Hawks, Or Pigeons In A Bad Mood?American elites have squandered our technological and manufacturing advantage over both Russia and China.
By David P. Goldman
March 10, 2022
Few dispute that the Ukraine crisis brings with it the risk of nuclear escalation. The reverse also might be true: The Ukraine crisis may be the result of a shift in the world’s nuclear balance.
With an economy smaller than the state of Texas, Russia has built strategic weapons superior to many in the American arsenal. These include land as well as submarine-launched hypersonic weapons that can carry nuclear missiles past any American defense, as well as the world’s best air defense system, the S-500. The October 4, 2021, test of Russia’s submarine-launched “Zircon” hypersonic missile was the first-ever underwater firing of a low-altitude weapon that flies at nine times the speed of sound, according to Russian claims. A Russian sub lurking a hundred miles off the American coast could nuke Washington in a flat minute.
A day later Russia test-launched its S-500 air defense system, designed to destroy aircraft and missiles in a 600-kilometer radius, including targets in close space. And last December, Russia claimed to have tested the S-550 upgrade, which allegedly can destroy ICBMs as well as satellites. Russia has sold the earlier S-400 system to India, China, and Turkey; India may be the first foreign customer for an S-500.
In August 2021, China circled the globe with a low-flying hypersonic glide vehicle. Its DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle has been operational since October 2019. Both the Chinese HGVs and conventional surface-to-ship ballistic missiles presumably can penetrate or swamp the defense of American aircraft carriers. There is some debate over whether China’s 1,300 medium-range surface-to-ship missiles can track and kill a carrier at full steam.
We do not know how effective the new offensive and defensive weapons are. Russia conducted these tests in full view of Western observers and disclosed their alleged capabilities in public statements. The key questions remain open. Is Russia bluffing, or is it giving the West fair warning of its new capabilities? To what extent has Russia built an effective missile shield? How many of the new S-500 or S-550 batteries can Russia put into the field? How quickly could Russian and Chinese missiles and lasers put our satellites out of action? How vulnerable are American aircraft carriers? The new technologies are formidable, but these are early days.
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The hard questions to ask of our government are:
First, how is it possible that Russia and China have gained a strategic advantage over the United States in hypervelocity glide vehicles, missile defense, and other key aspects of military technology? America’s military budget is triple that of China and dectuple that of Russia, yet we have wasted vast resources on fruitless foreign wars and overpriced weapons that may be already obsolete.
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Source:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/hawks-or-pigeons-in-a-bad-mood/
