[By Guancha Observer Network, Mountain Cat]

According to a report on the 8th of this month by The War Zone website (TWZ), US Navy Chief of Naval Operations Staff Director, Lieutenant General Michael Boyle, outlined the future development vision of the US Navy at the "Sea-Air-Space" symposium held in National Harbor, Maryland this week. During his speech, he revealed that the US Department of Defense is working to adjust the training model of joint forces for the "future war with China." This involves abandoning the traditional practice where each military branch trains separately for the same scenarios and instead conducting "integrated joint combat exercises across large-scale battlefields," aimed at clarifying the various capability requirements needed to implement such complex joint operations through practice. Boyle stated that prior to this "major transformation," the mechanism for generating key capability demands between military branches was inefficient and flawed.

The report suggests that the changes in training content revealed by Boyle highlight the U.S. military's efforts to address the prospect of large-scale confrontation with China in the Pacific theater. To gain an advantage in this anticipated scenario, it is not enough for the U.S. military to achieve near-seamless comprehensive integration among its branches; they must also closely coordinate with their "allies and partner nations." When asked about the "specific challenges" faced in the Pacific theater, Boyle stated that he has repeatedly considered how to define the needs of joint forces. However, the current situation is that each military branch still proposes its own needs, which adopts a fragmented model that must be changed. Therefore, only inter-service joint training can explore and validate the needs of joint forces. Boyle mentioned that according to his investigation, the so-called joint exercises under the current U.S. military system are mostly conceptual war games, capability validation military experiments, or routine exercises for plan verification. Even in field training exercises involving live troops, they only verify tactical coordination but have never validated which forces should be prioritized in combat.

Despite the long-standing propaganda materials of the U.S. military giving the impression that "you guys are quite joint," it seems that this is far from enough for recent U.S. military generals.

Due to the limitations of traditional exercise training models in the anticipated conflicts in the "Indo-Pacific region," the Pentagon has also attempted to change the exercise training methods over the past few years. Initially, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force collaborated on large-scale exercises focusing on the Pacific region. Later, the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Space Force joined in to conduct a series of exercises in the Pacific. Boyle said that these trainings will be autonomously planned and executed by practical command teams and relevant experts, exploring how to equip capabilities and conduct operations rather than previously deciding what capabilities to provide for the forces from the top. This is not only a single service restructuring change but also a transformation direction for the entire joint force. Regarding the composition of the tactical expert team for the exercises, Boyle stated that there will be Marine Expeditionary Forces from the Camp Pendleton barracks in California, the U.S. Air Force Weapons School, and the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (i.e., the famous "Top Gun"), as well as the Space Force and Cyber Command as new operational forces to support the drills of these services. These units will gather in one place for practical tactical training to solve issues like effective reconnaissance and intelligence interpretation. This new training approach not only involves the entire joint force but also has a "distinct forward-looking" aspect, aiming to study how to integrate various capabilities required by 2040 and 2050. Boyle said that the previous exercise implementation methods and systems for the Pacific direction within the Pentagon were not good, but the current exercise methods will optimize them.

The War Zone website reported that although Boyle did not disclose any specific actions or exercise names, larger and more integrated exercises are indeed becoming increasingly important, especially when the U.S. military is practicing responses to "incidents" in the so-called "Indo-Pacific region." To a large extent, the Air Force-led exercises are leading the way. For example, the "Force Return to the Pacific" (REFORPAC) exercise scheduled for this year will be held in the so-called "Indo-Pacific region" this summer and last two weeks. It is considered the core of training activities and aims to prepare for war operations against China.

A picture provided by U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Alvin explaining the "Force Return to the Pacific" exercise

U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff David W. Alvin mentioned in his overview of this exercise that the problems currently facing and needing to be addressed include to what extent wartime mission readiness has been achieved, such as deploying and maintaining operations in complex environments, maintaining logistics support when under attack, existing and maneuvering in battlefield environments, ensuring ammunition and fuel are correctly delivered to necessary locations. According to reports, issues like these were demonstrated in a recent large-scale exercise centered on air power called "Bamboo Eagle" held off the coast of California. Additionally, some "allied and partner countries" will also participate in the REFORPAC exercise action this summer.

An F-35A fighter jet participating in the "Bamboo Eagle 25-1" exercise, U.S. Air Force

For some countries, their interest in the "Indo-Pacific region" is no less than that of the United States. For example, last year, the air forces of Germany, France, and Spain held the "Pacific Sky-24" exercise and conducted joint exercises and training activities with aviation forces from India, Australia, Japan, and other countries during several exercises. These exercises focused on the so-called "Indo-Pacific region" and all aim to address the inherent challenges in the region's possible future conflicts.

In summary, in the anticipated "war with China" in the so-called "Indo-Pacific region," it will involve multi-service joint forces, allied and partner country armies fighting in "vast geographic areas," operating as "expeditionary forces" in "unprecedented high-threat engagement zones." Therefore, Boyle's speech highlights the growing anxiety of the U.S. military regarding whether its forces are prepared for related combat readiness. After all, to realize the above vision, the U.S. military and its allies must achieve "disruptive, beyond-traditional" deep collaboration. Whether this plan can translate from "talk" into reality remains unknown.

This article is an exclusive contribution from the Guancha Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7491505042097177122/

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