A US Air Force war game shows what the service needs to hold off — or win against — China in 2030
Valerie Insinna
Photo credit: Staff Sgt. Sean Carnes/U.S. Air Force
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force repelled a Chinese invasion of Taiwan during a massive war game last fall by relying on drones acting as a sensing grid, an advanced sixth-generation fighter jet able to penetrate the most contested environments, cargo planes dropping pallets of guided munitions and other novel technologies yet unseen on the modern battlefield.
But the service’s success was ultimately pyrrhic. After much loss of life and equipment, the U.S. military was able to prevent a total takeover of Taiwan by confining Chinese forces to a single area. (China considers the self-governing province of Taiwan as its sovereign territory, and has vowed to unite it with the mainland.)