No. of Recommendations: 2
The US has had its eyes on how a new Pacific Campaign would unfold for some time. Let's look at the NGAD program:
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/piecing-...The Air Force has invested more than $2.5 billion since 2018 to develop that successor: the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems. By 2025, that number will have grown to at least $9 billion. While still highly classified, the Air Force has gradually begun to reveal limited details about NGAD, which it describes as a 'family of systems' that will collaboratively gain air dominance in combat. NGAD is being specifically designed to fight China over long distances:
Other service leaders have said recently that there could be two versions of NGAD, one optimized for the Pacific theater's long-range requirements and another for the more compact European theater. The knock on the F-22 is its range.
But how is the NGAD being procured? That's the real revolution here:
Former USAF acquisition executive Will Roper revealed in September 2020 that an NGAD 'full-scale flight demonstrator' had already flown, adding coyly that it had 'broken a lot of records.' He told reporters later that he had fought to make that revelation to reassure the Air Force community that the service's embrace of digital engineering was delivering 'real things in the real world.'
Roper's concept for NGAD was to draw both traditional prime contractors as well as startups to compete; new aircraft didn't necessarily have to be built by the companies that designed them. Roper envisaged short production runs of 50 to 100 airplanes, each succeeded in close order by another more advanced design, with new types developed roughly every five years. This development frequency would replace the 'winner-take-all' competitions that characterized the F-22 and F-35 programs with a more iterative, rapid development cycle to slash the Air Force's technology refresh rate from decades to years. The approach, which the Air Force has not abandoned, meshes well with Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.'s admonition to the service to 'Accelerate Change ' or Lose.' In other words, they fundamentally re-did how the Air Force generates technology so as to not empower 1 defense contractor and eviscerate the others.
Now, what about the Navy? Gonna need one of those to face China.
https://theconversation.com/whats-the-purpose-of-p...President Trump visited Newport News at the beginning of March to deliver a speech aboard the soon-to-be commissioned USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier. It provided a timely reminder of his campaign pledge that he would increase the size of the fleet from the current figure of 272 to 350 ships over the next three decades. This is significantly more than the Obama-era plans to increase the fleet to 308 ships.
How this decision fits with any broader grand strategy is unclear. Critics have debated whether Trump has one. Indeed, a recent New York Times story suggested the growth of the military may simply be for the purpose of possessing raw military power rather than part of any serious strategizing.Indeed. I always turn to the New York Times when I want read some Afred Thayer Mahanian level strategery on all things United States Navy. This NYT article is something else:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/world/americas/...https://archive.ph/dhemOMr. Trump has mostly expressed his military thinking through calls to build up major weapons systems, such as aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons, designed to fight major wars.
Michael C. Horowitz, a University of Pennsylvania political scientist, said, 'That does mean a military force more optimized for potential conflict with China, with Iran and, ironically, with Russia.'
Every president has worked to retain military superiority over major adversaries. But Mr. Trump is unusually single-minded in his focus on preparing for great power conflict, which the world has averted since World War II.Nice analysis, NYT. The concept you're reaching for there is called "Power Projection", which is why you build aircraft carriers.
