The effect of this land power projected into the sea and air domains is to provide the United States with a credible A2/AD umbrella that it could project from the western Pacific’s first island chain. Scholars and strategists skeptical that outright U.S. primacy over China can be maintained over the long-run have advocated this idea for several years. The idea is similar to former Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis’ [Distinguished Senior Fellow] Andrew Krepinevich’s suggestion of ‘Archipelagic Defense’ made up of land-based capabilities on the first island chain. Shang-su Wu of Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies suggested a return to the idea of ‘Naval Fortresses’ utilizing missiles and air power as a way for China’s smaller island neighbors to hedge against the possibility of waning U.S. Naval supremacy in the Western Pacific. James Holmes, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, advocates combining containment capabilities with defensive missile shields to turn the first island chain into a barrier Chinese forces would be unable to break through.
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