March 14, 2025: China has been declared the new technology threat to the United States and the West. American politicians claim that Chinese science is far ahead and the U.S. has to spend a lot more money to catch up. This plea ignores the problems China is having with its scientific Research and Development as well as the education of scientific and technical personnel. These claims fall apart when you get into the details.

It has also been noted that China openly boasts in unclassified military publications that the most effective way to overcome the American military advantage is by obtaining, stealing, if need be, American technology, mastering it and improving on it. This effort is multi-pronged and advancing in over a dozen areas. Here are some of the most important ones.

Operations Research, also known as OR, is the analytical application of mathematical solutions for many problems. OR first appeared in the 1930s and became crucial during World War II. OR is used for developing more effective ways to use new technology. This became particularly useful in anti-submarine warfare but eventually led to improvements in just about all aspects of naval warfare. This increased the capabilities of the US navy, playing a major role in making the USN the most powerful navy in history. OR continues to perform largely unheralded miracles by identifying elusive solutions and detecting well concealed flaws. China is trying to catch up but has a long way to go. The U.S. Navy and various intelligence agencies monitor Chinese progress and find that there isn’t much.

Then there is naval technology like the gyroscopic compass. The earliest versions of this were developed by ancient Chinese navigators. The problem was that until the 20th century Chinese ships rarely left coastal waters. The gyroscopic compass was an early 20th century invention that had a far reaching impact on naval warfare. Initially it made navigation more efficient for all ships. But the gyroscope technology led to vast improvements in fire control and, eventually, inertial navigation systems. This made possible all manner of anti-ship missiles. So, if you're wondering why all the guns went away, this is the main reason why. Even the development of satellite navigation didn’t completely replace gyroscopic navigation. Gyroscopic systems can’t be jammed and still serve as a less accurate backup system for GPS guided weapons. Four decades ago, Chinese firms began to manufacture gyroscopic compass equipment for recreational and commercial shipping. China sought to offer the cheapest gyroscopic compass and grab as much of the market as they could.

Gas turbines are a western technology seen most commonly in military and commercial aircraft. A decade or so after jet aircraft began to replace piston powered warplanes on aircraft, the first hydrofoil ships began to use gas turbine power plants. By the late 1960s, the huge TF39 jet engine developed for the C-5 aircraft was being reworked as a LM2500 maritime power plant. Over three decades later this gas turbine ship engine is common not only in merchant ships but warships as well. The LM2500 is efficient, reliable, and capable of providing quick bursts of speed not possible with older steam or diesel power plants. Just as the revolutionary small tube steam plants went unnoticed early in the 20th century, the LM2500 also dramatically changed what a warship could expect from its power plant. Only in the last few years have the Chinese been able to build reliable gas turbine marine engines. Before that their main source of these engines was Ukraine. This was because during the Soviet period the Ukraine region was where most gas turbines were built. When Russia turned hostile in 2014, Ukraine cut off the supply of gas turbines. Russia had to design and build its own, which took about a decade to accomplish. Russia built gas turbine engines for warplanes and their commercial aircraft, but not to world standards. China is making more progress than Russia and will soon surpass Russian gas turbine tech. China still has a way to go if they want to match or surpass Western gas turbines, but at least they are making progress. Russia is not. Ukraine still manufactures this equipment in the form of helicopter and ship engines.

Battery technology made major strides in the latter third of the 20th century. This heavily influenced the design of naval weapons and equipment. Weapons like missiles, in particular, became smaller, more reliable, and deadlier because of smaller, more powerful, and longer lasting batteries. Try and run today's fleet with 1960s era battery technology and you'll find that you can't. A major aspect of this was the use of lithium based batteries and the search continues for even more efficient and safer battery materials. This is one area where China excelled as the major designer and manufacturer of lithium batteries. Currently, most of these batteries are produced in China, which has large local lithium deposits.

