China's expansive and rapid military modernization is outpacing the United States on several fronts
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Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. in his keynote address, also pointed to the “Chinese problem.”
“The day after the last C-17 left Kabul, I was in the Indo-Pacific where a graver threat is manifesting, where the risk and stakes are high,” Brown said.
“We must move with a sense of urgency today in order to rise to the challenges of tomorrow, because the return to strategic competition is one of our nation’s greatest challenges.
“We cannot wait for a catastrophic crisis, whether it be sudden or insidious, to drive change for the Air Force and the Joint Force. If we do, it will be too late.”
Hinote didn’t elaborate on the areas where the US is losing ground to China, but he did highlight what the service should do:
Modernize its two legs of the nuclear triad: For the Air Force, this includes the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent to replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile and bringing on the new B-21 bomber.
Divest equipment that won’t stand up against a peer competitor: Hinote says the service can no longer afford to maintain seven fighter fleets and must reduce the force to just four fleets.
Invest in artificial intelligence. “We are going to need development pathways to field large amounts of autonomous — not just unmanned but fully autonomous — systems,” Hinote said. “That is part of our future.”
Echoing these future concerns, was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who said the service does not have “a moment to lose.”
Kendall confessed his priorities are “China, China, and China”— and said the Air and Space Forces are the key national security instruments to match and deter China.
He revealed that the Air Force has five B-21 stealth bombers in production at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., factory — a first flight is slated for mid-2022.
The Biden administration’s funding request for further development of the program in the fiscal year 2022 budget was US$2.98 billion, up from the previous year’s approved US$2.84 billion.
“The program is making good progress to field real capability,” Kendall said. “This investment in meaningful military capabilities that project power and hold targets at risk anywhere in the world addresses my number one priority.”
China has also moved away from a “wise and prudent” policy of maintaining a credible “minimal deterrent” nuclear force, Kendall said, and he noted recent revelations in the press that China has embarked on a furious pace of building ICBMs and silos.
“Whether intended or not, China is acquiring a first-strike capability,” Kendall declared.
While “No one could rationally desire or plan to initiate a nuclear war” — and he said he’s convinced “China does not” — the missile-building program is cause for deep concern and creates the possibility of “a catastrophic mistake.”
Kendall said that since 2010, he’s been “pounding the drum about how serious a threat” China’s military modernization program is to “the ability of the United States to project power” in the Indo-Pacific.