Michael C. Loftus
Much of the public discussion on China’s development of autonomous weapons systems thus far has centered on the sea and air domains but have not grappled with how the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could deploy these systems for urban warfare. This analysis of Chinese efforts to automate anti-submarine warfare, enable long-range missile targeting of U.S. carrier strike groups through satellite-based radar, and the Center of Naval Analyses’ recent report on drone swarms’ role in China’s counter-intervention strategy is absolutely essential. However, for any invasion of Taiwan to succeed, the PLA must win not just on solitary stretches of sea, but amid the clamor of crowded civilian streets.
Home to 23 million civilians, Taiwan is one of the most urbanized places on earth. In the north, nearly 10 million people live in the metropolitan belt stretching from Taipei through New Taipei City and Taoyuan. In the south, Kaohsiung anchors another dense urban sprawl. While there is no general consensus whether a PLA invasion would concentrate on either point, both strategies would require daunting urban warfare.
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