China has invested heavily during the past decade in precision missile systems and sophisticated radar designed to keep U.S. ships and fighter jets beyond the inner island chain shown below. Air-Sea Battle is the U.S. military’s concept for disabling those systems using long-range bombers and submarines. The concept is designed not so much to fight a war as to convince the Chinese that any conflict with U.S. forces would be long and costly. Pentagon officials say Air-Sea Battle is not solely focused on China, which they describe as the “pacing” threat. The following approaches are the basis for the concept. Read related article.
Source: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment | | Greg Jaffe, Gene Thorp, Bill Webster/The Washington Post 
