MILITARY COMMUNICATION

the transmission of information from reconnaissance and other units in contact with the enemy and the means for exercising command by the transmission of orders and instructions of commanders to their subordinates. As such, it comprises all means of transmitting messages, orders, and reports, both in the field and at sea and between headquarters and distant installations or ships. Military communication has thus long played an important role in warfare. Additional reading For information on military communications, see R.J. Holbeche (ed.), Land Mobile Radio Systems (1985); William C.Y. Lee, Mobile Communications Design Fundamentals (1986); H. Hodara (ed.), Optical Fibres, Integrated Optics, and Their Military Applications (1977); Ray Bonds (ed.), The Modern U.S. War Machine: An Encyclopedia of American Military Equipment and Strategy, rev. ed. (1987); and, for a more general view, L.H. Gann, The Defense of Western Europe (1987). The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica