Cyber Warfare and the New World Order

Difference of Opinion

It had been a little over three weeks since the Chinese Japanese fleet had been nearly wiped out by the new American super weapons. Following the near annihilation of the combined fleet, the support ships and carriers that had survived escaped and returned to the safety of the Hawaiian Islands. In the subsequent days after their return, Admiral Tomohisa Kawano of the Japanese Navy and Admiral Hong Xi of the People’s Liberation Army Navy had been ordered back to Japan to review a new battle plan being proposed by their superiors.

At first, Admiral Kawano was not sure if the new plan, which called for an enormous missile swarm attack, could work. Admiral Xi, on the other hand, whole-heartedly supported the scheme. He sternly insisted, “If enough aircraft and ships can fire the same number of anti-ship missiles as we used during the first naval battle, we can overwhelm the American missile defenses, especially considering the number of American support ships that we already destroyed.”

Admiral Kawano, still not confident in the chance of success, proposed, “We should also consider the use of tactical nuclear weapons or nuclear-armed torpedoes.”

PM Hata was aghast that a Japanese Naval Officer would even suggest the use of such a weapon, but the Chinese appeared to be willing to consider it. Hoping to get ahead of this before disaster struck Hata argued, “We cannot seriously be considering this idea. Any use of nuclear weapons would result in a swift and overwhelming response by President Stein. The American leader has already shown that he has no qualms about unleashing the United States’ nuclear arsenal on anyone that uses these weapons against them. Are you all forgetting the holocaust of the Middle East and North Africa? I cannot believe that anyone’s memory could be so short-sighted.”

A rather nerdy-looking junior Japanese officer dared to address the group. “May I suggest that we incorporate the new micro-drones we have been secretly developing over the last several years?”

All eyes turned towards this unknown officer, and Admiral Kawano shot back, “Please elaborate.”

“We have been creating micro-drones for use in our naval operations. Originally, they were intended to counter the PLAN, but now that we are allies, they could obviously be used against the Americans.”

“Ok, but how do they work?” asked Kawano, irritated.

“One of our drone bombers would drop the micro-drone pod; once in freefall, it would open to release ten micro-drones. Those drones would then begin to race towards their pre-programmed targets, exploding once their proximity sensors indicated that they were close enough to their mark.”

Everyone in the room sat there silently thinking for a moment before one of the PLAN officers inquired, “How many of these micro-drone pods does Japan have right now?”

The young officer replied, “We have 50 of them built right now, so that would give us 500 of these micro-drones. I should also note; the drones can be programmed to emit the same electronic signature as either an aircraft or just about any type of missile. We could set them to appear to be much larger anti-ship cruise missiles, which would trick the American defenses into thinking they pose a greater threat than they actually do. The Americans’ targeting AI would automatically assign the micro-drones a higher priority for engagement, causing them to expend limited resources on a red herring instead of destroying the actual missiles.”

Following this revelation, the group quickly agreed that the micro-drones would be used in the missile swarm attack. The JDF and PLAN also agreed to send as many additional aircraft to Hawaii as they could to aid in launching the anti-ship cruise missiles. They also began the process of moving as many cruise missiles as possible. They had no idea when the American fleet would move on Hawaii, so time was not on their side. If they did not move quickly, then they might lose control of the Pacific.