China's "kill" weapon

[mantra.]

This is a worry. It's possible that the US Navy will no longer have the freedom to wander the Pacific. While the US "missile defence shield" has been spruiked over the last few years, China has been working quietly developing a missile that can be fired off land and target US ships up to 2,000 km away. There will possibly come a time in the near future when Australia will have to choose another major ally. Perhaps this is why Rudd is giving them more unfettered access to our resources - to keep on the right side of China. Whatever the reason - the future looks grim for the US as the global superpower.

With tensions already rising due to the Chinese navy becoming more aggressive in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy seems to have yet another reason to be deeply concerned.

After years of conjecture, details have begun to emerge of a "kill weapon" developed by the Chinese to target and destroy U.S. aircraft carriers.

First posted on a Chinese blog viewed as credible by military analysts and then translated by the naval affairs blog Information Dissemination, a recent report provides a description of an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) that can strike carriers and other U.S. vessels at a range of 2000km.

The range of the modified Dong Feng 21 missile is significant in that it covers the areas that are likely hot zones for future confrontations between U.S. and Chinese surface forces.

The size of the missile enables it to carry a warhead big enough to inflict significant damage on a large vessel, providing the Chinese the capability of destroying a U.S. supercarrier in one strike.

Because the missile employs a complex guidance system, low radar signature and a maneuverability that makes its flight path unpredictable, the odds that it can evade tracking systems to reach its target are increased. It is estimated that the missile can travel at mach 10 and reach its maximum range of 2000km in less than 12 minutes.

Supporting the missile is a network of satellites, radar and unmanned aerial vehicles that can locate U.S. ships and then guide the weapon, enabling it to hit moving targets.

While the ASBM has been a topic of discussion within national defense circles for quite some time, the fact that information is now coming from Chinese sources indicates that the weapon system is operational. The Chinese rarely mention weapons projects unless they are well beyond the test stages.

If operational as is believed, the system marks the first time a ballistic missile has been successfully developed to attack vessels at sea. Ships currently have no defense against a ballistic missile attack.

Along with the Chinese naval build-up, U.S. Navy officials appear to view the development of the anti-ship ballistic missile as a tangible threat.

After spending the last decade placing an emphasis on building a fleet that could operate in shallow waters near coastlines, the U.S. Navy seems to have quickly changed its strategy over the past several months to focus on improving the capabilities of its deep sea fleet and developing anti-ballistic defenses.

As analyst Raymond Pritchett notes in a post on the U.S. Naval Institute blog:

"The Navy's reaction is telling, because it essentially equals a radical change in direction based on information that has created a panic inside the bubble. For a major military service to panic due to a new weapon system, clearly a mission kill weapon system, either suggests the threat is legitimate or the leadership of the Navy is legitimately unqualified. There really aren't many gray spaces in evaluating the reaction by the Navy…the data tends to support the legitimacy of the threat."

In recent years, China has been expanding its navy to presumably better exert itself in disputed maritime regions. A recent show of strength in early March led to a confrontation with an unarmed U.S. ship in international waters.

https://www.usni.org/forthemedia/ChineseKillWeapon.asp

[JWFrogen]

China still has a long way to go militarily and one weapon system does not a superpower make.

The resource issue is simply about money, we have what China needs and we make a lot of money from it, indeed we have played hardball with China negotiating cost, so much so they have retaliated by arresting some of our resource execs on trumped up charges.

I read something somewhere that stated Rudd is actually tougher on China than many of his predecessors, but in a way that does not openly make them loose face. As he is an expert on that country he knows how ruthless they can be and how to play them from a position of economic and military inferiority.

I am sure China's time to challenge US naval supremacy in the West Pacific will come, but it is probably 30 to 50 years away and in the mean time the US can counter Chinese power by strengthening military ties with countries that fear China, such as India and Japan.

Even smaller nations that fear China such as Vietnam can play a role in long term Chinese contain

[boxy]

"Kill weapon"... not a nerf missile then?

The history of the weapons race is an interesting subject, and being on the cutting edge (which is where a real superpower needs to be) means being consistently producing extremely high technology. China has a way to go if it's going to risk all out war by shooting a supercarrier out of the water with a missile.