Historically, underground warfare has been the domain of special operations troops like Navy SEALs. But military researchers predict that this kind of warfare will be too much for special operators alone to navigate, particularly if dealing with an adversary like China or Russia, which both have extensive underground space. China in particular uses vast underground complexes to store missiles and its nuclear arsenal.
"We did recognize, in a megacity that has underground facilities — sewers and subways and some of the things we would encounter ... we have to look at ourselves and say 'OK, how does our current set of equipment and our tactics stack up?'" Col. Townley Hedrick, commandant of the infantry school at the Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, said in an interview with Military.com last year.