eventually moved to other forms of deterrent systems designed to threaten the United States and China. The United States called it a “Fractional Orbital Bombardment System” during the Cold War period, but the U.S.S.R. The Soviet Union experimented with this type of warhead in the early 1960s. Put into practical defense and security terms, this involved putting warheads into low-earth orbit and having them seek targets on Earth. China has been conducting research on such hypersonic technology and weapons for some time. officials should not have been surprised by the development of hypersonic warheads in orbit by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Forces (PLARF). experts and officials as saying that “China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realized.” As noted previously, however, U.S. 13Īlthough the PRC warhead in the test missed its target by a wide margin of about two dozen miles, the FT article quotes U.S. officials were surprised, it is because the intelligence community apparently underestimated China’s capabilities in this area and failed to follow or appreciate years of mentions in Chinese research reports about work on hypersonic missiles in China, and perhaps underestimated the emphasis the PLA put on their development. and other countries’ ballistic missile defense systems, including maneuverable reentry vehicles (MARVs), MIRVs, decoys, chaff, jamming, thermal shielding, and hypersonic glide vehicles” (emphasis added). According to the Defense Intelligence Agency’s 2019 China Military Power Report, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is developing a range of technologies to counter U.S. China has been working on these missiles for decades, and the United States knew it. officials were so surprised by the test is a little bit of a mystery. Even though the warhead missed its target by a wide margin, 9 China is far ahead of the United States in developing such capabilities 10 the United States has experienced a number of failures in developing hypersonic weapons. 7įinancial Times ( FT) sources were surprised that China achieved the capability for such a weapon because the hypersonic glide vehicle carrying the warhead stayed in low-earth orbit, 8 circling the globe before reentering the atmosphere to attack its target. 5 The hypersonic threat is not only from China Russia has successfully tested a naval hypersonic missile, the Zircon 6, and North Korea claims to have tested a hypersonic missile. 4 Another SMDC mission is to enhance deterrence and detection of strategic attacks. 3 SMDC defense systems are deployed to intercept ballistic missile warheads from only one direction, using a polar, or arctic, approach. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) is responsible for detecting strategic attacks and protecting the U.S. This test by China has direct influence on the Army because the U.S. defenses by avoiding the expected polar ballistic trajectory that the U.S. The United States has established defenses against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in Alaska, but the method used to attack the target by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) missile would be capable of evading fixed U.S. Such a weapon would be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Responding to these new threats will be costly and time consuming for the United States and will require cooperation among the Army and the Departments of Defense and Energy.Īccording to the Financial Times of 16 October 2021, “China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught US intelligence by surprise.” 1 The remarkable thing about the test is that the warhead was launched into orbit, orbited Earth and reentered the atmosphere, approaching its target at hypersonic speed.Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC). The burden of defending against the new threat posed by what appear to be maneuvering, hypersonic warheads orbiting in space falls on the U.S.A fractional orbit like the one used in China’s test does not violate the Outer Space Treaty.China and Russia have developed hypersonic missiles capable of low-earth orbit, and China’s nuclear posture is shifting.AUSA Volunteer Family of the Year Award.Letters to Congress & the Administration.
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