In a simulated battle in a “wargame”, the United States lost to China. At the heart of this confrontation was Taiwan, the island known for its astonishing geopolitical situation with its neighboring Chinese country. For the Pentagon, it is now a matter of reviewing its copy.
The military has ‘miserably failed’
The United States and China are the two largest powers in the world. In the military field, the race for innovation has been going on for a number of years. On the ground, the United States is monitoring China’s many actions in close space, particularly in the China Sea. The Pentagon has been trying to assess its military knowledge for some time through war simulations. These are “wargames” that give an overview of the effects of different strategies and confrontations. An article published by Defense one on July 26, 2021 claims that the United States has failed in such a simulation against China.
John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that in this simulation, the military… “fail failed”. According to the official, the virtual opponent – the “red team” – has been studying the United States for two decades and so predict actions of the army.
In passing, it should be borne in mind that the simulation medium and its form are classified information. In addition, although relatively few details are available about these simulations, one of the scenarios involved the United States against a China attacking Taiwan. However, we have known for several years that such a scenario is not impossible.
An outdated strategy to review
This bitter failure surprised the specialists gathered for the occasion. The Pentagon believes it is time – after several decades – to change its way of understanding things. It is a matter of a “mass strategy” which is now obsolete. This strategy involves a concentration of firepower on all levels (land, air and sea). The target ? Strike fast and hard and organize your logistics more easily. However, the opponent – capable of taking revenge – can do a lot of damage if he succeeds. It must be said that nowadays some armies also work on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence or swarms of drones.
Especially when the United States was mostly confronted with armies with little advanced technology, the situation has changed visibly in recent years, especially in the field of intelligence. Now this country is no longer the only one with drones, satellites or stealth planes. In addition, the US military is now very dependent on data streams, which is increasingly interesting for hackers.
