The US military is planning to create a “hellscape” of drones in the Taiwan Strait if China moves to attack Taiwan, the top US military commander in the region has told The Washington Post.
US Wants To Create ‘Hellscape’ of Drones If China Attacks Taiwan
Related:
How American Drones Failed to Turn the Tide in Ukraine
April 2014 was a pivotal month for the people of the Donbass region in what was then still part of Ukraine. It was then that the governing regime was newly installed in Kiev by a coup d’état on February 20/21embarked on military hostilities against the people of the region. The coup overthrew Ukraine’s elected president and legislature. It sparked rebellion in Crimea, Donbass (Lugansk and Donetsk), and in towns and cities in other regions of eastern and southern Ukraine.
The LCS has just what the Navy needs to defend freedom of the seas in the first island chain.
Littoral Combat Ships for Maritime COIN
Previously:
Littoral Combat Ship Still Fighting to Prove Its Worth
Bringing Vietnamese Counterinsurgency To The Philippines And South China Sea (Part I) – Analysis
The Littoral Combat Ship was meant to start the Navy’s operational renaissance. But a chorus of naysayers and critics have put service leaders on the defensive, insisting that the troubled program has turned a corner.
Littoral Combat Ship Still Fighting to Prove Its Worth
They’ve increased the crew size and have been training them to maintain the ships themselves rather than relying on the original contractors.
Related:
The Littoral Combat Ship: How We Got Here, and Why (PDF)
USNI Proceedings Podcast – Littoral Combat Ships: How the Navy is Employing Them (Ted LeClair, Marc Crawford, Mark Haney)
Previously:
The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”
The Navy just launched a brand new ship it doesn’t even want
After decades of waging war against impoverished nations with destitute armies, or no standing armies at all, the US has suddenly found itself in a rapidly changing world where peer and near-peer competitors are outpacing it in military capabilities. Many of these capabilities are showing up on the battlefield in places the US has until recently enjoyed relative military superiority.
The Growing Weakness of Western Artillery Capabilities
A new breed of China’s unmanned hypersonic aircraft can now challenge the aerodynamic performance of the most advanced fighter aircraft in the US military, according to a group of scientists from Beijing.
China’s new hypersonic drone beats F-22 in aerodynamic efficiency: study (archived)
The US Navy commissioned a new warship earlier this month, a massive floating sea base named after a Vietnam war hero.
The US Navy’s new floating base for Marines and Navy SEALs is named for a Vietnam war hero
Activists claim the UK and US use Cyprus as an “unsinkable warship” as recent conflicts in the Middle East spark renewed controversy over British military bases on the Mediterranean island.
UK ‘bases of death’ in Cyprus see controversy amid Middle East conflicts
Previously:
Is the Philippines becoming a US ‘proxy’ against Beijing in the South China Sea?
‘The ants that get trampled on’
Not everyone agrees with drawing closer to the US, however, and they warn about the Philippines turning into a “proxy” for American interests. The president’s own sister Imee, a senator, told ANC Digital earlier this month that “China will always be our neighbour, we have no fight with them, let’s not get dragged into a fight that’s not our own.”
Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy, director of the pro-China Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, wrote in the Manila Times on February 10 that “agreements such as the EDCA, the VFA and the Mutual Defence Treaty have not only cemented the US military presence and influence in the Philippines but also, most importantly, exemplified the Philippines’ dependence on the US in the military and defence sector.”
Teresita Ang See, former president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies and currently part of its advisory council, told This Week in Asia: “Filipinos in general condemn China’s action. But many also understand that China’s assertiveness is in response to US, Japanese and Australian provocations and increasing military presence in the Philippines.”
She warned that “we are fighting a proxy war between the US and China and in the end we will be the ants that get trampled upon”.
H/T: Johnsonwkchoi
Related:
Responding to the Catholic Bishops
Philippines counts the cost of tough South China Sea stance against Beijing
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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