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What Is China Learning from the Ukraine War?
[defenseone.com] From battlefield concepts to geopolitics, Beijing is sure to be watching with avid interest—and some chagrin.Operation Desert Storm was a turning point in modern Chinese military history. As military planners with the People’s Liberation Army watched U.S. and allied forces make short work of the world’s fourth-largest military (on paper), equipped with many of the same systems as the PLA, it became obvious that China’s quantitatively superior but qualitatively lacking massed infantry would stand no chance against the combination of modern weaponry, C4ISR, and joint operations seen in Iraq. The result was new military concepts and over two decades of often-difficult reforms, which produced the modern, far more capable, "informationized" PLA of today. Today, the PLA is no doubt closely observing its Russian contemporaries in Ukraine as they under-perform in multiple areas, from failing to take key targets or claim air supremacy to running low on fuel and supplies and possibly experiencing morale collapse, and surely taking away lessons that will shape its own future. Of note, Russia’s experience appears to have confirmed many of China’s recent assumptions behind its investments, such as the utility of unmanned aerial systems in high-intensity conflict, as well as the necessity for the PLA’s 2015 reforms, which aim to fix many of the issues driving Russian failure that the PLA recognizes in itself. Follow the link, read the whole thing Related: People’s Liberation Army: 2022-03-31 China gains a foothold in Australia's backyard People’s Liberation Army: 2022-03-13 Francis Fukuyama: Well, he's been right before? Or not... People’s Liberation Army: 2022-01-29 More from ‘Red-Handed': How the Bush Family and Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Husband Cashed In Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2022-04-05 |
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