Andrew S. Erickson

This talk by Dr. Andrew S. Erickson, China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI), will introduce his new co-edited volume Chinese Aerospace Power: Evolving Maritime Roles. This is the first book to address both the Chinese aerospace challenge and its implications for U.S. naval strategy.

This is the first event in a new season of the 8 Bells Book Lecture Series sponsored by the Naval War College Museum. The event will consist of a presentation by Dr. Erickson followed by questions and discussion. A limited number of copies of Chinese Aerospace Power will be available for purchase on-site through the Naval War College Foundation Store. Dr. Erickson will be happy to answer any questions about the book and to sign any copies.

Public access to the Museum with a personal vehicle is through Gate 1 of U.S. Naval Station, Newport. Reservations and photo identification are necessary for entry onto the Naval Station. For reservations and base access, please be sure to call Kelly Folger at the Naval War College Museum at 401.841.2101 by noon on Wednesday 7 September (at least 24 hours prior to the lecture).

To contact the Naval War College Foundation Store, please call 866.490.3334 (M-F 10:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.).

For directions to the Naval War College Campus, click here.

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Click here for more information on the book being presented: Andrew S. Erickson and Lyle J. Goldstein, eds., Chinese Aerospace Power: Evolving Maritime Roles (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2011).

China’s aircraft carrier program is already making major waves well before the first ship has even been completed. Undoubtedly, this development heralds a new era in Chinese national security policy. While Chinese Aerospace Power presents substantial new insight on that particular question, its main focus is decidedly broader in scope. This book offers a comprehensive survey of Chinese aerospace developments, with a concentration on areas of potential strategic significance previously unexplored in Western scholarship. It also links these developments to the vast maritime battlespace of the Asia-Pacific region and highlights the consequent implications for the U.S. military, particularly the U.S. Navy.

The possibility of a future Chinese expeditionary force operating off Africa under the protective umbrella of carrier aircraft is not without consequence for the global strategic balance. However, a simpler set of aerospace systems, from microsatellites to unmanned aerial vehicles to ballistic and cruise missiles are already challenging U.S. maritime dominance in East Asia. Cumulatively, progress in all major aerospace dimensions by various elements of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) signifies a new period in which Chinese forces are now decisively altering the complexion of the military balance in the East Asian littoral.

While many articles and books have previously been written on Chinese aerospace development and many more discuss future U.S. naval strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, no other book connects the two issues, simultaneously evaluating the Chinese aerospace challenge and its implications for U.S. naval strategy.

Chinese Aerospace Power offers both broad strategic context for the lay reader and considerable insights for even the most well-informed specialists, with no fewer than five chapters devoting coverage to significant aspects of China’s development of a “carrier killer” anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM).

Dr. Andrew S. Erickson is an Associate Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College and a founding member of the department’s China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). He is an Associate in Research at Harvard University’s John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies (2008-). Erickson received his Ph.D. and M.A. in international relations and comparative politics from Princeton University and graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College. Erickson is coeditor of, and a contributor to, the Naval Institute Press book series, “Studies in Chinese Maritime Development,” comprising Chinese Aerospace Power (2011), China, the U.S., and 21st Century Sea Power (2010), China Goes to Sea (2009), China’s Energy Strategy (2008), and China’s Future Nuclear Submarine Force (2007); as well as the Naval War College Newport Paper China’s Nuclear Force Modernization. His research websites are www.andrewerickson.com and www.chinasignpost.com.