missile defenses, although China insisted it was testing a reusable space vehicle, not a missile. “We have concerns about the military capabilities that the PRC continues to pursue, and the pursuit of those capabilities increases tensions in the region,” Austin said about the hypersonic weapons test, using the abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China, the country’s official name. The Pentagon released on Monday the results of a global posture review that calls for additional cooperation with allies to deter “potential Chinese military aggression and threats from North Korea.” “We’ll continue to maintain the capabilities to defend and deter against a range of potential threats from the PRC to ourselves and to our allies,” he said. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States is also working on hypersonic weapons. But there is worry in Washington that it is lagging behind China and Russia in pursuing these types of weapons. Russia said Monday its navy successfully tested a prospective hypersonic cruise missile. Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability. But some experts argue that hypersonic weapons would add little to America’s ability to deter war and worry that they could trigger a new, destabilizing arms race.Īustin also addressed another major U.S. He said that he agreed with South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook that the North’s growing weapons program “is increasingly destabilizing for regional security.” Austin said the allies remain committed to a diplomatic approach to North Korea. It’s also diplomatically counterproductive, and a barrier to deep cuts in the nuclear arsenals of Russia and China, who cite it as a reason to maintain more weapons.Suh said the two agreed on a document updating joint contingency plans in the event of a war on the peninsula to reflect changes in North Korean threats and other conditions, but didn’t elaborate on the document’s details. It’s potentially dangerous: policy makers, misled to believe in missile defense’s effectiveness, may act in ways that increase the likelihood of conflict. A full half of test intercepts failed in the 15 years following Bush’s order to begin building the system.Įarly analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists also showed how countermeasures like decoy warheads could easily defeat missile defense, an issue never credibly addressed by administration officials.Īs it exists today, the system would offer little to no protection in any realistic scenario. The current system-begun by the Bush administration in a post-9/11 security environment-was exempted from many of the normal, routine, and important requirements.Īs a result, nearly all of the GMD’s interceptors were fielded before a single missile of their type was successfully tested. Most military systems face mandatory oversight and accountability requirements, developed to keep projects on-time, at-cost, and to make sure they work as the military needs them to work.
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