Compared to the speed with which tactical lessons have been learned and applied during the US-led land campaigns of the past 10 years, the military doctrine machine grinds slowly. Those defining moments, when senior leaders recognise that traditional approaches to warfare have outlived their usefulness and it is time to move on, happen infrequently. It is therefore hugely significant that the US has embarked on just such an exercise, one that reflects a transformation in Washington's world view away from Europe and towards the Far East and the emerging issue of China. This is a paradigm shift in US military thinking: the counter insurgency (COIN) focus on the air-land battle is being replaced with a new doctrine based on the air-sea battle (ASB).
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