The 2021 Interim National Security Strategic Guidance directed development of new capabilities to better compete and deter gray zone strategies and tactics, but the Sea Services are not equipped to counter the threat. However, because of the gap, they have an opportunity to lead the joint force in changing the limiting mindset of nonlethal weapons (NLWs) to intermediate force capabilities (IFCs) to counter parts of China’s gray zone threat in the western Pacific.
Chinese strategists call China’s challenge to international norms “war without gunsmoke.”1 These actions create dilemmas for the joint force, undermine allied and partner confidence in U.S. resolve, and allow China to incrementally expand positional advantage to contest and, if necessary, strike U.S. vital interests first. IFCs can complement lethality and enable the Sea Services to prevail in a variety of complex…
