Will Thibeau
Conventional wisdom traditionally delineates between military systems designed for strategic deterrence and those intended for tactical application. A machine gun, such as the M240B, firing 650 rounds per minute, is invaluable for a Ranger unit in combat but holds no deterrent effect on the grand strategic scale. In contrast, an aircraft carrier, strategic bomber, or nuclear submarine is resourced and evaluated precisely for its role in America’s strategic deterrence, shaping global power dynamics. However, the evolution of 21st-century warfare demands a reevaluation of this paradigm.
In February 2023, Austin Dahmer—a prominent America First foreign policy expert and current Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy—authored the white paper Resourcing the Strategy of Denial. Dahmer laid out the difficult, yet necessary budgetary and force structure choices required to build a Joint Force capable of deterring conflict with China. His analysis advocated for reallocating resources from the Army and Marine Corps toward the Navy and Air Force, given their critical role in the Indo-Pacific theater. Yet, in hindsight, a glaring omission in the report was the strategic importance of unmanned systems in deterrence. Given the timing, this oversight is understandable, but any modern revision must account for the now-undeniable fact that mass-produced, low-cost, attritable unmanned systems are a crucial pillar of deterrence in the Asia-Pacific.
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