Same thing here as well @Jason_
PLA strike strategies in westpac HIC
- Thread starter SEAD
- Start date
I am making a new series of infographics on weapons unveiled in the parade, how they might be used, and their strategic impact for China. They will also cover my views on future directions of the PLA / Chinese "grand strategy." The first will be on how I think China will counter the B-21, which will be the greatest threat facing China in the coming decade.
Reupload with watermark over Russia and Polynesia. Feel free to share widely, particularly in response to Americans who think B-21 as the wunderwaffe that will defeat China.
Reupload with watermark over Russia and Polynesia. Feel free to share widely, particularly in response to Americans who think B-21 as the wunderwaffe that will defeat China.
From an infographic point of view I think it is very thorough and high quality, particularly in terms of the symbology.
I am a little bit cautious about some of the "certainty" of some of the depictions (even if I think it does a good job of showing aspects of multidomain operations), and there is a likelihood of this getting memed into the whole "arrows go brrr" or "don't siege leningrad, take it immediately" aspect if it is presented too confidently without context, particularly with adjectives like "lethal".
That's just my past experience when talking among the sort of different skeptic groups that you seemed to design this infographic against.
(Obvious gotchas would be challenging the idea of the PLA being able to secure the 1IC and 2IC to begin with and asking about the role of the USN and USAF in the region, US regional missile/hypersonic forces, US submarine launched hypersonics etc, which would play important roles in any multidomain HIC in the first phase of a conflict. Other things to consider would be that both the PRC and US would be utilizing more advanced weapons by 2030s, the US for example would likely have air launched hypersonics well in service by then, but I digress)
That said, overall I agree with the thrust of what you've depicted -- if the PLA are capable of securing the 1IC and neutralise the 2IC, the natural next step would be to possess a multidomain capability to conduct localized strategic offensive operations to deny and degrade long range US strike bomber sorties/capabilities while simultaneously carrying out a layered defense strategy.
Edit: I somewhat lol at the tanker being depicted as KC-135 rather than KC-46.
Also, I'm going to move these posts somewhere else, such as the HIC strike strategy thread; the 2025 parade thread isn't very good for this discussion.
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Why are China forces all over the map while the US only had 3 planes? They do have many submarines and carriers that will come to fight
The lede is somewhat buried, but the assumption is this part (top left hand corner of the image, first paragraph), had already occurred:
That is to say, the assumption seems to be that the westpac conflict had already been concluded in the PRC's favour.
Of course, it is a rather significant omission to not consider that the US will still have meaningful numbers of surface navy, tactical air, and submarine forces around the globe with which to support, escort and enable long range B-21 sorties as well as to defend their own "outside-of-westpac" bases. But understandably that would be a bit too crowded for the infographic.... however it does mean an omission that critics will seize on.
Appreciate the work! However watermark is still too weak imo. Should have done it with big letters covering across the whole image
When you dont have the capability to resist hypersonic ASBM, it is highly risky for surface vessels to operate within 4,000 to 6,000 kilometers of the Chinese mainland.
Especially in the 2030s, PLA may have the capability to monitor surface fleets at this distance which they do not have at this point.
Its basically impossible to fit more stuff on the map.
Well, yeah. This is about the 2030s, anything of the US's then in the FIC isn't a combatant, it's a victim of a violent crime. That's probably true today except for maybe submarines, but it's not an argument I care to have. If it isn't, it certainly will be in 10 years.