The US plan to fight and defeat Chinese aggression

DOD Buzz:

Navy and Air Force personnel with the AirSea Battle office are in the early phases of putting some substance to the concept the two services have trotted out before Congress since the announcement of the Pacific Pivot two years ago.

“We’re looking out ahead about how we can take some of these concepts in AirSea Battle and put them through force development activities, exercises, wargames and experimentation,” Col. Jordan Thomas, Air Force lead in the Pentagon’s AirSea Battle office, told Military​.com.

The two services, who together comprise the bulk of the AirSea Battle operating concept, recently conducted a series of exercises aimed at establishing integrated command and control. At this year’s Red Flag exercise in Nevada, for example, the two services worked on better connecting the two services, said Capt. Phillip Dupree, Navy lead in the AirSea Battle office.

“You can reduce the number of sensors you have to have in a given region, or you can build trust in relying upon another sensor if your sensor has a problem – if the information going to your sensor is contested by jamming,” Dupree told Military​.com in an interview.

AirSea Battle, or ASB, is an operating concept designed to help U.S. forces gain access to contested areas and project power. Air Force and Navy leaders said the new concept is needed in order to deal with advanced worldwide threats. Advances in ballistic missiles, jamming equipment and anti-aircraft weaponry have forced service leaders to review strategies going forward.

In particular, potential adversaries are now armed with longer-range ballistic missiles, jamming equipment and advanced anti-aircraft weaponry, among other things. This means access to strategically vital coastal areas, waterways and ports could well wind up being heavily “contested” or challenged by adversaries in the event of conflict.

This amounts to a need for stealth capability, long-range strike and high-tech or resilient systems able to operate in a more challenging “jamming” or electromagnetic environment.

Anti-Access/Area-Denial, or A2/AD, is the other buzz word that has gained steam in recent years as military leaders try to sell Congress on their modernization programs. It’s hard to sell multi-billion dollar development programs for next generation bombers and submarines when reviewing the recent ten years of combat against basic military technologies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In terms of specific tactics, Dupree said AirSea Battle aims to disrupt enemy C4ISR, destroy A2/AD capabilities and defeat the effects of weapons launched against U.S. forces.

“We have to have options on each of these three lines of effort. It is about creating corridors and pockets when and where they are needed,” he explained.
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This looks like another aspect of combined arms operation in a mainly maritime environment.  It seems clear to me that the main threat they are concerned about is from China and its aggressive territorial claims against other Pacific countries.  I think it is a mistake to believe that such a war will be strictly in the air and on the sea.  They will need Marine and Army units to retake land in places likely the Pilippines which is one of the countries under threat.