Information Technology and TNI AU

Technology hold an important role in the life of humankind, including the defense sectors, for example, to carry out the management and the development of the Indonesian Air Force, we need networks of information and communication.
Information technology could be defined as technology which has the capacity in such a way to capture, store, process, retrieve, represent and transmit information. Some examples of information are such as numeric (like video, audio and text) and image (like the picture and code).

With the existence of Information technology, the sending of information and the process of communication could be carried out more effectively, more efficinetly, with high fidelity and less time. Accurate and strategic information become a critical factor for the strength of the Indonesian Air Force, because information become an important key that can’t be separated from the command and control of each operation.

Information become a foundation of policy’s products or strategy in facing the existing threats. Brilliant tactics to attack our enemy will not be born without the existence of complete, accurate, and fast information. In the future, not only information, but also all the censors and weapons system will be fully connected in an integrated planning environment, evaluation, and implementation to apply the policy and the strategy in the field.

As the impact of Technology and information on the Indonesia Air force, we have to change our concepts of wars. We can define the concepts as precision strike, dominating maneuver, space warfare, and information warfare.

a. Precision Strike. The core of this concept is the capacity to know the enemy from the operational level to the strategy level by choosing and giving priority to the target. Technology and information help the commanders to carry out reconnaissance as well as the determination of the target accurately. Jeffrey McKitrick (1996) in The Revolution in Military Affairs stated that the key of the improvement is to cover the technology’s improvement in the reconnaissance sectors, data security, data processing and data communication, munitions, and determining equipment of the position (GPS - global positioning system). This concept could be also applied in a rescue operation. A story about Scott O'Grady, a F-16 pilot that was shot down in Bosnia, shows that a good information technology system makes the rescue operation be successful brightly. This happens because of the pilot is equipped by 50 feet accurate GPS receiver and a standard UHF Radio. These equipments could give position information less than one second, with encryption in order to decoy the enemy.

b. Space Warfare. We can call this concept as Star wars that use the outer space environment as the fourth area war (after land, sea and air). The progress of communication technology especially the satellite make space warfare happened. By using the satellite, from the certain height, Air Force could improve and widen reconnaissance. The satellite could also present the specific data of the targets, provide the navigation system especially for fighter aircrafts, and give information about the surface of the earth.

c. Dominating Maneuver. The maneuver is important element in each battle. If we can integrate dominating maneuver with precision strike and space warfare, we could break the opponent’s centre of gravity in order to control the battle. Precision strike and space warfare destroy the target and make enemy weak temporarily. Dominating maneuver will control the opponent’s center of gravity so as to not have the alternative for the opponent except for surrendering, as Clausewitz said that, “whoever control the center of gravity will win the war”. Regarding the development of information technology, the maneuver could become more difficult if the enemy also really went up in this field.

d. Information Warfare. Information Warfare has a real link with the information system. The Armed Forces used to consider information only for supporting the battle, but in the next period, information holds the main role in the battle. Now, information technology cause the war’s hierarchical organizations become obsolete, this makes the organisation flat and simple. We can define the information technology’s role that impacts our organization into 4 (four) quadrant :

1) The first quadrant (at the same place, at the same time). The information is delivered in a face to face interaction. In this quadrant, the IT’s role is to help giving the idea or information visually using some softwares such as presentation software like power point, or presenting the idea quickly using brain storming and mind mapping.

2) The second quadrant (at the same place, at the different time). The information is delivered in a batch manner (updated in a period of specific time) and sent to the other side. the IT’s role in this quadrant is to facilitate the data with software that support data updating of the data in groups (batch).

3) The third quadrant (at the different place, at the same time ). The information is sent to another place real time and the IT’s role in this quadrant is being the bridges for it. Nowadays, there are so many software produced using online distributed interaction concepts such as chatting, video conferencing and many more.

4) The fourth quadrant (at the different place, at the different time). The information could be sent anywhere and at any time. This concept is used to be impossible to be carried out, but not now. Today, using information technology, the information could be sent accross the space and time without limitation.


As the conclusion of this speech, we realize that technology and information will have some impacts on The Indonesia Air Force’s operation concepts, doctrines, organisations, infrastructures, integration of the system, education and trainings. We must arrange our Information Technology of Defense System in the Indonesia Air Force, that can carry out the information effectively, efficiently, high didelity and fast. Accurate and strategic information is a critical factor for the strength of the Indonesian Air Force, because information became an important key that can’t be separated from the command and control of each operation.