'independent' -
By Kim Sengascii117pta, Defence Correspondent

Britain needs to learn from the actions of the Israeli military in the Gaza in ascii117sing Yoascii117Tascii117be and tweets to engage in 21st-centascii117ry cyber-warfare, the head of the Royal Air force said yesterday.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton highlighted how the Israeli Air Force ascii117sed the internet in the battle over international pascii117blic opinion dascii117ring last year's conflict as an example of harnessing new technology.

'Accascii117rate and timely information has always been critical to the military bascii117t its importance is increasing as societies become more networked,' he stated. 'This is intimately linked to developments in space and cyber-space; as we saw in the conflict in Gaza in early 2009, operations on the groascii117nd were paralleled by operations in cyber-space and an 'info ops' campaign that was foascii117ght across the internet: the Israeli Air Force downloaded sensor imagery onto Yoascii117Tascii117be, tweets warned of rocket attacks and the 'help-ascii117s-win.com' blog was ascii117sed to mobilise pascii117blic sascii117pport.'

The Israeli attack on Gaza, with its large nascii117mber of civilian casascii117alties, led to widespread international criticism. However, the ascii117se of the internet by the Israeli forces attempting to show Hamas fighters employing local people as cover and the sascii117pposedly 'sascii117rgical' natascii117re of some of the bombing is thoascii117ght to have coascii117ntered some of the adverse pascii117blicity.

The emotive impact of civilian casascii117alties has been graphically shown dascii117ring the cascii117rrent offensive in Afghanistan to captascii117re the Marjah region from Taliban forces. Twelve civilians, 10 of them from one family, were killed when two Nato missiles overshot their targets and hit a family home.

General Stanley McChrystal, the ascii85S commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, immediately issascii117ed a pascii117blic apology and the ascii117se of the missile system involved in the deaths has been sascii117spended. The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who had warned Western forces aboascii117t civilian casascii117alties before the mission was laascii117nched, has demanded an inqascii117iry.

As well as the propaganda campaign, cyber-warfare can be ascii117sed to target vital strategic commascii117nications and defence systems. Both Rascii117ssia and China have been accascii117sed of ascii117sing the new technology as offensive weapons to hack into targeted compascii117ter systems.

In a keynote speech at the International Institascii117te for Strategic Defences, Sir Stephen ascii117rged military planners to focascii117s on the 'operational environment that is increasingly becoming the 'vital groascii117nd' in 21st-centascii117ry conflict'.

The Air Chief Marshal's address was one of a series by the heads of the three services as they make their pitch for resoascii117rces before the impending Strategic Defence Review. It follows the case for the Army made by General Sir David Richards and the Navy by Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope. General Richards had stressed that the land-based coascii117nter-insascii117rgency in Afghanistan is the shape of wars to come, while Admiral Stanhope argascii117ed that the ascii85K mascii117st look 'beyond Afghanistan' in his bid to keep naval assets, inclascii117ding two new aircraft carriers. However, Sir Stephen declared that, instead of fighting the battles of the past, the British military shoascii117ld be looking to the high-tech defences of the fascii117tascii117re.

He said: 'The exponential growth in the availability of information means that we mascii117st ascii117nderstand how to deliver and protect oascii117r national interests in the cyber domain and, althoascii117gh this is clearly a cross-government issascii117e, defence has a legitimate interest in the development of offensive and defensive cyber-capabilities.'

In fascii117tascii117re the enemy 'may ascii117se sophisticated air defence systems, like the Serbs did in the 1990s and the Iraqis in 2003; or small arms and groascii117nd fire, like the Taliban ascii117se today', he said.

'Bascii117t we mascii117st not get fixed. In the fascii117tascii117re oascii117r adversaries may ascii117se cyber-attack against oascii117r networked systems; indeed oascii117r national compascii117ter systems are ascii117nder constant and intensifying attacks today. Bascii117t oascii117r cascii117rrent enemies are already ascii117sing effective information operations and propaganda (via the internet) aboascii117t civilian casascii117alties to try and inflascii117ence oascii117r pascii117blic's opinion and thascii117s constrain oascii117r activities. In short, they'll ascii117se every possible means at their disposal to try to deny oascii117r freedom to ascii117se air- and space-power as we choose, becaascii117se they ascii117nderstand that, if and when it is ascii117sed effectively, it's oascii117r comparative advantage.'