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US Air Force ‘Got Its Ass Handed To It’ In War Game Against Simulated Chinese Attack

(Photo credits: MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Andrew Jose Contributor
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A highly classified war game the United States Air Force (USAF) conducted in Fall 2020 ended with Chinese missiles pounding American bases while China invaded Taiwan, Yahoo News reported Wednesday.

The war simulation started with China mounting a biological attack against U.S. bases and warships in the Indo-Pacific regionYahoo News reported. China then used a military exercise as cover to invade Taiwan and launch missiles against U.S. bases and naval forces.

This simulation is one in a series of war games where the U.S. loses, according to Air Force Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote.

“More than a decade ago, our war games indicated that the Chinese were doing a good job of investing in military capabilities that would make our preferred model of expeditionary warfare, where we push forces forward and operate out of relatively safe bases and sanctuaries, increasingly difficult,” Hinote told Yahoo News. (RELATED: Xi Jinping Tells Military To ‘Be Prepared,’ Citing ‘Unstable’ Security Issues)

“The trend in our war games was not just that we were losing, but we were losing faster,” he added.

“Whenever we war-gamed a Taiwan scenario over the years, our Blue Team routinely got its ass handed to it, because in that scenario time is a precious commodity and it plays to China’s strength in terms of proximity and capabilities,” senior RAND Corporation analyst David Ochmanek told the outlet.

People’s Liberation Army soldiers prepare for the arrival of China’s President Xi Jinping at a barracks in Hong Kong on June 30, 2017. (Photo credits: DALE DE LA REY/AFP via Getty Images)

Ochmanek attributed China’s growing capabilities to its focus on maintaining regional hegemony while the U.S., in his opinion, was caught up in an “attention deficit disorder” of projecting power and dealing with conflicts around the world.

In a Tuesday statement to Congress, Adm. Philip Davidson, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, warned that China has been putting on an “increasingly assertive military posture” in its quest to replace the U.S. as a global superpower.