The post-Cold War era of uncontested U.S. military dominance has ended. Adversaries, particularly China and Russia, have studied U.S. methods and developed sophisticated anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities, including thousands of precision missiles and advanced air defenses, effectively eliminating America's superiority in all domains.
The traditional U.S. approach to war, characterized by a months-long expeditionary buildup of forces followed by a sequential campaign to establish air superiority, is no longer viable. China's strategy is designed to exploit this by initiating hostilities with little warning, preventing the U.S. from massing its forces and overwhelming its legacy platforms with dense, sophisticated defenses.
Advanced military technology, particularly precision-strike capabilities, is no longer the exclusive domain of the United States. The proliferation of inexpensive, effective unmanned systems (drones) allows not only peer competitors but also regional powers like Iran and North Korea to inflict serious damage on expensive, legacy military platforms.
The U.S. is beginning to adapt by developing new operational concepts and capabilities. Initiatives like the DoD's 'Replicator' aim to field thousands of inexpensive, smart, unmanned systems to regain mass, while services like the Marine Corps and Army are creating smaller, more mobile units (Marine Littoral Regiments, Multi-Domain Task Forces) designed to operate in contested environments.
The need to reform U.S. military strategy extends beyond battlefield effectiveness. The entire U.S. national security strategy, which relies on a global coalition of allies, is underpinned by America's role as a credible security guarantor. A perceived or actual inability to defend common interests could cause this alliance system to fracture.
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