US mainland ultra-vulnerable to China, Russia hybrid attacks

The US Army’s recent Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) report warns that near-peer adversaries China and Russia are gearing up for unprecedented hybrid warfare tactics targeting the US homeland.

The report says the US homeland, traditionally considered a sanctuary, is now vulnerable to its near-peer adversaries’ conventional, hybrid and irregular warfare tactics.

The TRADOC report emphasizes that these adversaries are heavily investing in capabilities designed to disrupt and attack soft targets within US territory, leveraging information and cyber operations to create significant effects with minimal risk of escalation compared to kinetic strikes.

The TRADOC report suggests that China and Russia are likely to transition from subtle, non-attributable cyber and information operations to more overt and destructive physical actions in the event of a conflict.

It mentions the potential use of ultra-long-range systems with conventional payloads, asymmetric platforms and commercial off-the-shelf unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to target critical infrastructure and military operations.

The report also notes the adversaries’ readiness to escalate their actions using these capabilities, which could threaten vital infrastructure and operations essential to US military readiness and deployment.

Furthermore, the report details how increased transparency of the modern battlefield, due to the proliferation of advanced technologies and global communications, makes it increasingly challenging to conceal movements and operations from the enemy.

This transparency and adversaries’ focus on anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) efforts could significantly hinder the US Army’s ability to project force and sustain operations during large-scale