China Copies U.S. Wargaming Tactics

Video Above Navy Connects Air, Surface, Underseas Drones

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Chinese efforts to replicate, mirror, copy or simply “rip-off” U.S. innovations in the area of weapons development is something that has been tracked for many years now, as it appears to expand beyond the somewhat visible or transparent Chinese effort to “borrow” U.S. 5th-generation stealth fighter external configurations. 

DoD’s public news reports have on several occasions in recent years cited concerns that the Chinese J-20 and J-31 do look like F-35 and F-22 design rip-offs to a large extent. Yet it does not stop there, as Chinese drones, armored vehicles and even USS Ford-like aircraft carrier designs appear extremely similar to U.S. designs.

Much of this phenomenon is known and documented in public Pentagon reports, other news reports and Congressional studies, yet there also appears to be a lesser recognized, yet equally troubling Chinese effort to mirror, copy or simply replicate U.S. strategies, tactics, modernization approaches and training methods. Clear evidence of this kind of copying can potentially be seen in the Pentagon’s interesting 2021 China report.

Opposition Force (OPFOR)

Chinese efforts to pursue a U.S.-military-like “multi-domain” approach to future warfare is by no means new or surprising, yet there are two other areas mentioned briefly in the Pentagon’s China report which raise interesting questions. 

The recently published Pentagon report, called “2021 Report on Military and Security Developments involving the People’s Republic of China,” says the country is greatly increasing the “realism of its training and the effectiveness of Opposition Force units (OPFOR).”