Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Contributor for In Homeland Security
Following the US-lead in hypersonic test flights of scaled models, China is reportedly the second state to conduct hypersonic vehicles (WU-14) with speeds that theoretically can accelerate up to Mach 10 (10 times the speed of sound).
The Pentagon is not commenting on the Chinese flights.
The Chinese Defense Ministry is saying that the tests are “scientific” and not targeted for any specific country. That would be the military science department, yes?
Defense experts repeatedly warn that this technology will threaten the US advantage in anti-missile defenses. In combination with Chinese anti-ship missiles, force projection and anti-access and area-denial from the mainland, the threat is also immediately placed on Japanese, the US Pacific fleet and Pacific allies.
The game is further played with each side creating rapidly deployable space based weapon systems while not directly fielding or installing weapons in space; as per the Outer Space Treaty. Regionally, this game is a Pacific arms race of repelling a maritime foreign enemy with the death by a million [increasingly capable] modern arrows or fielding penetrable more sophisticated fleets in the surrounding seas with a virtual shield.
Speed is not everything however; it is one major tactic in warfare. US anti-missile technology will eventually, if it has not already, evolve with faster tracking and response systems.
While still in experimental phases, hypersonic delivery vehicles created by the US have already attained speeds around Mach 20 with the potential for nuclear warheads (see the US HTV or hypersonic test vehicle).
China, in contrast the US hypersonic tests, is alleged to have, just last week, only achieved speeds of several times the speed of sound with the hypersonic glide vehicle, or the Pentagon dubbed WU-14. It reached speeds of 10 times the speed of sound as it glided down on target form the atmosphere.
Like many modernization of military and defense projects in the East, Beijing follows in the shadow of the Washington. Moscow is also in the hypersonic race with designs for their RS-26 Rubezh hypersonic ICBM. The Russians have their own beef with America’s anti-missile defense systems in the European theater, which puts them at a loss in credible theater or potentially strategic missile deterrence.
What is expected now by the world is a US show of power. A literal military show and tell occurs after flashy publicized breakthroughs. This happened in 2007, for example, when the Chinese military shot down a satellite, decaying in orbit. The US countered by easily shooting a satellite of theirs down in less than a year later but had demonstrated such capabilities since the 1980s and 1990s. The next few years saw an active US unmanned military space drone (the X-37B) and several lengthy orbital reconnaissance and surveillance missions. A few years later, China introduced their space drone, the Shenlong (“Diving Dragon” in Mandarin Chinese)- still falling behind and not proven to remain in long-term orbit missions.
So after China’s latest stunt in hypersonic vehicles, China and the world await the Washington response. What will the US come up with next as their newly released weapon advantage? It does not have to be in the same category- it can be completely unrelated- but if nothing is forthcoming, then a deficiency and weakness will be taken by rivals and strategic competitors alike as a sign of a faltering US military advantage.
The US is obligated to maintain its overt technical superiority and display its advances when necessary as part of the game.
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