The Great Tech Competition
Gabriel Flouret
Great Power Competition (GPC), which suggests the United States’ decline as a hegemon, puts immense pressure on her emerging technology and defense industries because their products will affect geopolitical strategy, international leverage, propaganda, national pride, and the development of further creations. With China pushing to rival the United States on the global stage, strong pushes have been made to one-up the other—measured by economic trends, soft power influence, and the successful implementation of new technologies. Based on information known to the public, it is a rather close race, but China holds the lead on the technological front of the GPC in several categories. Today’s inventions carry much more weight than the sneaky advantage archers on horseback did or even Alan Turing’s ‘Bombe’. China and the United States have heavily invested in technologies that will shape the next era of problem-solving and warfare. Upon completion, quantum computers, hypersonic weapons, and habitable moon bases can give the upper hand to the United States or China to solve previously unsolvable problems, increase their global militaristic presence, and permanently expand out into the solar system.
A joint Google and NASA project, as well as the University of Science and Technology of China (USCT), have claimed quantum supremacy. It must be noted that achieving quantum supremacy does not mean that one has a fully functioning quantum computer. Quantum computers are cutting edge, because, unlike normal computers which process 0 or 1, they can process qubits which can represent 0, 1, or a combination of both. Google and NASA’s Sycamore processor uses supercold and superconducting metals while the USCT’s Jiuzhang uses photons (particles of light). What both processors do is solve problems that take supercomputers tens of thousands or even billions of years in seconds or minutes. China and the United States are two main players exploring the possibility and utility of quantum computers for predicting the stock market, manufacturing tailored pharmaceuticals, hacking, data analysis, and more.
Hypersonics are a new generation of ballistics that travel over five times the speed of sound. For reference, at speeds of Mach five, a flight from New York to London would take approximately 90 minutes. Currently, China has four types of operational hypersonic weapons compared to the United States’ zero. The advanced weapons systems have given China a leg-up in the Pacific theater—especially with respect to its Pacific expansion and Taiwan. With missiles dubbed ‘ship killers’ what makes hypersonics such a threat and strategically critical in GPC is that they, at present, cannot be tracked by early-warning systems and no missile defense system has the ability to defend against them due to their speed and directional unpredictability. As a result, the United States’ influence in the Pacific region has diminished and top American officials will be hesitant to send Naval Divisions within range of the land or air-launched hypersonics. To combat the Chinese power-play, the United States has five independent hypersonic weapons projects in the works; however, none are expected to be in service before 2023. A sixth hypersonic weapon project is in conjunction with Australia and Japan has created its own hypersonic program. Hypersonics fulfill the role of being a tool for the military, but also allow for regional leverage.
Landing a human on the Moon has not been done since the conclusion of NASA’s Apollo missions in 1972; however, China is the last to launch a successful lunar mission and has lofty ambitions. By 2027, the Chang’e 8 will test what is essentially a prototype of a Chinese lunar habitat. Chinese space programs have remarkable efficiency that can be attributed to the fact that government programs are directed by a single organization, unlike NASA. As a result of a stilted development thanks to an insufficient budget allocated by the American Congress, NASA has increased contract offers to companies like Raytheon and L3Harris Technologies, among many others. Though it spurs competition and the benefits that come with it, NASA’s headline lunar project is bogged down in a lawsuit with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin which contests a $2.9 billion dollar lunar lander contract for the Artemis missions which was awarded to Elon Musk’s Space X. Artemis 3 hopes to land two astronauts and have them stay on the lunar surface for a week by 2024—a project rushed by Former President Trump and kept by President Biden which many scientists believe is unrealistic. The significance of the lunar missions is that they will enable more efficient travel to Mars, scientific exploration, off-Earth influence, and defense programs as space has become a fourth warfighting frontier.
Not everything in the GPC is reliant upon the development of quantum computers, hypersonic missiles, and the success of space programs. Other concerns such as demographics, economics, political stability, and international legitimacy will play a role in the long-term duel. China, on the one hand, appears to be focused on itself and working as a unit thanks to the “blinders” put on by its government. Numerous American companies, on the other hand, have become rivals attempting to reach the same goals. Attaining an advantage in the technological theater of the GPC would have a great effect and further facilitate the creation and development of other technologies.