Editing Tactical communications (section)

== The digital battlefield ==
Security was a problem. If you broadcast your plans over radio waves, anyone with a similar radio listening to the same frequency could hear your plans. [[Trench code]]s became the tactical part of [[World War I cryptography]]. Advances in [[electronics]], particularly after [[World War II]], allowed for electronic [[encryption|scrambling]] of voice radio. Operational and strategic messages during the war were by text were encrypted with [[cipher]]s too complex for humans to crack without the assistance of a similar, high-tech machine, such as the German [[Enigma machine]]. Once [[computer science]] advanced, tactical voice radio could be encrypted, and large amounts of data could be sent over the airwaves in [[Burst_transmission|quick bursts of signals]] with more complex encryption. 

Communication between armies were of course much more difficult before the electronic age and could only be achieved with messengers on horseback or by foot and with time delays according to the distance the messenger needed to travel. Advances in long-range communications aided the commander on the battlefield, for then they could receive news of any outside force or factor that could impact the conduct of a battle.