Andrew S. Erickson

A national treasure here in Newport! For twenty-three years, Dr. Peter Alan Dutton has made superlative leadership, scholarship, teaching, and other academic and policy contributions at the Naval War College.

For over two decades, the NWC professor (2004–) and former China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) director (2011–19) and Interim Dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies […]

As we steam past mid-2024, China under Xi is steaming full speed ahead, particularly at sea. Navigate today’s troubled Indo-Pacific waters by consulting the latest version of Modern Chinese Maritime Forces—just released! This most recent iteration of the second edition includes sections for PLA Army (pp. 63–75) and PLA Air Force (pp. 76–78) watercraft; the […]

Legendary China military analyst Ken Allen provided the following written testimony for USCC to accompany the Commission’s release of his coauthored BluePath Labs report, Personnel of the People’s Liberation Army. It is published, with permission, for the first time here. Click here to download a cached PDF.

Kenneth W. Allen
Independent Consultant, China Military Analyst
Written testimony for […]

Conor M. Kennedy, A Hundred Men Wielding One Gun—Life, Duty & Cultural Practices Aboard PLAN Submarines, China Maritime Report 39 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, June 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) Friends and Colleagues –
This report dives deep into Chinese Navy submarine culture – known as “Dragon Palace Culture.” […]

“U.S. and China: Edging Toward the Brink?”

Panel on Monday, June 24, 2024 (10:20am – 11:50am)

Doerr-Hosier Center, McNulty Room, Aspen Institute, Aspen, Colorado
Click here to watch a webcast of the panel.
Review the Aspen Ideas Festival agenda here.

Niall Ferguson, the celebrated historian who predicted Cold War II in 2018, assembled the sharpest minds from both sides of […]

Wang Kun, Ye Zhong, and Zhou Huaiping, “Charging into Battle—A Deeply Entwined Network: A Profile of Wang Chengfei, Director of a Research Office at the Naval Research Academy,” CMSI Translation 4 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 10 June 2024).

Wang Chengfei, Director of a research office and senior engineer at the Naval […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Tracking China’s ‘Little Blue Men’—A Comprehensive Maritime Militia Compendium,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 10 June 2024.

American and Allied knowledge of the PRC’s Third Sea Force has come a long way since my outstanding Naval War College colleague Professor Conor Kennedy and I began our focused research following his arrival in Newport a […]

I was honored to join Matt Pottinger and some of his contributors to “The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan” at the book’s rollout at Stanford’s Hoover Institution on 30 May 2024. Sponsored by China’s Global Sharp Power Project and Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region, the event was hosted and run by Pottinger and Larry […]

Honored to speak with China Maritime Studies Institute Director Christopher Sharman on CMSI’s history, missions, scholars, and offerings! Podcast hosted by Kristen Taylor, Army War College Public Affairs and Colonel Richard Butler, Director of AWC’s rapidly developing China Landpower Studies Center (CLSC).

“CLSC Dialogues – Ep 7 – Christopher Sharman and Dr. Andrew S. Erickson – […]

It’s been a great pleasure to be part of the wonderful group of experts assembled by Matt Pottinger for this important and timely volume, from whom I’ve learned so much. I look forward to joining everyone for the book’s rollout at the Hoover Institution at Stanford today (Thursday, 30 May) from 4:00 pm – 5:30 […]

James Holmes, “5 Essential Books on Maritime Strategy You Need to Read,” The National Interest, 23 May 2024.

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, America’s chief of naval operations or top uniformed naval officer, recently released her first Navy Professional Reading List. The list is solid on the whole. There are, however, many books one could look at. Here […]

China as a Twenty-First-Century Naval Power (2020)
By Michael McDevitt
Xi Jinping has made his ambitions for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) perfectly clear, there is no mystery what he wants, first, that China should become a “great maritime power” and secondly, that the PLA “become a world-class armed force by 2050.” He wants this latter objective to […]

Honored to contribute Chapter 2 with Gabe Collins and Matt Pottinger to Matt’s timely, impactful edited volume!
Gabriel B. Collins, Andrew S. Erickson, and Matt Pottinger, “Taiwan: The Stakes,” in Matt Pottinger, ed., The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Hoover Institution Press, 2024), 23–42.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK COLOR […]

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS A TWO-PAGE PDF OF THE FLYER.

China & North Korea’s Yellow Sea activities illuminated as nowhere else!

Check out the new paperback edition of our book, published in Naval War College Professor Geoffrey Till’s Routledge Cass Series on Naval Policy & History. Sponsored by the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy (KIMS), it offers:

1) […]

Ma Liang, Guo Liqiang, Zhang Hui, Yang Jing, and Liu Jian, “Discussion on the Requirements and Methods of Intelligent Decision-Making in Torpedo Attacks by Unmanned Underwater Vehicles,” CMSI Translation 3 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 14 May 2024).
All authors work at the PLAN Submarine Academy. First author Ma Liang is a […]

Eli Tirk and Daniel Salisbury, PLAN Anti-Submarine Warfare Aircraft—Sensors, Weapons, and Operational Concepts, China Maritime Report 38 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, May 2024).

About the Authors
Mr. Eli Tirk is a research analyst at the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI). His main research areas include the PLA Air Force, PLA naval aviation, […]

China & North Korea’s Yellow Sea activities illuminated as nowhere else!

Check out the new paperback edition of our book, published in Naval War College Professor Geoffrey Till’s Routledge Cass Series on Naval Policy & History. Sponsored by the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy (KIMS), it offers:

1) An authoritative Preface by former Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet […]

The PLA Navy’s Blue Team Center Games for War
Naval Command College “Blue Team” experts sometimes go so far as to wear OpFor uniforms during wargames. 
By Ryan D. Martinson
May 2024
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
Vol. 150/5/1,455

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has embraced wargaming with an almost religious zeal. PLAN leaders vigorously promote the use of wargaming methods […]

Attention, Attention, Attention—This is not a drill! Don’t miss the China government naval/maritime ship recognition Order of Battle (OOB) guides that the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) just released! It’s the first time this unparalleled resource has been publicly updated in 15.5 months… And, for the first time ever, ONI has divided its exquisitely-detailed […]