• Proposed an “Active Defense” paradigm that reduces end-to-end response latency to 8–25 minutes, shifting wildfire management from reactive suppression to autonomous early intervention. • Developed a five-layer integrated architecture (Perception-Network-Platform-Intelligence-Application) that enables real-time data fusion and precision coordination across space, air, and ground segments. • Demonstrated operational efficacy through targeted scenarios, achieving a 70–90% suppression probability for incipient fires while significantly lowering the false-alarm rates inherent in conventional monitoring. Global wildfire activity is intensifying under climate change, while conventional monitoring and suppression approaches are increasingly hampered by delayed detection, inaccurate assessment, and inefficient response. Here we present a Spatiotemporal Intelligence-based Space-Air-Ground Integrated Wildfire Disaster Defense Platform designed to transform wildfire management from reactive suppression to proactive defense. The platform integrates satellite remote sensing for wide-area surveillance, mobile ground stations for localized environmental characterization, and multi-functional unmanned aerial vehicles for precision reconnaissance and targeted suppression within a unified architectural framework. Spatiotemporal intelligence serves as the cognitive core, enabling autonomous progression from risk perception through intelligent early warning to rapid intervention. The system operationalizes the “strike early, strike small, strike completely” doctrine by significantly accelerating the response timeline from initial detection to active suppression, enabling intervention during the critical early phase when fires remain most amenable to control. The five-layer system architecture, comprising perception, network, platform, intelligence, and application layers, is presented in details, and operational concepts are demonstrated through representative scenarios including routine forest patrol, lightning fire response, and critical infrastructure protection. This platform establishes a new paradigm for wildfire disaster prevention, offering systematic technological solutions for protecting ecosystems, communities, and the climate in an era of escalating wildfire risk.
Wu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.