dc.description | Thesis (M.A.)--Georgetown University, 2010.; Includes bibliographical
references.; Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. The United States and China are
developing competing complexes for penetrating, precision strike as part of the broader
military competition in the Western Pacific.; After the United States' display of aerospace
prowess in the 1991 Gulf War, the most perceptive Chinese military thinkers realized that
something significant had changed about modern war. China had not fought a major war with the
West since Korea, and the Gulf War demonstrated that military size alone was insufficient for
repelling a high-tech adversary. Thus, under General Secretary Jiang Zemin, China hastened the
replacement of Mao Zedong's "people's war" or "grand army"
military model in favor of preparation for "local war under high-tech
conditions." China's increasingly formidable reconnaissance-strike force is the
modern manifestation of its local-war doctrine.; Although the Chinese reconnaissance-strike
complex (RUK) looks very different than the U.S. RUK, both exploit the same
military-technological developments. Specifically, RUKs are made possible by progress in
guided munitions and advanced targeting networks. At its most basic level,
reconnaissance-strike is merely the operational integration of these two technologies.; This
paper assesses the competition in reconnaissance-strike between the United States and China.
Specifically, it assesses how the interaction of asymmetric reconnaissance-strike complexes
shape incentives for future investment in the U.S. and Chinese reconnaissance-strike
complexes. | en |