IT’S TIME TO BRING BACK CONVENTIONAL DETERRENCE PATROLS
DAVID ZIKUSOKAJUNE 27, 2023
After decades of war in the Middle East, the joint force is retooling to pierce the bubble of China’s formidable anti-access, area-denial defenses. The national defense strategy calls China the pacing challenge and Defense Department officials have called a cross-strait Chinese invasion of Taiwan the pacing scenario. The most stressing part of this scenario would be the fight to sink the invasion fleet as it approaches Taiwan’s shores. The joint force would need to find and strike Chinese naval assets while protecting bases and aircraft carriers from China’s arsenal of long-range missiles.
The Air Force, Army, Marines, and Navy are each proposing new operational concepts to funnel combat power into China’s backyard. The Air Force faces a particular challenge because it relies heavily on short-range aircraft and bases within striking distance of Chinese missile raids. To overcome this dependence and maintain relevance, the Air Force should call upon a combination of Cold War tactics and advanced missile technology. At the core of this approach is the “conventional deterrence patrol.” This is an operational concept for an alert model that makes the joint force’s most advanced anti-ship munitions available for employment at a moment’s notice during a crisis. Conventional deterrence patrols would provide significant, flexible combat power for the joint force by keeping strike aircraft airborne within range of the battlespace but at the edges of China’s reach.
Agile Combat Employment
The Air Force currently operates short-range aircraft out of bases in the first and second island chains of the western Pacific. From Okinawa to Guam though, these bases are threatened by China’s extensive arsenal of long-range missiles like the DF-21 and DF-26. In the opening hours and minutes of a conflict, they would likely come under withering attack, with many aircraft lost on the ground before they can join the fight.
https://warontherocks.com/2023/06/its-time-to-bring-back-conventional-deterrence-patrols/
