CHINESE MODERNIZATION: MORE OF THE SAME
China’s ongoing military modernization continues to expand the range, number and sophistication of the country’s ballistic missiles, and its ability to project power abroad, the Pentagon’s most recent study of Chinese military power has said. “China has the most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile program in the world,” the Defense Department’s latest report on Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China, which was released in mid-August, says. “It is developing and testing several new classes and variants of offensive missiles, forming additional missile units, qualitatively upgrading certain missile systems, and developing methods to counter ballistic missile defenses.”
The most immediate focus of this burgeoning arsenal is the island nation of Taiwan. “By December 2009, the PLA had deployed between 1,050 and 1,150 CSS-6 and CSS-7 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) to units opposite Taiwan,” the reports says. Moreover, the PLA “is upgrading the lethality of this force, including by introducing variants of these missiles with improved ranges, accuracies, and payloads.” At the same time, “China is developing an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) based on a variant of the CSS-5 medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM)” – with the aim of providing the PRC “the capability to attack ships, including aircraft carriers, in the western Pacific Ocean.”
The PRC is also focusing on modernization and survivability. “For example, in recent years the road mobile, solid propellant DF-31 and DF-31A intercontinental range ballistic missiles (ICBM) have entered service. The DF-31A, with a range in excess of 11,200 km, can reach most locations within the continental United States (CONUS).” Moreover, the study says, “China may also be developing a new roadmobile ICBM, possibly capable of carrying a multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles (MIRV).”
INDIA FOCUSES ON LASERS
India has launched a major effort to develop laser weapons for military applications, Defense News (August 25) reports. According to the trade weekly, New Delhi is now working on laser weapons for deployment on the Navy’s submarines and destroyers, as well as Air Force fighters and transport planes. These directed energy anti-missile systems destroy incoming ballistic missiles by bombarding them with subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves.
A NATO SHIELD AGAINST IRAN
NATO needs a more robust missile defense system to counter the mounting strategic threat posed by Iran, the Atlantic Alliance’s top official has said. London’s Sunday Telegraph (September 11) reports that, in the wake of the latest International Atomic Energy Agency report detailing Iran’s nuclear progress, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has floated the idea of a new missile defense for the security bloc. "Based on their public statements we know that Iran already has missiles with a range sufficient to hit targets in Europe, and they don't hide the fact that they want to further develop their capability," Rassmussen told the British daily. "If Iran eventually acquires a nuclear capability that will be very dangerous, and a direct threat to the allies. That is the reason why I am now proposing a new and effective Nato missile defence system."
According to the NATO chief, he has received full support from the United States for his proposed 200 million Euro expansion of current missile defenses in Europe. Significant hurdles to the plan remain, however; Russia’s support is key to establishing this new defensive system, which proposes an extension of an anti-ballistic missile shield across NATO territory, coordinated by a new command and control system, to knit together existing NATO, American, and Russian sensor systems. Moscow, however, has historically been antagonistic to U.S. and European missile defense plans. Still, Alliance officials hope that the revised configuration of European defenses, coupled with the mounting threat from Iran, will be enough to secure Russia’s cooperation.
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