Intelligent Multi-Domain Operations: PLA’s Aspirations, Structural Constraints, and Transformation Status

China’s PLA is moving swiftly toward intelligent multi-domain operations, aiming to fuse space, cyber, electromagnetic, maritime, air, and land capabilities through unified and interoperable networks and AI- driven decision support systems. The PLA expects to achieve information dominance and short decision cycles in future combat scenarios. However, the overall impact of this transformation remains uneven. China’s military has inducted significant capabilities in ISR, long-range strikes, strategic deterrence and both aviation and naval power projection. However, these developments coexist with enduring institutional constraints: incomplete joint integration, inconsistent logistical support, critical systems lag technologically and most crucially, the PLA lacks combat experience.

The dialogue, therefore, evaluates the PLA’s successes and weaknesses in its transformation through four principal questions:

1. How does the PLA define multi-domain operations under intelligent conditions? How will they shape China’s combat performance in future combat?

2. What special capabilities has China developed to advance its intelligent multi-domain combat system?

3. Which structural and technological barriers negatively affect the PLA’s operational efficiency? 4. How does the PLA’s current modernisation trajectory shape the regional security?