Enhancing the field surgical capabilities for future battlefields
Zhang Lianyang
Jiang Jianxin
Abstract：Field surgery serves as the cornerstone of military medicine,and field surgical capabilities cen-tered on"damage control resuscitation and surgery"are important in reducing the mortality rate of combat casualties and maintaining combat effectiveness.In Russia-Ukraine conflict,characterized by large-scale,prolonged,and sym-metrical engagements,battlefield injuries exhibit features of complexity,mass casualties,and severity,posing disrup-tive challenges to field surgical capabilities.The traditional chain of care——"Tactical Combat Casualty Care(TC-CC)-rapid aeromedical evacuation-damage control surgery"——derived from military operations in Iraq and Af-ghanistan,is no longer fully applicable to future battlefields.TCCC must transition into prolonged casualty care,rapid aeromedical evacuation is compelled to shift toward a combined ground and air evacuation,and damage control sur-gery capabilities are constrained by mobility limitations.Enhancing field surgical capabilities requires establishing a comprehensive military-civilian collaborative system for combat casualty care,developing safe,standardized,and effi-cient combat casualty management capabilities,and adapting damage control surgery skills to meet the demands of future battlefield surgical resuscitation.
Keywords：Field surgeryWound characteristicsField surgical capability development
Publication Date：2026-01-15
Online Publishing Date：2026-03-03(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 1-6 )