An ongoing Global Posture Review and a 2022 update to the National Defense Strategy will provide the U.S. Navy more clarity on what its roles and expectations are in the future, as the maritime space increasingly sees activities that the service considers aggressive but under the threshold of war, the Navy Times reports.
Both China and Russia are taking part in these gray zone activities — in the competition phase of the warfare spectrum, but not yet reaching the crisis phase. In these instances, the Navy can’t respond kinetically like it would in conflict, but a lack of any response is not a precedent the service wants to set.
