align military preparation around core winning capabilities. A commentary published by China Military Online emphasizes that under the framework of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the People's Liberation Army is accelerating its transition toward data-driven decision-making, artificial intelligence integration, and cross-service joint combat training to meet its centenary development goals.

The commentary highlights how China's military leadership plans to operationalize intelligentized warfare and data-driven command during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. It underscores the PLA's prioritization of AI tools, joint operational integration across military branches, and decision-making resilience under severe electronic warfare conditions as critical components of modern force development.

State military commentary published by China Military Online has outlined key strategic priorities for the People's Liberation Army (PLA), emphasizing a shift toward intelligentized, data-driven command structures and deeper joint force integration. The commentary framed these directives as part of the broader strategic mobilization toward achieving the PLA's centenary goal. According to the report, the outline for China's upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly calls for solidly advancing realistic military training tailored directly to future battlefield conditions. A central focus of the commentary is the modernization of command capabilities amid the rapid evolution of warfare toward informatization and intelligentization. The article stresses a fundamental transition from traditional experience-based command to data-driven command, urging commanders to leverage artificial intelligence and digital decision-support systems. To build operational resilience, commanders are instructed to undergo rigorous training under complex electromagnetic environments, degraded communications, and high-pressure scenarios where primary command links could face disruption. The publication also highlights the necessity of deepening jointness across service branches under the established organizational framework where the Central Military Commission commands, theater commands fight, and services build. It calls for seamless integration among the PLA Army, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, and Joint Logistics Support Force within unified combat training systems. Ultimately, the state media commentary underscores that mastering intelligentized systems and establishing faster, more accurate operational decision loops are considered essential by Beijing to maintaining battlefield initiative in future high-tech conflicts.