In 2018, China launched a secret project with the goal of eradicating U.S. submarines.
It's called Project Guanlan, which means "Watching the Big Waves," and it's a space-based laser weapon.
If you're a regular reader, then this won't come as a surprise to you.
Just last week I talked about China's latest laser assault on U.S. forces in the Pacific - an incident on February 17 in which a Chinese destroyer fired laser weapons at an American surveillance plane.
But Project Guanlan is far more dangerous.
Again, we're talking about a space weapon that's capable of shooting lasers more than 500 meters (1,640 feet) into the ocean.
That's more than twice as far as sunlight goes and far deeper than previous attempts by the United States and Russia.
To accomplish this, the weapon uses high-powered laser beam pulses of varying frequencies, or colors. Those laser beams can scan an area as wide as 62 miles, or concentrate on one spot just half a mile wide.
The laser is coupled with a microwave radar, which detects even the tiniest disturbance on the ocean's surface, helping to guide the beam.
This makes the top layer of the ocean effectively transparent.
But that's not all.
Chinese scientists have made another breakthrough discovery, too. This one lets them amplify the power of laser beams, making them far more powerful than anything we've seen before.
These scientists have synthesized a non-linear crystal called caesium bismuth germanate (CBGO). These crystals are inorganic, which means they can't be found in nature; they're made in a lab.
And when you shine a laser through them, they magnify its energy by 13 times.
Paired together, these laser technologies are an absolute nightmare for the U.S. military.
They have the capability to essentially neutralize not just our submarines, but all of our ships, tanks, and fighter jets.
There's really no answer for it.
Not yet anyway.