Summary

This article notes that China is rapidly expanding its strategic and nuclear weapons.

Key points:

• Hundreds of new missile silos have been constructed.

• A new generation of strategic ballistic missile submarines is under construction.

• In August 2021, China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic vehicle that partially orbited the planet.

• Unlike intercontinental ballistic missiles, note that hypersonic missiles are difficult to track.

• Some commentators suggest the launch was for political rather than technical reasons.

• China asserts the test involved a “regular spacecraft,” some parts of which “got detached before reentering the earth’s atmosphere.

• The US needs to continue modernising its nuclear deterrent and developing new capabilities, i.e. nuclear sea-launched cruise missiles and nonnuclear medium-range ballistic systems.

• China is following Russia and the USA in developing a “nuclear triad” of air-, sea- and land-based weapons systems and developing strategic stealth bombers, anti-satellite weapons and lasers.

• China is using sophisticated American software to design semiconductors for hypersonic weapons. 

References

• 19 Oct 2021 BBC News China denies testing nuclear-capable hypersonic missile
• 19 Oct the Guardian The Guardian view on China’s missile launch: the arrival of a peer competitor
• 19 Oct  Space.com China successfully tested hypersonic weapon in August: report