PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – This should worry U.S. war planners. China’s military may discard its rigid command structure, report warns. Even as China embarks on a massive military buildup, the U.S. comforts itself with an ironclad belief: Massive Communist Chinese numbers will be undercut by rigid command and clumsy tactics that can be exploited by agile U.S. forces.
“A Chinese military that fully embraces mission command would likely lead to improved operational performance, with quicker decision-making, better adaptability, and greater resilience in the face of degraded C4ISR,” according to a report by Rand Corporation.
Mission command means commanders express the general intent of the mission, leaving subordinates to use their own judgment on how to achieve those goals. This proven approach, also used by the Israel Defense Forces, enables initiative and rapid decisions while opponents wait for orders from higher command.
There is evidence that Chinese military reformers are beginning to push for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to adopt mission command. A more flexible, decentralized Chinese system would be more resistant to U.S. tactics such as attacking command and control centers. This would force the U.S. to revise its strategy.
China’s political leaders have long worried that the effectiveness of their armed forces are being undermined by rigid and over-centralized command, unrealistic training and widespread corruption.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense news from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.
Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:
NATIONAL SECURITY
Trump orders Pentagon to resume and match other nations’ [primarily Russia and China] nuclear weapons testing “on an equal basis.” Nuclear testing typically refers to the intentional detonation of a nuclear weapon.
Executives at Israel Aerospace Industries are awaiting news on the U.S. Golden Dome missile shield architecture, hoping that U.S. leaders will consider the company’s Arrow land-based interceptor technology for two layers of the project.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza marks a turning point in modern warfare: the fusion of counterinsurgency and AI. Will Western states, with counterinsurgency traditions that emphasize legitimacy and population control, be influenced by Israel’s algorithmic model?
HOMELAND SECURITY
National Guard is developing a “quick reaction force” of troops trained in crowd control and civil disturbance that can be ready to deploy to U.S. cities by January.
Nearly two dozen military attorneys were appointed as temporary immigration judges and will begin hearing cases in federal courtrooms across the country immediately.
House Armed Services committee members are begging Boeing leaders to negotiate with 3,200 union workers to end a nearly-three-month strike at the company’s fighter jet and munitions factories in St. Louis.
Digital billboards on expressways outside U.S. Southern Command in Florida urge troops not to ‘break the law’ in Caribbean strikes.
Lockheed Martin plans to invest in maritime drone manufacturer Saildrone, to equip Lockheed’s air-to-ground missile launchers onto a Saildrone unmanned sea drone.
A recent Northrop Grumman video montage includes a brief clip showing an aircraft fuselage section that does not appear to be from any design the company has developed or is in production, at least that is publicly known.
US POWER OVERSEAS
Four narcos were killed by the latest U.S. military airstrike on a drug boat in the Eastern Pacific.
NORAD surged two F-35s, two F-16s, and a trio of KC-135s to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland earlier this month for a “dynamic operational exercise,” testing its ability to rapidly deploy forces in the Arctic.
Trump, Hegseth affirm alliance with Japanese counterparts during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in South Korea.
U.S. Forces Japan has all the personnel it needs to become a joint force headquarters and is ready for the next phase of its reorganization, Defense Secretary Hegseth said after meeting his Japanese counterpart.
USS George Washington quietly left the home of the U.S. 7th Fleet on Thursday to resume its annual patrol, two days after it hosted Trump.
USS Vermont a Virginia-class attack submarine is in port in Australia for the second maintenance period of a nuclear-powered boat on foreign soil.
CHINA THREAT
China building SAM sites that allow missiles to be fired from within bunkers. Satellite imagery shows China has been building at least two facilities featuring hardened shelters with retractable roofs along its heavily disputed border with India.
RUSSIA THREAT
Putin says that Russia successfully tested one of its Poseidon nuclear-powered, nuclear-tipped, ultra-long-endurance torpedoes.
After more than a year of bloody assaults at great cost in troops and equipment, Russian forces are now fighting inside the key Ukrainian logistical hub of Pokrovsk.
Inside Russian infiltration missions. Insufficient Ukrainian drones across large gray zones, usage of anti-thermal cloaks, and gaps in the front line are making Russian attacks effective.
Vladimir Putin claimed that Russian troops have surrounded Ukrainian forces in two key eastern cities of Ukraine and offered to negotiate a deal for their surrender. Ukrainian officials vigorously denied the claim.
A suspicious drone flying near a base used by U.S. forces in Estonia, the small Baltic country bordering Russia, was recently shot down.
U.S. will scale back its troop presence along Europe’s eastern border with Ukraine as it focuses on security priorities elsewhere.
Troops with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, will not be replaced when they return home from Europe, marking the ebb of the U.S. military’s rush to shore up NATO’s eastern flank.
MIDDLE EAST THREATS
Israel’s military has carried out another deadly attack in northern Gaza despite claiming to resume the fragile ceasefire.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
U.S. will share closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, Trump said on social media after meeting with the country’s president.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Dutch centrist liberals neck and neck with populist right wing party in tight election.
Sudan’s paramilitary forces massacred hundreds of people at a hospital, including patients, after they seized the provincial capital of North Darfur.
European Space Agency has provided more details about the multi-pronged security program it is seeking more than one billion euros for.
In Europe, the problem is lack of deterrence, not drones. Since multiple Russian drones crossed into Poland last month, European leaders have expedited the idea of a “drone wall” and rushed to invest in countering drones.
US MILITARY
Trump told Navy sailors that he intends to sign an executive order directing the service to use steam for its aircraft carrier’s catapults and hydraulics for the ship’s elevators.
Air Force says it needs to dramatically grow its fighter fleet by hundreds of manned, combat-ready jets over the next decade in order to meet expected threats — a massive expansion that may not be feasible due to funding limits and production constraints.
New report to Congress pitching the Air Force’s 10-year fighter jet plan is missing key details and explanations, raising questions and concerns.
Soldiers in Hawaii spent last week testing a “shoot-and-scoot” mobile mortar system as part of the Army’s Transformation in Contact initiative that aims to speedily field new technology.
Army’s 25th Infantry Division has successfully 3D printed a first person view (FPV) drone that ‘can put lethal effects on target right now.’
END of PDB
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Do not underestimate China.