The US Department of Defense believes that the Chinese army is developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile… a heavy, multi-stage missile that emerges from the Earth’s atmosphere and travels around the world at tremendous speeds, before re-entering and descending toward its target at 20 times the speed of sound.
Deadly missile “not easy to handle”
Such missiles usually carry a nuclear warhead, but this missile, uniquely, will be armed with conventional explosives, according to a new report from The Telegraph.
This military organization is well known to the Pentagon, having tried for years to develop the same type of “conventional non-nuclear” intercontinental ballistic missiles, then eventually gave up when it realized the potential risk that came with such a weapon.
Washington realized that if it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, the nuclear-armed countries would discover the launch, would not be able to distinguish it from a nuclear missile, and might be encouraged to launch their nuclear weapons.
American warning
In its latest annual report, the Pentagon warned of China’s military capabilities and that “conventionally armed intercontinental ballistic missiles will pose major threats to strategic stability.”
The Chinese army forces possess 350 intercontinental nuclear missiles with a global range, which is the third largest nuclear missile arsenal after America and Russia, in addition to 2,500 conventional medium- and short-range ballistic missiles and 300 air-launched cruise missiles.
A new missile… horror for Washington
Despite their destructive power, the PLA’s short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles are the types of munitions that U.S. forces know how to defeat.
The US Missile Defense Agency has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in recent decades to provide the US Army, Navy and Air Force with sensors to detect incoming missiles and cruise missiles as well as special missiles to shoot them down.
However, none of these defenses work against ICBMs. At least, none of them work very well. An intercontinental ballistic missile travels much faster than any other missile.
The Pentagon knows that it cannot reliably shoot down conventional Chinese intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“If these capabilities are developed and deployed, they will allow China to conduct conventional strikes against targets in the United States, Hawaii, and Alaska,” the Pentagon warned in its latest report.
Confusing weapon
If the Americans cannot distinguish between a nuclear and a non-nuclear ICBM, and they are also unable to ensure that they can shoot down an incoming ICBM, they must treat every launch of an ICBM as a potential nuclear strike and respond accordingly.
If Beijing did place a non-nuclear warhead on top of an intercontinental ballistic missile, the United States would be among those countries that would not be able to identify the type of missile coming in, which could cause great confusion and potentially lead to disastrous military action.
According to the Telegraph report, the danger is clear. There are no treaty regimes governing missile development in China. There are few diplomatic or economic tools the United States can use to force China not to pursue a powerful new military capability.
One terrifying scenario, if China deploys a conventional ICBM, is that the United States eventually deploys one as well. We may realize that in the next stage, nuclear war may be the result of a “misunderstanding.”
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2023-11-03 20:48:58