The Strategy and Outcome of the Potential Conflict Concerning Taiwan

The Strategy and Outcome of the Potential Conflict Concerning Taiwan

In a thought-provoking new novel, Mick Ryan, a renowned military strategist, has penned down "White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan". This work of fiction falls into the genre known as FICINT (Fictional Intelligence in National Security and Tactics), offering a realistic depiction of a future war scenario.

The narrative raises questions about the implications of the use of a wide array of unmanned systems on decisions to go to war, particularly as the effect of mounting casualties on a democratic population becomes negligible. The story unfolds in a world where AI-enabled unmanned systems team with manned systems to sense, locate, and target an adversary. The novel emphasises the all-domain character of the conflict, particularly focusing on the space and cyber domains.

Ryan's novel illustrates the fundamental human aspects of war, reminding readers that advanced technologies and innovative employment methods do not lead to warfare sanitised of its most grisly consequences. The novel discusses combined arms not from the perspective of armor, aircraft, and ships, but rather the use of precision-guided munitions, electromagnetic warfare, and cyber weapons as maneuvering capabilities.

The novel also discusses the balance between the introduction of new warfighting technologies and the human elements of war. It underscores the importance of basic soldiering skills, shooting, supply, and command and control. The story depicts a war that exacts costs in lives lost, animosity, everlasting struggles, stunted forward progress, environmental degradation, and generational impacts.

The novel is set in a futuristic scenario of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and the ensuing conflict involving the United States. It explores the strategic, operational, and tactical dynamics of such a war, imagining how emerging technologies and modern warfare concepts shape the conflict landscape.

The author, Noah B. Cooper, is an active duty US Army military intelligence officer with an MA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA from King's College London. The novel invokes the use of plain language and shies away from the use of meaningless military and defense buzzwords, cliches, and unintelligible jargon.

It is important to note that the views expressed in the novel do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense. The novel depicts a war over Taiwan in which China, as the aggressor, attempts to initiate a surprise military action and conducts a cross-strait operation to seize Taiwan. The invasion leads to the involvement of the United States and others on the side of Taiwan's defenders, and the war is a catastrophe for both sides, yielding massive loss of life, prompting governmental disorder, and inviting global upheaval.

The novel does not require an extensive education or experience in strategy formulation, operational art and design, or military tactics to enjoy. The background context of the ongoing war in Ukraine enriches the novel's story arc and reinforces the book's proposition that an organisation that exhibits an inclination for bottom-up innovation and a willingness to go beyond traditional limitations will prevail.

In essence, "White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan" serves as both a narrative and a strategic reflection on how military leaders and planners might prepare for a highly plausible future war scenario involving Taiwan and the U.S. against China, focusing on the challenges of new technologies and changing geopolitical realities.

[1] Ryan, Mick. (2022). War Transformed. Oxford University Press. [2] Ryan, Mick. (2023). White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan. Oxford University Press.

1. The novel "White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan" by Mick Ryan, a military strategist, offers a realistic depiction of a future war scenario, delving into the implications of advanced technology in warfare and the human aspects that remain unchanged.
2. Ryan's work falls into the genre of FICINT (Fictional Intelligence in National Security and Tactics), as it explores how emerging technologies and modern warfare concepts shape the conflict landscape.
3. AI-enabled unmanned systems team with manned systems in this world to sense, locate, and target adversaries, raising questions about the negligible effect of mounting casualties on democratic populations.
4. The novel emphasizes the all-domain character of the conflict, focusing on the space and cyber domains, and discusses the balance between new warfighting technologies and the human elements of war.
5. "White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan" is set in a futuristic scenario of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and the ensuing conflict involving the United States, exploring strategic, operational, and tactical dynamics.

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