The U.S. Navy is encountering a tenacious threat in the Red Sea. "That's one of the things [that] the Red Sea sort of demonstrates ... we never know where the maritime threat might come up," said Bradley Martin, a senior policy researcher at Rand, in an interview with CNBC. As the U.S. encounters attacks by armed drones, cruise missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles and other weapon systems in the Red Sea, the data gleaned from these encounters could prove invaluable in the Indo-Pacific region. China's rocket troops can potentially field thousands of missiles that can reach across wide swaths of the Pacific. That means the U.S. could be facing overwhelming odds in intercepting any mass missile attack against American ships and bases.

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Persons: Bradley Martin, Rand, Steve Wills, Tom Shugart, Brad Bowman Organizations: U.S . Navy, CNBC, Navy, Aegis, Center for Maritime, Army Rocket Force, PLA, Center, New, New American Security, Military, Foundation for Defense of Democracies Locations: Red, Iran, U.S, New American, United States, China