The latest Hatch Report (which can be found here https://lnkd.in/ehm4ugDx) delves into China's #Zhuhai aerospace and defense exhibition, revealing striking parallels between the U.S. and PLA's visions for future warfare. This raises a critical question: How do we define military superiority in an era of increasing technological parity?
As the PLA continues its modernization efforts, mirroring many aspects of U.S. defense priorities—such as the Joint Warfighting Concept (JWC), Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2), Joint Fires Network (JFN), Replicator, and the Service-led acquisition programs—it becomes evident that U.S. success in these initiatives must be viewed as a baseline for maintaining parity, not a path to dominance. Achieving true dominance will require significant advantages across several critical dimensions, including:
- Innovative warfighting concepts and enabling technologies (like those mentioned above).
- A highly trained, adaptable, and operationally proficient force.
- A resilient and robust national manufacturing base capable of sustaining a protracted conflict.
While the prioritization of these dimensions may vary, the overarching trends are concerning:
- China’s Growing Strength: The PRC possesses the financial resources, expertise, and ambition to steadily close critical technological gaps with the U.S. and expand its lead in others.
- U.S. Manufacturing Shortfalls: Despite ongoing efforts, the U.S. continues to lag significantly behind China in national manufacturing capacity, a gap unlikely to be closed in the near term.
- Human Capital Challenges: The U.S. military remains the world’s most highly trained and operationally proficient force, but this advantage is increasingly at risk. There’s a limited bench, and prolonged, large-scale combat operations could quickly result in the attrition of key personnel with years of specialized training and expertise. Replacing these losses would likely require deploying less-trained reinforcements, undermining the force’s ability to execute complex joint operations effectively.
While much of the national security community has focused on addressing manufacturing capacity and reducing acquisition/innovation bottlenecks, there is an urgent need to address?force regeneration challenges, particularly from this human capital perspective.
Be sure to read the full post for more insights and images of the impressive weapon systems displayed, categorized by capability area.
Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Defense Intelligence Agency Association of the United States Army - AUSA ETI | Emerging Technologies Institute Aerospace Industries Association
Senior Vice President Government & Defence
4 个月Looking forward to hearing your insights Hugh and watching you corral what I’m sure will be a high powered panel.