By Courtney Kube and Mosheh Gains -
NBC News
A four-star Air Force general sent a memo Friday to officers under his command predicting that in two years the United States will be at war with China and asking them to prepare by firing "a magazine" at a target, and advises them to "aim for the head".
In the memo sent Friday and obtained by NBC News, General Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command (AMC), said: "I hope I'm wrong. But my gut tells me I'll fight in 2025." .
An F-22A Raptor from the 199th Fighter Squadron approaches a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron over the East China Sea on June 8, 2022.Stephen Pulter / US Air Force
The Air Mobility Command has about 50,000 service members and about 500 aircraft and is in charge of transportation and refueling.
Minihan said in the document that since there will be presidential elections in his country and Taiwan in 2024, the United States will be "distracted" and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have an opportunity to lash out at Taiwan.
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The general lays out his goals for readiness, including creating "a fortified, ready, integrated and agile joint force maneuver team, ready to fight and win within the first island chain."
The memo is addressed to all commanders in Air Mobility Command and other Air Force operational commanders, directing them to report to it by February 28 all major efforts focused on preparing for the fight against China.
The general ordered all AMC personnel, for the month of February, to "fire a magazine at a 7-meter target with the full understanding that lethality is paramount. Aim for the head."
He also asked his subordinates to update their records and emergency contacts.
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By March, the instruction is for all AMC personnel to "look through their personal issues and decide if an appointment should be made with their service base law office to make sure they are legally ready and prepared."
Minihan urges them to take more risks in training.
"Run deliberately, not recklessly," she writes.
And then he adds: "If you're comfortable with your approach to training, then you're not taking the necessary risk."
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He also talks about the possibility that the United States is taking action for a possible conflict with China over the issue of commercial drones.
He addresses KC-135 units to prepare to "deliver 100 standard size and type UAVs from a single aircraft."
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Following the publication of this article, a Defense Department official said, "These comments do not represent the department's views on China."
An AMC spokesperson confirmed in a statement Friday that the document is real: "This is an authentic internal memo from General Minihan to his subordinate command teams. His order builds on the Air Mobility Command's pivotal efforts last year." to prepare Mobility Air Forces for future conflicts, should deterrence fail."
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Gen. Patrick Ryder, Defense Department press secretary, said in a statement: "The National Defense Strategy makes clear that China is the primary challenge for the Department of Defense and our focus remains on working together with allies and partners to preserve a calm, free and open Indo-Pacific".
In March 2021, Admiral Philip Davidson, then leading the US Indo-Pacific Command, told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that "Taiwan is clearly one of [China's] ambitions ]".
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"I think the threat will occur within this decade, in fact, in the next six years," Davidson said.
Asked earlier this month if a Chinese invasion of Taiwan was imminent, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: "What we are seeing is provocative behavior by China's forces and their attempt to restore a new order. ".
"But whether or not that means the invasion is imminent," Austin said, "is something I seriously doubt."
