The Marines’ Missile Imperative
Congress may not fund ground-based weapons for Pacific defense.
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Dec. 17, 2020 6:37 pm ET
Next year’s Pentagon budget will total about $700 billion, but Congress could harm America’s defense against China if it misallocates some $100 million for missiles in the looming military appropriations bill.
How can such a small line-item make such a big difference? The answer has to do with U.S. strategy for great-power competition in the Pacific. China has developed an arsenal of thousands of ground-launched precision missiles especially along its eastern coastline. Beijing wants to use these to limit the U.S. Navy’s ability to operate, including if it decided to invade Taiwan.
The U.S. for decades has been banned from developing the same capabilities that China has under a 1987 treaty with the Soviet Union. The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), banned all ground-launched missiles—nuclear or conventional—that can travel 500 to 5,500 kilometers. America’s precision fires can only be launched from planes or ships, making them far more expensive to deploy.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-marines-missile-imperative-11608248250?mod=searchresults_pos2&page=1
