Chinese weapons

China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the
People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1 in typical fashion – with a military
parade. Some of the new weapons on display that day provide cause for serious
concern among U.S. policymakers.

China showcased its new stealthy bat-winged unmanned aerial
vehicle—the Gongji-11.
But more significantly, it displayed
the new road-mobile DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile and its submarine-launched

ballistic missile, the JL-2. The DF-41 ICBMs are capable of striking the United
States while carrying multiple nuclear warheads. The U.S., meanwhile, depends
on nuclear delivery platforms that are in some cases 30-40 years old.  China is nearly done with an across-the-board
modernization of all its platforms.  The
U.S. does not even have a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile.

But that’s not the worst of it.

The starkest example of China’s new capabilities was its unveiling
of its DF-17
hypersonic glide vehicle. These vehicles are capable of traveling at least five
times the speed of sound (greater than Mach 5).
They use a standard ballistic missile booster at the outset but become a
low-flying projectile for their second stage. They can be used to hit a target
after the first stage’s ballistic re-entry.
Hypersonic glide vehicles are especially problematic because they are
difficult to detect and defend against. 

Despite aspirations, the United States has yet to successfully test a hypersonic glide vehicle. Much of this has to do with the fact that the U.S. industrial base is not yet ready to begin producing these weapons. Conversely, the Chinese have thrown mass amounts of research and development money into hypersonics and prioritized their production. Expertshave seen this showcase not only as a display of their rapidly growing military capabilities but also a sign of their intent to be a major military power.

This could all be chalked up to military gamesmanship, but
it presents a vivid reminder to the U.S. military and policymakers that our
military capabilities are currently outmatched in this area. Perhaps the most
alarming aspect of all is that the United States has little to no hypersonic
defensive systems.

Most of the Department of Defense’s funding for hypersonics is devoted to creating offensive weapons, not defending against them. Of the $2.6 billion devoted to the hypersonic program, only 6% is assigned for defensive systems. Perhaps it would be wise to devote more money to defensive systems, as both China and Russia are expected to be able to attach nuclear warheads to hypersonic glide vehicles as early as next year.

In addition to lacking the necessary industrial capabilities
to even produce these weapons, the U.S. has no current plans to build these vehicles
with a capacity to carry nuclear warheads. As a result, American hypersonic
glide vehicles will need to be more precise in order to match our adversaries’
capabilities. This will make them more difficult to build as a whole than their
Chinese (or even Russian) counterparts.

Regardless of whether the weapons displayed by the Chinese
are fully operational, one thing is certain: The United States appears woefully
unprepared to deal with this potential threat.