JUST IN: Navy Flowing Forces to Pacific as China Grows Nuclear Arsenal
8/24/2022
By Josh Luckenbaugh
With China rapidly strengthening its nuclear capabilities, the Navy has begun shifting the focus of its own nuclear deterrent to the Pacific, a senior Navy official said.
China is undergoing a significant expansion of its nuclear force, according to the Defense Department’s 2021 China Military Power Report. China likely intends to have at least 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030 and has made efforts to establish its own “nuclear triad” of air-, ground- and sea-based capabilities, the report stated.
In response, the Navy has undergone “a flow of forces from the Atlantic to the Pacific based on the change in the threats that we're seeing in the world today,” said Rear Adm. Scott W. Pappano, the Navy’s program executive officer for strategic submarines.
Due to the sensitivity of the matter, he did not disclose any details about the size, composition or basing locations of the forces being redeployed to the Pacific.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/8/24/navy-undergoing-flow-of-forces-to-pacific-as-china-strengthens-nuclear-arsenal
