In Christian Brose’s position-paper-ish book The Kill Chain, he lays out a strong argument for why the Pentagon’s complacency and ineptitude could very well doom the American military the next time they engage in a shooting war with a world power.

Here’s his scenario for what would happen in a Pacific conflict:

Cyberattacks would grind down the logistical movement of US forces into combat. The defenseless cargo ships and aircraft that would ferry much of that force across the Pacific would be attacked every step of the way. Satellites on which US forces depend for intelligence, communications, and global positioning would be blinded by lasers, shut down by high-energy jammers, or shot out of orbit altogether by antisatellite missiles…. [As] China’s hypersonic weapons [reaching five times the speed of sound] slammed into US bases, they would destroy fighter jets and other aircraft on the ground before US pilots could even get them airborne…

The Kill Chain is out now. My review is at PopMatters.