The Formless Battlespace: Urban Combat Doctrine, Multi-Domain Kill Webs, and the Space-Quantum Nexus in the Megacity Era

Abstract

Urbanisation is pulling armed conflict into dense, three-dimensional and heavily populated terrain where the classical advantages of manoeuvre warfare erode and positional, attritional dynamics return. This paper argues that the megacity must be understood as a complex adaptive system that rewards a doctrine of fluidity: a multi-domain kill web in which dismounted infantry, heavy armour and police or constabulary forces are bound together through "fluid institutionalism" and orchestrated by agentic artificial intelligence operating under human authority. It further argues that terrestrial advantage in the urban canyon is now predicated on the space and quantum domains. The analysis examines historical precedents (Manila, Hué, Grozny); the integration of the urban triad across low- and high-intensity conflict; the degradation of Global Navigation Satellite Systems by multipath and non-line-of-sight reception, with the standard pseudorange observation equation; the shift to proliferated low Earth orbit and 3GPP non-terrestrial networks as a resilient "thin channel"; quantum gravimetry, cold-atom inertial navigation and optical clocks for subterranean visibility and assured timing; and the doctrinal significance of non-kinetic counter-space. A hypothetical stress test applies the framework to a deltaic megacity, using Dhaka as an archetype. The augmented edition adds a critical analysis of the doctrine's tensions (automation bias, legal accountability, escalation, civil-military boundaries and technological maturity), three conceptual schematics, a governance table, a research agenda and an explicit statement of limitations. The paper remains at the level of doctrine and policy and offers no operational guidance.