Servron, or Service Squadron, supply techniques were developed out of necessity during World War II because of a lack of sufficient forward bases in the vast Pacific. These service squadrons became a permanent fixture in the U.S. Navy. Ships now normally stay at sea for up to six months at a time, being resupplied at sea by a Servron. New technologies were developed to support the effective use of the seagoing supply service. Few other navies have been able to match this capability, mainly because of the expense of the Servron ships and the training required to do at sea replenishment. What made Western naval experts pay attention to the Chinese Navy expansion was the appearance of Servron type ships in the later 1990s. That trend has accelerated because China wants to eventually challenge the U.S. Navy throughout the Pacific and needs efficient Servrons to do it.

Merchant ship automation is another Chinese goal. Throughout the 20th century merchant ships have become less labor intensive. This has been due largely to market pressures. Warships have been resistant to this trend, largely because of tradition, the availability of many sailors, and damage control concerns. Lower manning will become more of a factor in the 21st century but the trend is a 20th century one. China was slow to adopt this technology because until the 1980s they did not have much of a merchant shipping fleet. Now China is the major manufacturer of merchant shipping and is seeking to become dominant in ship automation as well.

Oceanography is the study of how oceans operate and how that knowledge can help or hinder navies and commercial shipping. Navies have always taken the lead in charting the details of coastal areas, where ships operate most frequently and are in most danger from uncharted objects. But the 20th century saw an enormous growth in the study of the high seas and what lay beneath. Much of this was in support of submarine operations and anti-submarine warfare. Greater understanding of the oceans has made naval operations more effective in many ways that often go unnoticed but never unappreciated. By the end of the 20th century cheap, robotic, survey devices appeared, revolutionizing oceanography by providing more data and in a timelier manner. China is a late comer to oceanography and is trying to catch up by training more oceanography specialists and custom equipped ships for them to operate from.

Worldwide weather forecasting was never a Chinese objective until their commercial and naval ships began to operate around the globe. For centuries unpredictable weather was the greatest danger to fleets at sea. Dramatic improvements in weather forecasting, especially weather satellites, have greatly reduced the risk of weather related damage for fleets and made operations more effective. China has put several generations of weather satellites into orbit and invested heavily in weather forecasting technology and automation.

Personnel screening is something China has been interested in since the 1980s. The Chinese approach is more 1984 and Big Brother than just trying to be helpful. These practices did not help the Chinese navy to more effectively recruit sailors and officers. As warships have become more complex, so have the number and complexity of the jobs sailors have to do. The ancient practice of signing any warm body and later deciding who was trainable for complex tasks crumpled under the pressure to get the right sailor for the right job before you sent people aboard a ship full of complex and expensive gear. As navies became more of a high tech enterprise, personnel selection routines borrowed heavily from those developed in the commercial sector to solve similar problems. Without this shift in personnel policies the modern U.S. Navy would not be possible.

Unmanned vehicles, otherwise known as drones, are a work in progress for the Chinese. Unlike aircraft, which were a new vehicle, aerial, naval and underwater drones are radically new technologies. There are already examples of all three in service. There will be more and they will change everything by incorporating more powerful artificial intelligence or AI and new weapons. That said, drones were first developed in the 19th century as the torpedo and the 20th century as guided missiles. But these two weapons were not flexible enough to change as many aspects of naval warfare as unmanned vehicles will be doing. While China is the major manufacturer of quad-copter drones, they have not made a lot of progress in military applications. For this they are carefully observing what the Ukrainians are doing with drones. So are the Russians.

Super sensors like sonar which used sound detection to detect objects underwater appeared during World War I, while radar, using radio signals to detect objects in the air, was developed during the 1930s and widely used during World War II. More powerful computers and transmitting technology has since produced several generations of cheaper, more reliable, and more powerful sensors. This is continuing and the power of new sensors will make it much more difficult to hide. Stealth is still important for spoiling the aim of long range guided weapons. But the super sensors make it much more difficult to achieve surprise by coming out of nowhere. China builds a lot of the sonars used by recreational and commercial fishermen but is still catching up in military sonar and radar technology.

