The date is November 2nd, 2021. The world economy has at last begun to
recover from the Coronavirus outbreak, but as nations begin to open up again
one country is determined to reshape the new world order in its own image.
For three weeks China has been building its forces for a cross-strait invasion into Taiwan.
Given its still limited mobility fleet and extreme currents in the Strait of Taiwan,
China has a very narrow window to secure a beachhead only twice a year-
and the Chinese Communist Party is no longer willing to wait for peaceful reunification.
In response to the military buildup, the United States has responded in kind, moving a sizable
portion of its Atlantic fleet to the Pacific and Indian oceans. Bases in Hawaii, Australia, Alaska,
and Japan all bustle with activity as thousands of aircraft are shuttled to airfields closer to
the potential conflict zone. Guam, linchpin of US operations in the South Pacific, is on full alert.
At 0124 hours, China launches the first salvo of World War III.
Overhead, American spy satellites pick up the unmistakable thermal plumes of hundreds
of ballistic missiles lifting off launch vehicles and silos all across eastern China.
Many of these missiles smash into neighboring Taiwan,
but a number of them reach space and then re-adjust their trajectories.
Guided by Chinese satellites and ground control stations, Chinese DF-26 ballistic
missiles- otherwise known as Guam Killers- perform course correction burns before
re-entering the atmosphere. Packing a warhead loaded with over 3,000 pounds of explosives,
each missile is a deadly threat to a target on the ground.
American AEGIS cruisers immediately launch volleys of ballistic missile interceptors,
seeking to destroy the Chinese missiles while still outside the atmosphere. American THAAD,
or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, units stationed both in South Korea and Guam
send their own volleys of interceptors. But the DF-26 missiles carry countermeasures,
and scatter radar confusing chaff and decoys as they cruise just outside the atmosphere
and prepare to enter their terminal phase. American interceptors destroy many missiles,
but many more slip past the first layer of defenses.
Now entering the atmosphere, Patriot missile defense batteries stationed on Guam fire
interceptors in droves. More missiles are killed, but just half a minute later,
over a dozen DF-26 missiles prepare for impact. Four of the missiles split open,
showering American runways with runway cratering munitions. The rest smash into important fuel
and munitions storage facilities, or strike at barracks and plane hangars. The DF-26 missiles
aren't exactly precise- they have a target radius of just under 100 meters- but with over 3,000
pounds of explosives they don't need to be. In seconds Guam is a smoking ruin,
and a significant portion of US Pacific military might has just been neutralized.
Out at sea however, the DF-26s targeting American carrier strike groups don't fare as well.
If China is going to have any chance of winning this war,
the American carriers need to be destroyed, and have been secondary in priority only to Guam.
The American carriers have been sailing at full steam though and performing erratic maneuvers.
The two powerful nuclear reactors aboard the Nimitz carriers push the massive ships
to top speeds that have to this day remained classified, easily outrunning their escorts
but for their erratic maneuvers meant to throw off the DF-26's targeting.
The strike group's defenses open up on the big missiles, with its accompanying
cruisers firing off volley after volley of interceptors. Most of the DF-26s are downed,
but a near miss cripples the Ronald Reagan and forces it to return to the American west coast
for extensive repairs. A direct hit on the bow of the Abraham Lincoln devastates the massive
carrier. Within two hours the giant ship, and its accompanying 80 combat aircraft and thousands
of sailors are all lying at the bottom of the sea. The US has just suffered more casualties
in the first three hours of World War III than in twenty years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now it's America's turn to strike back.
Chinese missile strikes have devastated American and allied nation bases across the Pacific,
from Guam to Japan, and as far south as Australia. American's first counterattack doesn't come from
a kinetic weapon, but an electronic one. Malicious code lurking in Chinese computer systems for years
come to life with a single keystroke, and suddenly Chinese communications and intelligence networks
are brought to a screeching halt. China is shocked at the electronic devastation of the attack,
and at the lackluster performance of what it had hoped would be a 'digital Pearl Harbor'
against the US. -
Chinese government hackers are only just now discovering that the computer systems
they've been painstakingly penetrating over the course of years have largely been simulated.
Anticipating a massive cyber attack in case of war, the US has spoofed many of its own critical
military computer networks and allowed foreign powers to believe their software was penetrating
real networks being used by real people. These fake networks are so detailed that
they even simulate individual worker's browser history- Chinese hackers can watch as personnel
waste time on youtube and playing their favorite flash games, yet it's all fake, simulated by AI.
But the electronic attack is quickly followed by a very real, kinetic attack.
On long range radar Chinese air defense installations watch American B-2 bombers on
approach. The stealthy planes can't evade radar completely, and intermittent contacts betray
their presence while still hundreds of miles from the Chinese coast. However, knowing the stealth
bombers are somewhere out there and getting a target lock is a totally different thing,
and high frequency targeting radars can't resolve a good lock on the incredibly stealthy bombers.
