HYBRID WARFARE: How Modern Technology is Making it Easier

Hybrid Warfare isn’t a new concept, it’s as old as warfare itself, but the means with which it is accomplished, the scale at which it can be conducted and the reach a hostile state can have into another nation in the modern day is unmatched. All these factors, among others, create the prime conditions for hybrid warfare to thrive and evolve at an unprecedented rate. New technologies being produced at scale and the availability of the internet are two primary factors, both of which will be explored more below.

Drones have changed the battlespace, probably more so than any other invention besides firearms. Uncrewed Air Systems (UAS), Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USV), Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles (UUV), and Uncrewed Ground Vehicles (UGC) all come under the umbrella term ‘drones’, and they serve many different functions. One Way Attack (OWA) is probably the one people think of most. Small and commercially available, strap something explosive to it and you’ve got a weapon that has revolutionised warfare. Cheap to produce, easy to access, and easy to employ, OWA drones provide lethality to a whole spectrum of people, and with things like pre-programmed GPS and large-scale production, they can deliver overwhelming force and are near impossible to intercept (and the cost of the equipment used to intercept is often higher than that of the drone), the definition of a force multiplier.

There are also the other drones, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), these are fitted with cameras and other equipment that enable intelligence collection and provide access to areas you wouldn’t be able to deploy a normal reconnaissance team.

Information campaigns are also a huge weapon in the hybrid warfare arsenal, one of the most textbook examples of this is one that people, to this day, don’t realise was even a campaign in the first place. In 1983 a Soviet Union funded daily newspaper in India called ‘Patriot’ published an article on their front page titled “AIDS may invade India: Mystery disease caused by US experiments”. The article showed a letter, stating that it was a tipper from a well-known and respected US scientist; however, the truth was that this was fabricated by the KGB as part of a disinformation campaign called “Operation Infektion”. The article sat for a while, not gaining much traction until two years later in 1985 when Soviet intelligence outlets and scientists started to broadcast the article, and its sentiments, further into the world. The story then snowballed for a couple of years and was subsequently reported on by CBS News in 1987.

In the early 2000s, a study by the Rand Corporation and the University of Oregon found that 12% of the US believed the CIA created and spread the AIDS virus, with that percentage going above 27% when specifically focusing on the African American people surveyed.

This example is from a time when getting information to the masses, who all spoke different languages, was incredibly difficult. But with social media, the internet and translation software, the process is becoming increasingly simple. People are force-fed information that is intentionally meant to deceive but looks completely credible. Many outlets have refined their techniques over years of practice, hiding under the guise of credible news sources. Mostly they report mundane and accurate news stories, gaining them credibility for the they publish altered versions of the truth – state news channels are particularly well versed in this.

Hybrid warfare encompasses many other threats and activities, sub-threshold for conventional war but effective at achieving the same goals. Modern technology has made it easier than ever to achieve what historically have taken years, or even been impossible.