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A sailor from China's Navy aboard USS Port Royal participates in a visit, board, search, and seizure drill during Rim of the Pacific, the largest international maritime exercise. Photo by PO1 Tiarra Brown/U.S. Navy
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The ability of navies to procure, field, and sustain large surface combatants is central to modern power projection.
With that reality in mind, a new RAND report examines how China's navy is handling maintenance given its rapid growth and modernization. The authors compare China's methods to those used by other navies to balance maintenance supply and demand.
One key finding is that China has shifted from a “build a little, test a little” approach of iterative design and production of smaller ship classes to series production of larger ship classes. This new focus could make maintenance easier, but it puts pressure on the workforce.
Going forward, China's navy will likely use a mix of strategies—improving how it organizes and manages maintenance for its top ships, while phasing out some older ships—to sustain its fleet.
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Space systems often serve dual purposes: They provide civilian services like communications and navigation while also supporting military and intelligence functions. This inherent duality can make satellite activities hard to interpret, raising the risk of misperception, escalation, and conflict in space. A new RAND report can help decisionmakers in government, the military, and the commercial sector navigate this challenge.
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About one in seven young Americans is disconnected—out of school, out of work, and not in career training. This problem is more severe in some communities than others. For example, rates of disconnection are especially high in many rural communities, parts of the Deep South, on tribal lands, and in the Ozarks and Appalachia. Programs that strengthen relationships within communities, such as mentoring programs, could help more young people reconnect to school, work, and opportunity.
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