Battle Space

Khalan Howell

Central Washington University

Battle Space

Battle Space is somewhat of a new term to many and is used to represent a combined military strategy. The cyberspace/battlespace is everywhere, it is the computers we sit down at everyday, it's your kids cell phone, it's the gas pipe under your driveway, it's the fiber optic cable running down the street. It has become more than just the internet. It has become a war zone, a place where attacks can come without any warning.
When a network is hacked or is no longer under the control of those who are authorized, it can become a very scary place. The Hackers/Cyber Warriors, once they take over a network, they can begin to move money from accounts, crash airplanes, sending them into a downward dive, they gas cause gas and oil spills, blow up generators, halt supply chains, disrupt our transportation system, and even send a military platoon into an ambush. The thought of someone doing this through the use of internet is unfathomable to many but it is a harsh reality to others, especially those who are on the front line.
Even worse is that an attack can occur in just seconds and leave absolutely no trace of where the attack came from. The term more familiar we reference to as “War”. This is the organized yet protracted conflict usually set in motion by states or government. It usually involves a high amount of violence and destruction that can last a lifetime. Unlike “War”, Cyber Warfare attacks curtail rather than spotlight political violence by lightening the load, making it easy for government to engage in warfare without creating a spike in sabotage and espionage. This is likely due to the new type of weapon, the weaponized computer code that now makes it possible to authorize an attack on enemy territory without bringing physical harm firsthand.
There are those who believe that the term “Battlespace” and “Cyberwar” are misleading to say the least. According to a man named Thomas Rid:
Any act of war has to have the potential to be lethal; it has to be instrumental; and it has to be political. To be instrumental there has to be a means and an end. Physical violence or the threat of force is the means. The end is to force the enemy to accept the offenders will.
Personally, I feel that the term cyber warfare fits well with the definition. Technology is changing and with that so does terminology. Conflicts we see today are changing and moving away from the traditional ways of battle. Take the word battlefield for instance. This is a “piece of ground on which a battle is fought”. It is “an area of contention, conflict, or hostile opposition”. Now, the term we discuss in chapter three is battlespace. This is a term that is much harder to define and the meaning seems to change often. After some extensive research the word “Battlespace” was perfectly described by the Military Dictionary: “Battlespace is a unified military strategy to integrate and combine armed forces for military operations, including air, information, land, sea, and space to achieve military goals.