Artificial Intelligence or AI is a 20th century development that is expected to become pervasive in the 21st. Current examples include AI assistants built into a lot of software. For aircraft designers a long-sought goal was to be an AI assistant for pilots. Thus the computer's memory contains the experiences of numerous more experienced pilots as well as instant information on the rapidly changing situation. You can ask your electronic assistant what the options are and which one has the best chance of success. The pilot can then make decisions more quickly and accurately. When enemy aircraft are sighted the electronic assistant can suggest which of the many maneuvers available are likely to work. If the aircraft is damaged the electronic co-pilot can rapidly report what the new options are. One becomes quite fond of computers once they have saved your bacon a few times. Many of these capabilities are being installed piecemeal, as part of electronic countermeasures or radar systems. And, bit by bit, these thinking systems are being merged, producing an electronic co-pilot. Systems that completely replace pilots are in development as well. This is not radical but part of a trend. By the early 21st century many commercial and military aircraft were more effective because they used so much AI. The same applies to ground vehicles. China is making some surprising progress in laboratory demonstrations but has yet to put a lot of useful AI tech on the market.

All-electric ships have been a goal for warship builders. Commercial ship builders are more concerned with less expensive and more efficient power plants. Coal-powered ships appeared in the 19th century and oil-powered ones came early in the 20th, along with nuclear power for a few experimental vessels. The big revolution now is maximizing the amount of electrical power a ship can generate. That means an all-electric ship where the engines produce just electricity and all ship equipment is electric powered. Such a ship makes possible more powerful sensors and electrically powered weapons like lasers and electromagnetic rail guns. An all-electric ship also means more efficient use of power and lower fuel costs. There's no mystery in this technology, as commercial ships began using it in the 1980s. But for warships this will be a 21st century innovation. China is already developing commercial applications for their merchant ships and, like other navies, is trying to install this tech in warships.

Stealth is what sensor technology tries to nullify. No matter how much better sensor technology becomes, there is always an advantage to having ships that are a bit harder to detect. In the last few decades stealth technology has developed faster than sensor capabilities. The big limitation with stealth capabilities is that they tend to get very expensive. But if you can afford it, you get an edge in combat. China is not on the leading edge in this area but is waiting for someone to make a breakthrough worth copying.

Composites are what happened when materials science went on a roll in the late 20th century, and more new, non-metallic materials able to replace steel and other metals are in the works. Composites began showing up in warships in the last few decades but as the use of these materials spreads to all parts of a vessel it will increase protection, fuel efficiency, and stealth.

Networking is already underway but is becoming faster, more reliable, and increasingly includes more distant ships and shore stations. This kind of communications can give the side with faster and more completely networked forces a major edge. China seeks to become the leader in this category.

Space-based services became crucial in the late 20th century as navies began using space satellites for weather forecasting, communications, and reconnaissance. It was good, and the sailors wanted more, a lot more. To get it your space satellites will have to play defense against efforts to shoot them down. The U.S. Navy is seeking to equip its ballistic missile subs with warheads containing mini-sats to replace those shot down. American warships already have missile systems that can knock down low orbit recon satellites. China is competitive in the satellite destruction department.

Nanotech is all about ultra-tiny carbon structures that are revolutionizing everything from batteries to computers and just about every aspect of warship construction and operation. Nanotech might still turn out to be perpetually just around the corner, but so far it is a strong contender as the source of big changes. China is trying to take the lead and keep it.

Laser weapons seem ideal for warships, especially those with all-electric drive. While showing much promise, laser weapons may also perpetually be just around the corner. That's where they've been for several decades now. China is stuck in just around-the-corner land like everyone else.

Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles or ABM is a concept that existed in theory since the late 20th century. Since 2005 China has had an anti-ship ballistic missile, the DF-21D, in development. As far as anyone knows the complete system was only recently tested with interesting results. Everyone agreed it would happen once the components were available and integrated with many other technologies into a workable weapon. That means something that could attack American aircraft carriers. It's an expensive way to hit a carrier, since each of these missiles costs over $20 million. But if you have to get it done that's a reasonable price. In the future the price will come down a bit and anti-missile systems available to warships will be better at dealing with them. Guided warheads could also be launched from space satellites. You can see where this is going and there will be a lot more of it this century because so far the Chinese have been making detectable progress.