New American Uniform May Reflect Offensive Designs Against China: Reaper Drones and Marines Drill For East Asian War

The U.S. Military has issued personnel participating new island assault exercises off California’s coast with uniform badges depicting an MQ-9 Reaper attack drone crewed by a skeleton with a red silhouette of China in the crosshairs of its missile attacks. This notably came as America’s Air Force Magazine reported that the training suggested that the U.S. Air Force was focusing more on the Pacific region. Exercises saw MQ-9 drones deploy alongside the U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet, including carrier groups and submarines, simulate an assault on islands in the Asia-Pacific region. Their commencement came shortly after the U.S. took an unprecedentedly hard line against China’s territorial claim over islands in the region and claimed they were outright illegal. The Reaper drones performed mock airstrikes to support a simulated amphibious assault by special warfare and Marine Corps personnel on San Clemente Island off the Californian coast. 

U.S. 29th Attack Squadron Commander Lieutenant Colonel, Brian Davis, stated regarding the deployment of Reapers for the exercises: “It’s a demonstration of our capability to rapidly move the MQ-9 anywhere in the world, to unfamiliar locations, and then get out and show the operational reach capabilities of the MQ-9.” The drones have seen more combat than any other aircraft of their class, engaging targets across the Middle East, Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The drone’s role has been highly controversial and is credited with causing thousands of civilian deaths - at times intentionally. The drone was notably used in a CIA operation on January 3rd to assassinate the commander of Iran's Quds Force Qasem Soleimani near Iraq's Baghdad International Airport - an act of aggression which seriously violated international law.

China’s Global Times responded to the new uniforms and the deployment of Reapers for exercises, stating: “Washington is stepping up preparations for war against China, and this type of drone that has participated in murders and other attacks around the world will also play a role in it… This is the strategic signal sent from the exercise. This is to stir hostilities between the two countries, and is also a blackmail to China. Using such an armband with a Chinese map will stimulate people’s imagination and create a picture of China and the United States going to war.” The Reaper is itself increasingly considered obsolete against modern air defences, with its airframe closely based on the Predator drone which has served since the 1990s. The U.S. Air Force is currently seeking a replacement for the platform with superior stealth features and greater use of artificial intelligence - the capabilities of which will likely be tailored closely to the needs of the Pacific theatre.