Are U.S. Missile Defenses Vulnerable to Cyberattacks?
China and Russia are rapidly expanding their strategic ballistic missile arsenals. China recently tested an intercontinental hypersonic weapon that would allow it to strike critical targets in the United States in a matter of minutes. To counter this threat, the U.S. is rethinking what kind of missile defenses it requires to protect the homeland, forces abroad, and allies.
The strategic balance is changing in real-time. China is building hundreds of ballistic missile silos and could deploy more than 1,000 strategic nuclear warheads capable of reaching the U.S. mainland by 2030. China also has a massive arsenal of theater-range ballistic missiles capable of threatening U.S. forward-deployed forces and allies in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Chinese test of a hypersonic missile with global reach is a potential game-changer. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, called this a “Sputnik moment.” Hypersonic weapons fly at five times the speed of sound or more and can maneuver to evade detection or engagement by missile defenses designed for current types of ballistic missiles. With such a weapon, in theory, China could not only defeat existing missile defenses but execute an incapacitating attack against even our National Command Authority (NCA). A senior U.S. Air Force missile defense commander explained the threat thusly:
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/11/are-u-s-missile-defenses-vulnerable-to-cyberattacks/
