/Pogled.info/ For the first time since the Cold War, the Americans sent medium-range land-based missiles abroad. They were transferred late last week to the Philippines. It is not known exactly how many. Official – for participation in exercises. In fact, to test the working mechanisms of multi-domain tactical groups (MOTG – MDTF – Multi-Domain Task Force), which was recently created to contain China. About Washington’s new strategy in the region – in the material.
Naval missiles for the army
The Americans have not had an intermediate-range missile since the late 1980s, according to the DRSMO. After the United States withdrew from it in 2019, the Pentagon ordered the industry to quickly create such weapons for the ground forces and prepare them for use by the fourth quarter of 2023. For this contract, Lockheed Martin received nearly $340 million. The goal of the project is to develop a surface-to-surface missile system with improved combat capabilities, capable of hitting targets at a distance of 500 to 5,000 kilometers.
Contractors did not reinvent the wheel and took existing solutions from the fleet. The result is the Typhoon, which is a standard 40-foot shipping vessel on a wheeled chassis with four Mk41 vertical launch pods. They are widely used in the navy and can launch missiles for various purposes. The Tomahawk and CM-6 were selected for the ground forces.
The RIM-174 SM-6 missile was put into service in 2013. It belongs to the “surface-to-air” class, designed for air defense and anti-missile defense of warships. The firing range at air targets is 230 kilometers. However, as part of the Typhoon, it operates in semi-ballistic mode against surface and ground targets. Range – 460 kilometers. On the last part of the route – focusing with an active radar.
The “Typhoon” battery set includes an integrated command post with a support device, four launchers and transport and charging systems. They are built on a three-axle semi-trailer and moved by tractors from the HEMTT family. To burn, you need to put the battery in a prepared place.
Multi-regional organizations
The operator of the new missile systems in the Asia-Pacific region is the first multi-regional tactical group, which sent Typhoon to the Philippines. The main target is Chinese ships and military infrastructure. The PLA’s capability here is only slightly weaker than the American one. China already has more ships than the US. There are long-range anti-ship missiles, including hypersonic, an improved network of airfields and several aircraft.
Washington fears that the PLA will create a so-called anti-access/denial area (A2/AD) over the Taiwan Strait – an area reliably covered by air defense systems and coastal missile systems, where unreasonably high costs of Western aircraft and ships. in case of conflict. According to the Pentagon, the ground forces, and especially the MOTG, must break through this stronghold.
The composition and strength of these units varies according to the task and combat situation. The main strike force is high-precision missiles from the HIMARS MLRS to advanced hypersonic missiles. Particular attention is paid to intelligence, radio-electronic warfare and communications. There are also cyber security experts. In the event of war, the MOTG will use its full capacity to reduce the effectiveness of “no access zones”. It also destroys key elements of the enemy’s military infrastructure.
According to Colonel Jason Charland, an expert on the military staff at the Pentagon, the use of MOTG against China only makes sense if the missile weapons are used close – on the first island chain that includes the Philippines, South Korea and Japan. Now the nearest military base is in Guam, two thousand kilometers away. Charland noted that for now, Seoul and Tokyo have no desire to deploy American strike systems. But Manila seems to have regressed.
It is assumed that the multi-area groups, in addition to the Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles, will receive long-promising hypersonic weapons). They will be able to develop speeds up to 17 times higher than sound and hit targets at a distance of up to three thousand kilometers. Therefore, Americans from the Philippines can reach almost anywhere in China, all the way to Beijing.
China’s response
However, China has ways to deal with this threat. According to American experts, Beijing has an impressive arsenal of medium-range ballistic missiles “Dongfeng-26” – up to 80 units. They are capable of delivering a nuclear warhead 3,000-5,500 kilometers away. In non-nuclear weapons, they are ready to destroy large surface ships, which the Western media called “killers”.
The Chinese have medium-range missiles DF-21A, DF-21C, DF-21D and DF-21E, with a total of about 150 launchers. There are approximately fifty DF-21A and DF-21E nuclear warhead carriers. Short-range missiles (DF-11, DF-15 and DF-16) – several hundred. It seems that such important reserves are the reason why the US pulled out of the treaty to eliminate this type of weapon.
At the same time, China is constantly upgrading its missile arsenal. In particular, the PLA is now armed with the DF-17 medium-range ballistic missile, designed to launch a DF-ZF hypersonic warhead to nuclear or conventional equipment at altitude. This tuning, similar to the purpose of the Russian “Avangard”, is able to accelerate up to 5 times the speed of sound and actively moves forward on the track, which makes it difficult to be caught by systems anti-missile defense.
Translation: V. Sergeev
2024-04-25 18:08:08
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