LET’S PREPARE FOR FUTURE WAR — OR BRACE FOR CATASTROPHIC DEFEAT
By Tom Spahr August 15, 2019
[The U.S.] must suppress its appetite to rely on Cold War-era hardware
The Division Commander, Major General (MG) Smith, was pleased. His lead armor brigade was making steady progress in the center and his second brigade had positioned itself on the flank of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) armored division opposite his. MG Smith’s division was in regular contact, but the Chinese tanks were no match for the American M1 Abrams with support from a battalion of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. Unknown to MG Smith, the PLA had integrated a command system that allowed its control center to observe the U.S. formation, analyze its disposition, and execute synchronized effects at a speed previously unseen.
It all happened at once. Ballistic missiles struck the airfield where MG Smith’s Apaches were located and surface-to-air missiles destroyed four of the six remaining Apaches that were airborne. Barrage rocket fire struck his main effort with thermobaric explosives, turning it into a parking lot of smoking hulks. His second brigade drove into a perfectly placed minefield. Finally, a raid with Chinese CAIC Z-10 attack helicopters found a seam in the division’s air defense and was ripping apart his division headquarters.
https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/prepare-for-future-war-or-brace-for-defeat/
