The extreme precision of the US in its Venezuelan operation shows why nations must be able to execute a complex special surgical strike, according to analysts who said China had long pursued the capability but had yet to master it.
In a complex joint endeavour integrating its air force, navy, intelligence agencies and space and cyber units, the US military’s elite Delta Force special mission unit completed its precision raid in Caracas – from infiltration to exfiltration – in less than three hours, abducting Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife and taking them to the US.
“Operation Absolute Resolve” was a culmination of years of developing multi-domain operations, lessons from decades of global engagement – both successes and failures – and the advanced integration of intelligence from many sources, according to Joshua Arostegui, chair of the China Landpower Studies Centre at the US Army War College.
What does Maduro’s removal mean for Chinese investments in Venezuela?
What does Maduro’s removal mean for Chinese investments in Venezuela?
Thanks to China’s rapid military modernisation, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has many of the assets the US showcased in Venezuela, including fifth-generation stealth fighters, modern naval systems, cyber and electronic warfare platforms, advanced helicopters and precision munitions.
But there was a critical gap between China and the US in integrating them for “all-domain operations”, Arostegui noted.
“The ability to effectively enable the ‘convergence’ of the different domains [that] those weapons and systems use or control is what differentiates the US military and the PLA currently,” he said.
Despite years of efforts to improve its own all-domain operation capabilities, the PLA would still “struggle” to carry out a stand-alone special operation similar to the US model, rather than acting as part of a larger campaign, Arostegui added.
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