Paul DeLuca

A RAND study analyzed Chinese and U.S. military capabilities in two scenarios (Taiwan and the Spratly Islands) from 1996 to 2017, finding that trends in most, but not all, areas run strongly against the United States. While U.S. aggregate power remains greater than China s, distance and geography affect outcomes. China is capable of challenging U.S. military dominance on its immediate periphery and its reach is likely to grow in the years ahead."

This report assesses in what ways and to what degree unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are suitable for supporting U.S. Navy missions and functions. It briefly characterizes the current and emerging USV marketplaces to provide a baseline for near-term capabilities, describes USV concepts of employment to support diverse U.S. Navy missions and functions, and evaluates these concepts of employment to identify specific missions and functions for which they are highly suitable.

The authors conducted a tabletop exercise to assess the geopolitical implications of Taiwan's semiconductor dominance and the vulnerabilities of the semiconductor supply chain. The exercise revealed that there are generally no good short-term options for responding if China attempts to unify with Taiwan and that a concerted effort should be made to reduce the concentration of semiconductor production in Taiwan.

The U.S. Air Force manages any proposed significant changes and additions regarding the location of weapon systems and personnel through its strategic basing process. This report is an independent analysis of the Air Force s basing process and the quality of the underlying data. It seeks to inform decisionmakers on potential improvements to the data and assessment criteria used in making basing decisions."

The U.S. Air Force is facing a number of challenges as a result of the current defense budget downturn along with the uncertainty of its timing and magnitude. RAND examined the challenge of modernizing the Air Force s aircraft fleet while trying to sustain the industrial base with limited funding, considering six budget strategies for aircraft procurement: from a new high-tech fleet to sustaining and modifying the existing one."

Although irregular warfare includes a range of activities in which naval forces have played an integral role, there has been little examination of the characteristics or potential of such operations in maritime environments. An assessment of the maritime component of a series of historical and ongoing operations reveals that current notions of irregular warfare would benefit from increased recognition of potential maritime contributions.

Nuclear submarine design resources at the shipyards, their suppliers, and the Navy may erode for lack of demand. Analysis of alternative workforce and workload management options suggests that the U.S. Navy should stretch out the design of the next submarine class and start it early or sustain design resources above the current demand, so that the next class may be designed on time, on budget, and with low risk.