Andrew S. Erickson

As we steam into the Year of the Snake, China under Xi is steaming full speed ahead, particularly at sea. Start the New Year right and navigate today’s troubled Indo-Pacific waters by consulting the latest version of Modern Chinese Maritime Forces, released today! This most recent iteration of the Second Edition includes sections for PLA […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “The J-36 and Shenyang Stealth Fighters: China’s Great Aerospace Leap,” 19FortyFive, 31 December 2024.
China’s Two New Stealth Fighters: Heralding Defense Industrial Warfare: It’s that time again, when end-of-the-year advancements roll out in the People’s Republic of China…

China’s Two New Stealth Fighters: Heralding Defense Industrial Warfare: It’s that time again, when end-of-the-year advancements roll […]

Ryan D. Martinson, “Missing in the Gray Zone? China’s Maritime Militia Forces Around Taiwan,” The Diplomat, 24 December 2024.

While maritime militia forces are not playing a major role in China’s multi-pronged pressure campaign against Taiwan, they are not completely absent from the battlespace.

From CMSI Director CAPT Christopher H. Sharman, USN (Ret.):
China Military Maritime Watchers: What is […]

Ju Lang, “Mid-Life Overhaul and Upgrade of the Type 052C Guided Missile Destroyer,” CMSI Translation 11 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 19 December 2024).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A CACHED COPY.
From CMSI Director CAPT Christopher H. Sharman, USN (Ret.):
Numerically, the PRC has the largest navy in the world with a battle force of […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s Military Power: The Capability Forest Beyond Corruption Trees,” 19FortyFive, 20 December 2024.
This week, the Department of Defense released its twenty-fourth annual China Military Power Report (CMPR). Here are the most important revelations from its 182 pages that informed professionals need to know.

China’s Military Might, Explained
China’s armed forces are massive, well-funded, and […]

Just out in War on the Rocks—My take on the Pentagon’s 2024 China Military Power Report!
I offer both TL;DR for the 182-page document and a hard-hitting conclusion.

The bottom line: If Xi and the PLA were in the disarray some imagine, there’s no way China’s military could be developing, deploying, and exercising the way it clearly […]

Honored to have CMSI’s new book featured by Phelim Kine in Politico’s China Watcher!

“One Book, Three Questions”
The Book: Chinese Amphibious Warfare: Prospects for a Cross-Strait Invasion (a compilation of expert analyses of how a Chinese invasion of Taiwan might unfold)
The Editors: Andrew Erickson is a professor of strategy at the Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute; […]

The Department of Defense just released the 2024 China Military Power Report (CMPR)!

Access here the Full Text (cached copy) & Fact Sheet (cached copy).
Rollout at CSIS, 18 December 2024.
Watch rollout webcast on YouTube.

KEY REVELATIONS—MY TAKE:

By CMPR’s suspense date of “early 2024,” China already had over 600 operational nuclear warheads.
All of China’s roughly 400 ICBMs can […]

Now that the Department of Defense (DoD) has just released the 2024 China Military Power Report (CMPR)… you can access the Full Text & accompanying documents below. Since I couldn’t find a single-source location on the Internet, and the Pentagon has deactivated some of the previous links, I decided to make my own. Now you can […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Chinese Amphibious Warfare: Taiwan Targeted, Scenarios Swirling,” The Diplomat, 14 December 2024.
Part two of a two-part series detailing China’s amphibious warfare and the implications for Taiwan.

As China deploys the most warships around Taiwan in its largest maritime operation in three decades, scrutiny of the potential military operations Xi Jinping envisions is long […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s Amphibious Warfare: History, Doctrine, and Forces,” The Diplomat, 14 December 2024.
Part one of a two-part series detailing China’s amphibious warfare and the implications for Taiwan.

Republished in RealClearDefense, 16 December 2024.

As China surrounds Taiwan with warships, it’s time to consider what military operations Xi Jinping may be preparing for. This first part […]

As we follow Admiral Miao Hua (苗华)’s fall and watch for more shoes to drop, it’s useful to reflect on Chinese open source methodology more broadly. With the PRC continually tightening up under Xi, the discipline faces rising challenges. Surveying the state of affairs and reviewing past practices from earlier years of PRC isolation offers […]

Read the latest and greatest from my brilliant my Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) colleague Prof. Ryan Martinson! Review his unique insights on PLA Navy personnel issues as we analyze Admiral Miao Hua (苗华)’s fall and watch for more shoes to drop…
For analysis of Chinese maritime strategy and policy, force development and deployment, […]

Tiffany Tat, Shadow Force: A Look Inside the PLA Navy Reserve, China Maritime Report 43 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, December 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
The PLA Navy Reserve is an important and understudied element of PRC maritime power. The PLAN Reserve appears to be transitioning from a substandard backup force […]

Andrew S. Erickson and Christopher H. Sharman, “Admiral Miao Hua’s Fall: Further Navy Fallout?” CMSI Note 11 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 28 November 2024).
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A CACHED PDF COPY.

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
Happy Thanksgiving from the China Maritime Studies Institute! We have much to be thankful for.

China’s Navy, […]

Gao Hongwei, Shen Hongquan, and Zhang Tong, “Transformation, How Significant is the Role of an Airfield Station?” CMSI Translation 10 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 25 November 2024).
Transformation, How Significant is the Role of an Airfield Station?1
——News Investigation of a Certain Southern Theater Command Navy Aviation Airfield Station
Improving Core Support Capabilities […]

Apply now to become the next Director, Russia Maritime Studies Institute (RMSI) at the Naval War College (NWC) in Newport, Rhode Island—the Navy’s “Home of Thought”! The next professional in this intellectually pivotal position will provide thought leadership and management for a dynamic team of top-caliber professionals all serving the Navy and Nation—in ways that matter greatly. Akin to […]

New in New Haven! After twenty-three years of superlative leadership, scholarship, teaching, and other academic and policy contributions at the U.S. Naval War College, Dr. Peter Alan Dutton, J.D., has joined Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center as a Senior Research Scholar in Law and a Senior Fellow. His updated bio is appended immediately […]

Andrew S. Erickson, Conor M. Kennedy, and Ryan D. Martinson, eds., Chinese Amphibious Warfare: Prospects for a Cross-Strait Invasion (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 7 November 2024).
Coauthor of:

Andrew S. Erickson, Conor M. Kennedy, and Ryan D. Martinson, “Introduction: Taking Taiwan by Force? Chinese Amphibious Warfare in the New Era,” 1–12.
Andrew S. Erickson and Gabriel […]