RIMPAC

The Art of War: RIMPAC

Lately, we’ve made a lot of hay regarding the recently conducted and now concluded RIMPAC wargaming exercise that was held off of the Hawaiian shores in early July. While it was important to coordinate and demonstrate the joint capabilities and interoperability of 29 partner nations that were led by the US, it was equally vital to test out some of the latest platforms and munitions starting to come online. New stand-off munitions such as the AIM-174b are designed to fight the enemy from afar, keeping our ships and bases out of harm’s way from enemy weapons and subsurface platforms. Other newly deployed weaponry, including the MQ-9B SeaGuardian drone, represent our latest eyes in the sky over a huge battlespace, capable of gathering intelligence, dropping sonobuoys to determine the enemy’s whereabouts, and even engage enemy targets with a package of Joint Strike missiles.

We’ve already discussed the Manta Ray remotely operated submersible in a previous post and other newly developed weapons. These include the LRASM (Long Range Anti-Ship Missile), which boast extended range ship-killing capabilities, again designed to be fired from distant stand-off positions to keep our forces out of harm’s way while bringing the battle to the adversary in their own home waters.

If the PRC intends to carry out its threat of seizing Taiwan by force by the year 2027, then the US and its allies will certainly be ready to face them. While Allied forces will enter the fray clear-eyed and ready to accept tangible losses to meet its mission requirements, it is the enemy that will undoubtedly be bloodied by the latest technological advancements being tested and readied for battle.

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Anatomy of War: “Mess with Us at Your Peril”

Sixty Minutes Australia recently aired a lengthy episode focused on a potential war between the PRC and 29 western nations in the Indo-Pacific region. Based upon a recent military exercise known as RIMPAC which took place off of the Hawaiian shores, the massive wargame, which encompasses air, ground and sea power, is not only designed to ensure that our forces work in concert with one another should war break out but is also meant to send a signal to our potential adversaries that we are ready should a conflict brew up. Needless to say, the most obvious target of a war would be Taiwan, since the PRC has expressly said that it wants to return the island nation to the fold of mainland China some time within the next decade. That said, there are other regions that could come into play should a conflict erupt, among them South Korea, Japan and even The Philippines.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal went so far as to postulate how a conflict would likely take place given what they know about the two sides military preparedness. And, as recently as May, Chinese general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission, Xi Jinping, said that the PRC must be ready to take the island, by force if necessary, no later than 2027. We invite you to spend a few minutes and watch the accompanying video and bone up on what could come should diplomacy fail.

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