CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 5

ARTSRUN HOVHANNISYAN nearly bringing real collision risks. At the end of the same month, Amer- ican former general Ben Hodges announced that clash between US and China is not far from reality and that could not wait a long time. 1 In this respect, it will be very interesting to study the balance of forc- es in the Asian-Pacifi c region, especially within the analysis of American military doctrine and Chinese specifi c military actions to counter it. It is common knowledge that today some political circles and professional staff s in the United States are really concerned about the actions of China and Russia and their capabilities that can signifi cantly limit the US access to key regions of Eurasia. 2 At present, China and Russia have great poten- tial to infl uence American traditional Land Forces, Air Forces, Navy and even the command and control networks and orbital groupings. 3 These two countries are perceived in the US as potential adversaries trying in every way to reach the level of the American military and de- veloping powerful technologies. Russia as well as China, in particular, is developing powerful satellite systems, various long-range missiles, fi ght- er jets, UAVs etc. New Electronic Warfare (EW) systems are being devel- oped to suppress or weaken the command and communication systems of the US and its allies. 4 China’s People-Liberation Army (PLA) also has the capability to destroy satellites, disrupt extraterrestrial intelligence, wreck command and control networks, etc. 5 Some experts believe the US Armed Forces cannot be sure to provide reliable and secure communication and signals during the confl ict on the theater of military operations, i.e. on op- erational and strategic level. On theater level, the US Armed Forces are already considered vulnerable. 6 Many of them claim that China has cre- ated an arsenal of means within the A2/AD (anti-access and area deni- al) strategy, which is capable to cause the U.S. armed forces irreversible 1 2 3 4 5 6 “Amerikanskiy general predskazal voynu SshA s Kitayem cherez 15 let,” (in Russian), [“An American General forecasted war between US and China in 15 years”], Russia Today, Oc- tober 25, 2018, https://russian.rt.com/inotv/2018-1025/Business-Insider-amerikanskij-gener- al-predskazal (accessed November 7, 2018). David Ochmanek, “The Role of Maritime and Air Power in DoD’s Third Off set Strategy,” RAND Corporation (Santa Monica, December 2014), https://www.rand.org/content/dam/ rand/pubs/testimonies/CT400/CT420/RAND_CT420.pdf (accessed November 7, 2018). David Shlapak, “Question of Balance: The Shifting Cross-Strait Balance and Implications for the U.S,” RAND Corporation March 2010, https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/ testimonies/2010/RAND_CT343.pdf (accessed November 7, 2018); Evan B. Montgomery, “Contested Primacy in the Western Pacifi c: China‘s Rise and the Future of U.S. Power Pro- jection,” International Security, Vol. 38, no. 4, (2014): 115–149. Randy J. Forbes, “Caucus Brief: Chinese Military Capable of Jamming U.S. Communica- tions System,” The Congressional China Caucus, September 20, 2013, http://forbes.house. gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=350448 (accessed November 7, 2018). Wendell Minnick, “China Developing Capability to Kill Satellites, Experts Say,” Defense News, August 4, 2014. Robert Martinage, “Toward a New Off set Strategy: Exploiting U.S. Long-Term Advantages to Restore U.S. Global Power Projection Capability,” Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), Washington, DC, October 27, 2014, 23, http://csbaonline.org/uploads/ documents/Off set-Strategy-Web.pdf (accessed November 7, 2018). 5