A study on the improvement of the future branch system

Focusing on army weapon systems and combat branches

Abstract

This study aims to suggest an improvement plan for the army branch system considering the development trend of weapon systems through a case analysis of the vision and major weapon systems for each army branch system in R.O.K army. In the future, with the development of science and technology, hyper-connected networks based on artificial satellites would be built, and mosaic warfare, which integrates multiple domains simultaneously, and weapon systems capable of performing all-weather multifunctional battles across land, sea, and air would emerge. As a result, the common areas of the Army, Navy, and Air Force would be expanded, and the division of each army or branch itself would become ambiguous. Hence, it will be inevitable to move away from the branch operation concepts that have been operational until now to seek the concept of jointness or integration. To study this phenomenon, based on the Korean Army Vision 2050 published by the Army, the transition process of the current Army branch system and the cases of vision and major weapon systems for each branch were analyzed. The results of the analysis confirmed that although new advanced complex weapon systems are being developed for each branch, relatively little change has been made to the system. In particular, with the advent of hybrid drones and intelligent autonomous combat robots that can simultaneously perform ‘Surveillance, Reconnaissance - Decision – Strike’, it is expected that the area of expansion and mutual redundancy of combat functions will be further deepened. Therefore, in connection with the development of the weapon system, we will seek a solution to improve the Army branch system in the future and clarify the implications for the Navy and Air Force in the future.