Autopsy of Future War

by Jared Wilhelm

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Autopsy of Future War

SECDEF on Chinese Taiwan Attack: “We Flat Out Failed to Understand Their Artificial Intelligence Capabilities”

WASHINGTON — The Chinese People’s Liberation Army shocked the world last November when they activated nearly two million reservists, mobilized the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia, and executed a surprisingly successful cross-strait invasion of Taiwan.

In a marathon day of testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense Barry McDermott revealed how the PLA’s cyber branch used artificial intelligence and the “internet of things” to help Chinese conventional forces achieve strategic military aims far from the conventional battlefield in Taiwan. McDermott told committee members the artificial-intelligence capabilities China employed will force a redefinition of “the battlefield” and must change how the US military trains for future conflict.

“We’d worked for years creating and exercising joint operational plans, but at almost every phase our ops seemed to be out of sync,” McDermott said in his opening statement. “They were in our heads.”

Continue Reading at Modern War Institute


Lt. Cmdr. Jared Wilhelm is a US Navy Foreign Area Officer currently stationed in Europe. He is a former Navy P-3C Orion instructor pilot and MQ-4C unmanned aerial system operator. He was a 2014 Olmsted Scholar, is a member of the Military Writers Guild, and holds degrees from the US Naval Academy, US Naval Postgraduate School, and the US Naval War College.


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We inspire, connect and empower people in order to promote a culture of innovation in the national security community. More at www.DefenseEntrepreneurs.org

Stories from the Trenches

We share ideas, questions, successes, failures and experiments from the DEF Community in order to promote a culture of innovation. More at DefenseEntrepreneurs.org.

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