The US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard released a new maritime strategy plan on Thursday that identifies China as the greatest threat to US naval power. The report titled “Advantage at Sea” identifies both Beijing and Moscow as the greatest threats to US naval control of the world’s waterways but makes it clear China is the priority.
“We prioritize competition with China due to its growing economic and military strength, increasing aggressiveness, and demonstrated intent to dominate its regional waters and remake the international order in its favor,” the report reads.
China is already a priority for the US military judging by the deployment of naval resources. According to the report, approximately 60 percent of the US Navy’s forces are in the Indo-Pacific. The Marine Corps is working on repositioning its forces in the Pacific to better engage China, and Coast Guard cutters were recently deployed to the Western Pacific to counter China.
The report says China has implemented a “strategy and revisionist approach that aims at the heart of the United States’ maritime power.” To counter China and Russia, the document offers several steps the US naval services must take, including working with allies, modernization, and focusing more on “sea control.”
“We must increase our emphasis on controlling the seas in conflict to provide joint and allied forces with the freedom of maneuver to attack adversary forces and impose costs globally,” the report reads.
In what became known as the “pivot” to Asia, the Obama administration began renewed US military focus on the Pacific, which the Trump administration greatly accelerated. The Asia pivot is illustrated by the increased number of US military planes and warships being deployed to the region.
In October, a Beijing-based think tank that monitors flights and naval maneuvers in the region outlined the increase in US military activity in comments to Newsweek. The South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI) told Newsweek that the US has nearly doubled its number of spy plane missions near China since 2009. The US Air Force is now flying an average of 1,500 sorties to the South China Sea each year.
When it comes to naval activity, SCSPI said: “According to our observations, since 2009, the US military has significantly enhanced the frequency of activities in the region by boosting the presence of surface vessels by more than 60 percent, reaching about 1,000 ship-days a year.”
The Europe First Forever Wars and deep-seated MIC corruption are the threats to USN power.
There was no reason for the littoral ships to be duds, the new Ford carrier class to be unlivable, or new sub cost overruns except for internal corruption.
Its not about the toys but the profiteering.
Well if you ask for a ship with extremely high specification, it is likely to be expensive as new tech has to be invented to meet the requirement. The littoral ship was a dud from the outset as it is unbalanced.design The requirement for extreme speed meant that weapons had to be sacrificed.
Yes, China wants to dominate ” their regional waters.” But the US expects to dominate all waters everywhere. So who is being utterly unreasonable and destined for failure? And by what right do we lay claim to “the international order”? Ah yes, devine right, because God gave us everything.
“Beijing and Moscow as the greatest threats to US naval control of the world’s waterways”
And this. Like how dare them.
The problem we have is China has a more powerful economy, and it is cheaper to dominate your regional waters than waters on the other side of the planet. Finally the USN seems to have developed a habit of wildly overspending on modest capability like the LCS series of ships. This is fine when you have no real competition but if you do you have to be a little more judicious about your choices.
The US has spent vast amounts on programs which were then cancelled and produced nothing.
That is fine for the defense industry and the many flag officers who will go through those rotating doors in the next few years. They want the money, and they got the money. Producing nothing back for the money does not really concern industry, nor too many of those soon to retire to the trough.
Of course in some sense all defense spending is waste. If it is used in war, the waste becomes even greater. Yet to deliver nothing at all for so many billions reveals the true nature of the beast.
I am thinking of all the Army’s cancelled programs, the Air Force cancelled planes and engines, and the Navy’s cancelled aircraft and boondoggles like the LCS that simply don’t work.
Defense (sic) Dept Memo to political and media prostitutes: we want moar money, need to build more ships, etc, etc.
The other side of that coin reads like this: “China identifies the United States as Top Threat to Naval Power (and the rest of the world)”.
China is the only nation with the economy to build a navy. That is not a “threat.” That is a “rival.”
The US has been unrivaled since the collapse of the USSR. Now it again has a rival. Of course. The world is not static, there are always those powers rising.
Are we afraid that the Chinese navy is going to blockade shipments from China? Who is going to protect those container ships bringing Chinese goods to America? Only the USN can do that.
True. The other side of it is that the Chinese Navy can’t bring in goods from abroad. From where? And how would they ever get near China’s coastal waters.
China’s Navy can’t hope to do more than defend. Of course, it considers Taiwan to be a matter of defense, but that is the only example to “justify” vast expense for the US.