Featuring upgraded stealth composites and an exhaust system that cools the hot air of the
twin turbojets powering the big bombers, the B-2s penetrate ever deeper towards Chinese territory.
Fighter jets are scrambled to intercept the attack craft, but while still hundreds of miles
away the B-2s let loose with their payloads. Each B-2 briefly flashes brightly on radar
as its cargo bay doors are opened and then quickly closed, restoring its stealth characteristics,
then the big planes turn around and head for surviving friendly airfields.
From the belly of each plane half a dozen large missiles fall towards the Pacific ocean.
Rocket engines come to life as the missiles fall to just a few hundred feet off the waves,
and each missile levels off at just over fifty feet over the breaking waves. The missiles
feature stealthy characteristics, making them very difficult to track and target with interceptors,
and terrain-following radar allows them to skim just above the waves so as to remain under
the horizon of Chinese radar. As the missiles accelerate to twice the speed of sound, the rocket
engines suddenly cut off and are jettisoned, and the missile's main mode of propulsion- a scramjet-
flares to life. The scramjet has no moving parts, and works by compressing incoming air
from the nose of the missile and injecting fuel into the superheated air which instantly ignites.
However, each missile has to be helped along to supersonic speed before the scramjets can engage,
but once they do the missiles punch forward until they're moving at thousands of miles an hour.
The missiles arrive at their targets across the Chinese coast. They roar over population
centers to reach military buildup zones, air bases, and command and control nodes.
Upon reaching their targets, the missiles suddenly plunge to the ground,
causing only minor destruction on impact. However, for miles around each missile's final descent, all
electronics have been permanently disabled. The US has just crippled thousands of Chinese vehicles,
command and control nodes, ships, aircraft, and computers
with electromagnetic pulse weapons. Not a single Chinese soldier has died in the attack,
but immeasurable damage has been done to Chinese logistics and military infrastructure.
A few days later, the surface war to push the US out of the Pacific has finally began in earnest.
Chinese Type 055 and 052 destroyers are punching well above their weight class
against American ships. The Chinese destroyers are newer than their American counterparts,
many of which have begun to show their age. The Type 055 and 052s are fast,
precise, and lethal with their arsenal of anti-ship cruise missiles, and inflict heavy
losses on American ships. They are supported by a range of bases built across the South China Sea,
each one of which is home to dozens of missile batteries, combat aircraft,
and long-range surveillance radar. Despite its carrier strike groups largely intact,
the US can't penetrate the outer ring of Chinese Pacific defenses without a dedicated concentration
of firepower. Until the South China Sea artificial reef bases are neutralized, it'll be weeks before
the US Navy can bring the fight to China's shores. In the meantime, speedy and agile
Chinese destroyers seek out US and allied ships that stray too close, supported by aircraft flying
out of the reclaimed island bases China has spent two decades building while the world just watched.
Under the waves however, the United States has let loose
its fleet of terrifying underwater predators.
American attack submarines have been more prepared for this fight than the rest of the US Navy,
pre-positioned along critical waterways for months at a time thanks to their nuclear
reactors which provide them with unlimited endurance. It's only the crew's need to
eat that limits the sub's endurance, but a whole fleet of fast resupply vessels keeps
America's silent service well supplied at war, and the deadly subs back on target.
American Virginia and Los Angeles class submarines have been hunting Chinese subs
since the war began. By far their most difficult prey is the stealthy Type 039A-
a submarine so advanced it caught US intelligence completely by surprise. The advantage however
remains firmly on the US side, as China's anti-submarine warfare capabilities continue
to lag significantly behind the US. Lacking air and surface assets to hunt down American subs,
the quiet nuclear powered submarines methodically search for the Chinese diesel-electric subs.
After losing three subs to the American fleet, the Chinese have ordered their own subs close
to support bases- the Chinese subs' main mission after all is to attack American surface ships,
and they are still being kept at bay by the massive People's Liberation Army Rocket Force.
However, this leaves the US silent service free to hunt across the South Pacific,
and dozens of Chinese ships are either sunk or crippled in attacks. Some American subs are lost,
but the Virginia class subs prove even more difficult to locate and sink than the Los
Angeles class. Featuring a new generation of noise-canceling rubber tiles and equipment
built with tolerances tighter than even space craft, the Virginia class submarines are deadly
predators and send many People's Liberation Army Navy ships to the bottom of the ocean.
The war however remains at an impasse at the moment. Until China's South China Sea bases can be
neutralized, the US can't bring its considerable naval and air power to bear- let alone begin the
reconquest and liberation of Taiwan. What has become extremely clear to both sides however is
that the most important weapons of what will become World War III are for the first time
in history exclusively weapons that operate in the cyber, space, and naval warfighting realms.
Now go check out US vs China 2020 military comparison- or click this other video instead!