PLA firepower could rain down at an
instant notice if a US or Allied fleet
ventures within hundreds of miles of
asian sea coasts. It's as though the fleet is prowling a
few miles offshore rather than operating
in the vastness and relative sanctuary
of oceanic space.
So China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) unveiled new weaponry, if China's rise to
martial eminence has shown one thing, it's that PLA commanders and their
political overseers delight in
surprising and trolling western
observers.
They excel at developing new hardware in
secret, then springing it on the world
and watching the ensuing gab fest
consume the china watching community
and sure enough, launchers bearing DF-17
and DF-100 missiles, weapons both
supposedly capable of super-fast speeds
yet hitherto unknown to outsiders. Rumbled through tiananmen square to help
commemorate the 70th anniversary of the
founding of the People's Republic of China.
The DF-41 intercontinental ballistic
missile also made its public debut on
october 1st, but westerners have known
about that one for some time.
Alternatively foreign intelligence
services knew about these birds, but
opted not to disclose it in open sources
for fear of revealing how they came by
the information. It's unclear whether the DF-100 is a
cruiser ballistic missile.
The DF nomenclature seems to indicate it
flies a ballistic trajectory, while james
depicts the bird as a supersonic cruise
missile. It may straddle the difference between
ballistic and sea skimming missiles, arcing high into the atmosphere but
following a flatter trajectory than a
ballistic missile.
it would come at u.s navy task forces
from yet another axis, augmenting
anti-ship crews and ballistic missiles
and undersea munitions such as torpedoes
or sea mines.
Whatever the case, the new
anti-ship missile purportedly reaches
hypersonic velocity, meaning five or more
times the speed of sound, during at least
part of its flight. That boosts its chances of getting
through u.s navy defenses. Defenders
would have little time tour more than
snapshots.
So let's not assume too much
about the purposes pla rocketeers have
in mind for their new toy. Anti-access defenses can defeat american
purposes by assailing softer targets
than carriers or surface combatants.
.
If PLA defenders have that option, why
not exercise it. The brawniest fleet accomplishes little
without logistical support. pounce on the
us combat logistics fleet and you starve
the battle fleet of stores. Starve the
fleet of stores and it goes away before
long.
The PLA might well tread the path of
least resistance to tactical, operational
and strategic success. Three pointers on how to interpret the
latest revelations.
First, martial might as basic to the
chinese dream, president xi jinping's
statement of national purpose. China watchers sometimes mistake the
chinese dream for an economic program
and amassing wealth is certainly part of
it. But wealth is a means to the end of
great power, not in and in itself.
Communist China aspires to fulfill its
dream and banish bad memories of its
century of humiliation, at the hands of
seaborne conquerors by achieving the
great renewal of the chinese nation.
Tightening the sinews of national power, including military power is part and
parcel of Zai's reverie. Hence the prominence of martial
pageantry on anniversaries such as
october 1st.
Second, china's proclivity for guile and
deception was on display at the military
parade, as on all such occasions. Notes the center for strategic and
international studies, the people's
republic of China is in the process of
building and deploying a sophisticated
and modern missile arsenal.
The one
shrouded in secrecy due to intentional
ambiguity and unwillingness to enter
arms control or other transparency
agreements. The approach is true to form, China's way
of diplomacy and war has been predicated
on deception, as long as there has been a
china.
