Pentagon Doubles Down on Pacific Area Denial, Need for High-end Munitions

 

via USNI News

The Pentagon doubled down on its plans to establish a forward-deployed area denial, anti-access network along the First Island Chain to deter China in the 2026 National Defense Security update.

In a Sept. 22 report to the Senate Armed Services Committee on the 2026 NDS, Defense Under Secretary for Policy Elbridge Colby highlighted the department’s efforts to establish a “deterrence by denial” posture in the Indo-Pacific against China. The move is the culmination of attempts within the last decade to prepare American forces for a potential conflict against China, one that would require expansive logistics and missile volleys over the vast distances of the Pacific.

“We are also doing so through force development, as shown in our budget requests to Congress, which increasingly focuses on the kinds of conventional capabilities required to sustain deterrence by denial along the [First Island Chain],” reads Colby’s report.

The report said Colby wants to achieve the second-most important policy of the NDS, which aims to “Deter China in the Indo-Pacific Through Strength, Not Confrontation,” through similar methods via a first island chain denial plan.

Capabilities such as ground-based mobile missile launchers, stand-in forces, naval mines and sustainable aerial forces were emphasized in Colby’s statement. These contrast a previous reliance on large scale naval forces and reflect the Pentagon’s new approach to countering Chinese forces.

Here 

Well that answers a question.

Still don't know the tick tock of this thing but the Marine Corps has gotten the Defense Dept to buy into this weird ass first island chain defense scheme.

Cool.

I stand by contention that not only has China already broken out of this mythical line but that, just like the USSR, we'll never cross swords with them directly.

In my mind this applies double to China.  We've become to dependent on all the little useless widgets we buy from them.  We're far too intertwined to make direct confrontation possible.

We'll fight them thru proxies and might have scrapes on far off lands, I'm still betting on Africa rather than the Middle East...but never heads up.

With all that being said it leaves me with TWO big questions.

1.  Why is the Marine Corps sticking with NMESIS when that system is already obsolete?  The HIMARS does what it does cheaper, better and with a bigger weapons load.

2.  Why is the Marine Corps so focused on this sea denial mission and ignoring 200 years of land combat?  Why is the focus so hard on becoming a totally defensive outfit when its most famous battles and the history its won was found fighting wherever the nation needed...MOSTLY on the ground against enemy land forces?

Anyone know?