The New Zealand Herald (May 15) published satellite photographs that revealed a Chinese
testing facility with a scale replica of a US Navy amphibious assault ship placed on a rail system
to provide a moving target for missile targeting. A United States Naval Institute (USNI) report
argues commercial satellite photos show the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is developing a
disturbing new military capability: hypersonic missiles that can identify and hit warships sitting
idle in their home ports. The author of the USNI report H.I. Sutton said, "The nature, location
and strikes on these sites all suggest the targets are meant for testing ballistic missiles." "These
hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs) are an increasingly significant threat to
warships." The desert targets are relatively simple. The "piers" were represented by geometric
arrangements of sheets of an unknown material laid out on the desert sands. The "ships" were
metal plates positioned among these "distractions". Their purpose could be to train and test
guidance systems. Notably, the target range is close to another previously used to test the
development of its "carrier killer" DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles in 2013. Its latest weapon,
the DF-17, carries a hypersonic glide vehicle that can manoeuvre along an unpredictable
trajectory towards an unwitting target. Travelling faster than 6200km/h, China's expansive
arsenal of hypersonic ballistic missiles will have mere moments to recognise the shape of a
warship among the clutter of a dockyard. "Modern targeting sensors are typically connected to
artificial intelligence, allowing the missile to discern targets and choose the intended or highestvalue option," Sutton writes. If the visible impact craters are any indication, they now appear to be capable of doing so. Their purpose is to prevent the US Navy from intervening in the
western Pacific. So far, its arsenal ranges from the 1500km of the DF-21 to the 4000km of the
DF-26. This puts the major US naval bases at Okinawa and Guam within Beijing's sites. But
recent advances – as demonstrated by a highly unusual orbital payload deployment in June last
year – suggest facilities in Hawaii and even San Diego will soon be vulnerable to these ultrafast, non-nuclear weapons. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
argues that Beijing's recent military doctrine and technology developments indicate a
disturbing trend. It says, "Changes to China's postures and technologies indicate that its concept
and practice of 'active defence' may be converging with more forward-leaning and even preemptive 'proactive defence'." Active defence is defined as preparing to defend from a surprise
attack. Proactive defence is a euphemism for preparing to launch a pre-emptive, surprise attack.
The report says that the aggressive policy shift can be seen in new anti-satellite weaponry,
expanded intercontinental ballistic missile silos, hypersonic missile-carrying bombers, and
attack submarines. The report states that "Over the past few years, China has displayed a wide
range of advances in military capabilities and infrastructure, including its test of a hypersonic
glide vehicle coupled with a fractional orbital bombardment system." The Hong Kong-based
South China Morning Post quotes Zhou Chenming, Researcher of the Yuan Wang Military
Science and Technology Institute as saying, "The PLA will not take pre-emptive strikes in
peacetime." "China's missiles, including the DF-21 carrier-killer and other weapons, were all
designed for deterring and denying foreign military intervention in case of a Taiwan
contingency, which will only happen if Taipei formally declares independence."
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