The U.S. military is considering deploying hypersonic missiles and medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) with multiple warheads at several military bases in the backyards of China and Russia to pre-empt anti-access/area-denial (A2D) attacks in both countries. Area Denial, A2AD) weapons.
According to a report by The EurAsian Times on the 8th, unnamed Japanese officials said they are willing to authorize the United States to deploy hypersonic and Tomahawk cruise missiles in Kyushu. However, the “Tomahawk” will only be used to perform missions that have no time limit.
Because hypersonic missiles can maneuver at high speeds and are elusive, making it harder for enemies to track and intercept them. The Congressional Budget Office concluded in a report on the plan that hypersonic missiles would be more effective against conventional ballistic missile defense (BMD) interceptors.
However, suppose the U.S. military wants to effectively operate in the South China Sea, the Baltic Sea, and other Sino-Russian anti-access/area denial areas. In that case, it may need less than an hour to strike, such as coastal defense systems, long-range Targets such as over-the-horizon (Over-the-Horizon, OTH) radars in strike systems, and anti-access/area denial systems.
By striking such launch sites in mainland China, the United States can limit the effectiveness of Chinese A2/AD operations in the first instance of conflict. The U.S. military would then be able to use a wider range of weapons with a shorter range and greater lethality.
In the past five years, high-level U.S. military officials have admitted that the U.S. military has always been at a disadvantage due to the complex defense network established by China and Russia using long-range anti-access/area-denial missiles.
In particular, in China, which has the largest number and variety of cruise, anti-ship, and traditional ballistic missiles, the main tactical principle is to easily attack the U.S. sea and land assets on the first and second island chains from the mainland and then use unscathed The second and third lines of defense are to challenge the remaining U.S. forces.
For example, the PLA’s Dongfeng-16 short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) has a range of 1,000 kilometers and can cover the entire first island chain. The Dongfeng-21D “aircraft carrier killer” can strike the second island chain and any approaching U.S. Navy fleet.
In addition, the Dongfeng-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a range of up to 3,500 kilometers can strike the most important U.S. naval base in Guam in the Western Pacific.
The Dongfeng-17 hypersonic missile, Dongfeng-21D anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), Dongfeng-10A subsonic cruise missile, and Dongfeng-100 supersonic cruise missile can completely cover Kyushu Island, Japan.