‘We don’t have a NATO here’: How the US Army plans to counter China

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is stepping up its relationship-building efforts in the Pacific region in a bid to counter China’s geopolitical influence.

The U.S. Army has taken part in major exercises in the region like Operation Pathways — and wants to increase its participation, according to Gen. Charles Flynn, the Army’s commander in the Pacific.

“We don’t have a NATO here,” like in Europe, Flynn told Defense News in a recent interview. “We’re not going to have a NATO out here.”

“That means the challenge is much, much more difficult for us because we’ve got to bring together this network of allies and partners and we do that largely through our exercising in the region like Pathways,” he added.

The training is meant to both improve interoperability and bolster joint readiness, Flynn said.

This year, the Army increased its forward presence during Super Garuda Shield — part of Operation Pathways — which brought together 14 nations on Sumatra, Java and Borneo, the main islands in Indonesia.

“It’s really important that that’s a visible sign of the network of allies and partners coming together,” Flynn said.

The Army also brought its first mobile Combat Training Center rotation to Indonesia for Garuda Shield and will do so again in 2023, he said. The service will send the rotation to Australia for Talisman Sabre, a biennial exercise between Australia and the United Sates.

The Army has a training center in Europe and two in the U.S., but no permanent one in the Pacific. Flynn said a mobile version is “up and running,” giving soldiers the opportunity to train in operationally relevant environments.

At the same time, the service is standing up a third Multidomain Task Force unit, designed to operate across all domains, including cyber and space, and equipped with the Army’s growing capabilities, including in long-range precision fires. This will be the second MDTF in the Pacific region.

The first MDTF there helped inform the Army’s multidomain operations doctrine, which the Army is releasing at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual exhibition.

Many allies and partners in the region — including Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand — are designing concepts of operation similar to the U.S. Army’s MDO doctrine, Flynn said.

“In a lot of ways the Multidomain Task Force is kind of an example to others in the region about a new organizational design for the challenging environment that we have here in the Pacific,” he said.

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

华盛顿——美国陆军正在加强其在太平洋地区的关系建设工作，以对抗中国的地缘政治影响力。

据美国陆军太平洋司令查尔斯·弗林将军称，美国陆军已参与了该地区的重大演习，例如“路径行动”，并希望增加参与程度。

弗林在最近接受《防务新闻》采访时表示：“我们这里没有像欧洲那样的北约，我们这里也不会有北约。”

“这意味着我们面临的挑战要大得多，因为我们必须将盟友和伙伴网络凝聚在一起，而我们主要通过在该地区开展的演习（例如“路径”演习）来实现这一点，”他补充道。

弗林表示，此次训练旨在提高互操作性并增强联合战备能力。

今年，陆军在“超级迦楼罗之盾”（Super Garuda Shield）行动中加强了前沿部署。该行动是“路径行动”（Operation Pathways）的一部分，汇集了印度尼西亚苏门答腊岛、爪哇岛和婆罗洲这三个主要岛屿上的 14 个国家。

弗林说：“这确实是一个显而易见的标志，表明盟友和合作伙伴正在携手合作。”

他还表示，陆军首次将移动作战训练中心轮换部署到印度尼西亚参加“迦楼罗之盾”演习，并将于2023年再次部署。此外，陆军还将派出轮换人员前往澳大利亚参加“护身军刀”演习，这是一项澳美两国每两年举行一次的联合演习。

陆军在欧洲设有一个训练中心，在美国境内设有两个，但在太平洋地区没有常设训练中心。弗林表示，移动式训练中心已经“投入使用”，使士兵有机会在与作战环境相关的环境中进行训练。

与此同时，该军种正在组建第三支多域特遣部队，旨在跨所有领域作战，包括网络空间和太空，并配备陆军日益增强的能力，包括远程精确火力打击能力。这将是太平洋地区的第二支多域特遣部队。

第一个多域作战特遣队为陆军的多域作战条令提供了参考，陆军将在美国陆军协会的年度展览会上发布该条令。

弗林表示，该地区的许多盟友和伙伴——包括日本、菲律宾、澳大利亚、印度尼西亚、韩国和泰国——正在设计类似于美国陆军多域作战理论的作战概念。

他说：“从很多方面来看，多域特遣部队为该地区的其他人树立了一个榜样，展示了在太平洋地区充满挑战的环境中，一种新的组织设计。”

珍·贾德森是一位屡获殊荣的记者，为《防务新闻》报道陆地战争。她也曾为《政治报》和《内幕防务》工作。她拥有波士顿大学新闻学硕士学位和凯尼恩学院文学学士学位。