China's push for mass military modernization includes new, more advanced submarines to add to the world's largest navy, causing U.S. partners in the region to scramble to acquire new capabilities of their own. Their answer to the rising underwater threat is a passenger plane-sized submarine killer called the P-8 Poseidon, and orders for the aircraft are pouring in from countries like Australia and India. Both are members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which also includes the U.S. and Japan as part of a quasi-alliance that seeks to enforce a "free and open Indo-Pacific." And countries as far away as Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom have also purchased the aircraft.
One senior
Pentagon intelligence official said it's no coincidence that countries were buying up the anti-submarine warfare platform.
"China is expanding their undersea warfare capability to extend beyond the South China Sea, which presents a strategic threat to not only nations with territorial disputes, but throughout the entire Pacific area," the official told Newsweek. "It is essential for the national security of partner nations to have the ability to detect and monitor Chinese submarines. The P-8 Poseidon is the best capability to perform that task."
