Keeping and Eye on the Long Game: Part XXIX

Give the Chinese credit where the credit is due - they have the concept Tactical, Operational, and Strategic Centers of Gravity analysis down.

China's significant military buildup includes strategic weapons designed to counter U.S. military advantages, including electric pulse weapons, a senior Pentagon official told Congress Wednesday.

James J. Shinn, assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs also said during House testimony that China's arms buildup is increasing the danger of a future conflict over Taiwan.

Mr. Shinn warned that one troubling aspect of the large-scale buildup is what he termed a "deliberate and well-thought-through Chinese strategy to invest in asymmetric warfare - cyber-warfare, counterspace capability, a very sophisticated ballistic and cruise missile program and, of course, undersea warfare."

He disclosed that China's military is working on exotic electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons that can devastate electronic systems using a burst of energy similar to that produced by a nuclear blast.

Chinese EMP weaponry "is one of several examples of asymmetric warfare that we need to deal with," Mr. Shinn told the House Armed Services Committee.

"The consequence of EMP is that you destroy the communications network," Mr. Shin said. "And we are, as you know, and as the Chinese also know, heavily dependent on sophisticated communications, satellite communications, in the conduct of our forces. And so, whether it's from an EMP or it's some kind of a coordinated [anti-satellite] effort, we could be in a very bad place if the Chinese enhanced their capability in this area."

Network Centric Warfare. Reachback. UCAV/UAV. Distributive sensors. Shhhhhhhhh.......