On The Conduct Of War

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 An old Vietnam era American General once said (circa 80s) that the United States will never be able to win a land war on the Asian mainland. So very true. Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Beirut, Somalia bear testimony to this observation. I would like to include Libya (ongoing stalemate).
The following are real scenes from the Vietnam War. 

 
Clockwise from top left : The enemy's well trained soldiers, just reaching puberty. The enemy's ruthless female and infant fighters conducting guerrilla warfare from dirty ditches. Napalm fried the entire enemy village. Corporal Dick Schlong burns the remainder of the village that escaped the napalm.
I have visited the War Museum in Ho Chi Minh City which has tons more of such pictures. What is clear in these pictures is that the US Marines conduct war against countries with little or no paved roads and with little or no internal plumbing. Until today. Other than Vietnam today's Afghanistan, Somalia, even Iraq bear witness to this fact.
When the country has more paved roads, more indoor toilets, a standing army and flyable airforce the US Marines get more battle shy - in a jiffy. Hence North Korea is totally out of bounds. Dont mess with those ......

Now there is talk of a World War 3 on three fronts - USA/UK versus Russia in Ukraine, USA/UK versus Iran, USA/UK versus China. This is fancy talk only.
Yesterday about 20 'civilians' were killed in a Russian strike in a small town in Ukraine (starts with a 'V'). Turns out that they included western weapons merchants having an urgent meeting with Ukrainian forces at an Army Officers Club. The Russians have their Five Eyes too.  
The Chinese Navy (the People's Liberation Army Navy or PLAN) has become the largest Navy in the world with over 320 combat active ships. Combat active means they do the real shooting. Not tug boats, oil tankers, supply ships, minesweepers or survey ships. If we count the supply ships and tugboats the number could be double. This number includes two aircraft carriers, dont how many landing dock helicopter carriers (over 25,000 tons), tens of missile destroyers, missile cruisers (12,000 ton Type 55 class) tens of frigates (7000 tons) and over 60 submarines (nuclear, diesel electric). 
And the Chinese recently commissioned three ships on the same day - one Type 55 missile cruiser, one helicopter carrier and one Type 95 submarine.
 


 
The US Navy has about 290 combat active ships but this may include small vessels like corvettes and missile boats which are counted. 
Now does anyone have any idea how many combat vessels there are in Britain's Royal Navy? 100? 200? The answer is about 28 ships including the two aircraft carriers. They have 12 destroyers, six frigates, about six submarines etc. Thats it.
What about Australia? They have seven frigates, a few submarines, one helicopter carrier, landing ship etc. Officially they have 43 ships but as I said they count patrol boats, missile boats etc together.  
But what is more important is the type of weaponry these navies put on their ships. This is where the Chinese outgun, outshoot, out-tech and outdo the other navies. The Chinese have already mounted railguns on their Type 55 super cruisers. They also have lasers that are combat proven (in Saudi Arabia of all places) that can shoot down any flying object. The Type 55 cruiser carries 120 Vertical Launch Silos (VLS) that can shoot an array of missiles (surface to surface, anti ship, anti sub, anti aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles). 
So the natives have learned to tar their roads and fix their indoor plumbing.

Indeed the US Marines need to be consulted - on how to pick an enemy.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.By Syed Akbar Ali 

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