DR. JAMES HOLMES: THE NAVAL DIPLOMAT - 19FORTYFIVE
How The U.S. Navy Can Compete With China In The Gray-Zone
They can either stand idle, and let China make good its claim to state ownership of the South China Sea in defiance of the law of the sea. Or they can open fire, and bear the blame for aggression. Friends of maritime law need some recourse short of blazing away with guns or missiles. Hence the search for “intermediate force capabilities” between passive acquiescence and hot war.
Leimbach and Duckworth report on a seemingly minor yet essential shift in the lingo U.S. military folk apply to gray-zone operations. Until fairly recently, efforts to find ways to operate effectively in this murky realm went under the guise of “nonlethal weapons.” But a weapon is an implement—not a capability. The Pentagon defines a capability as “the ability to complete a task or execute a course of action under specified conditions and level of performance.” In other words, it’s the ability to do something or another.
Shifting the focus from widgets to tactics, operations, and strategy was a wise move.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/11/how-the-u-s-navy-can-compete-with-china-in-the-gray-zone/
