Major and minor military powers have embarked on a military rearmament programme that is truly staggering. It is an arms race that could destabilise the geo-politics of the decades ahead.

Indeed, evidence is steadily building that growth, and perverse deadly capabilities lie at the core, threatening to produce a serious imbalance in the projection of power. Many of the participants are already affluent, powerful and technologically advanced in global terms.

Coupled with these persisting images are stark new spectres of the future.

Drone warfare linked to artificial intelligence is changing the balance of power on land, at sea, and in the air. The brutal conflict in the Ukraine has witnessed drone and missile warfare unprecedented in a modern conflict. The infusion of these weapons in every sphere of attack and defence killed more than 200,000 combatants, the civilian death toll is mind boggling, and the destruction of infrastructure propels this type of unrestrained warfare into another dimension. Thousands are buried in unmarked graves,with no official records being kept.

From the inner and outer fringes of the stratosphere, the major powers have displayed electronic warfare capabilities of unmanned systems that are capable of disrupting fifth-generation, fighter-plane radars and missiles while jamming communication between bombers, air-borne early warning systems and control aircraft, and sophisticated drones and their data links between satellites and land-based missiles.

Russia has developed and deployed new-generation electronic jammers capable of disrupting Nato radio communications over a  range of thousands of kilometres, in response to the US’s doctrine of Network-Centric-Warfare. The new Russian system is also aimed at the High Frequency Global Communication System. Every major power has perfected and deployed a new generation of laser weapons systems, turning science fiction into deadly reality,

Asian nations  are surging ahead in high tech, electronic warfare involving, high-frequency radio hopping and state of the art encryption, and ship to ship, ship to shore and ship to air communications involving operating in dense electromagnetic fields encountered in a sophisticated electronic environment.

There is good reason to believe that electronic warfare is the weapon of the 21st century. Formulations and terms or this type of warfare, as well as its components and tasks, differ in various countries. Every facet of combat is permeated today by technology such as sensors, networks, navigation aids and smart bombs that depend on access to the electromagnetic spectrum in order to function. It isn’t surprising that experts disagree about which capabilities should get highest priorities.

But there are at least a few core principles that most planners can embrace, and one of them is that in the information age, if you cannot control the electromagnetic spectrum then you cannot win wars. Integrating effective, reliable, affordable electronic warfare equipment with onboard aircraft systems and global information grids will require advances in electronic warfare hardware and battle-management software. The most advanced warplane in the world is the American F35, that has eight million lines of computer code embedded in its systems

Undeniably, the face of warfare is changing. Reducing vulnerability to asymmetric threats is vital for any countries survival and dominance in future operations. Throughout the past quarter century, the asymmetric threat has become a common form of warfare throughout the world. Electronic warfare in conjunction with artificial intelligence, will be the deciding factor between the victor and the vanquished.

2023 will witness new weaponry that could wipe out humanity without human intervention.

* Araie is a Sowetan reader