The United States defense establishment has not stopped ringing alarm bells on what they say are rising threats posed by Russia and China, and their warnings are prompting fear among members of Congress.
Last week, US military officials and lawmakers highlighted hypersonic missiles as a particular area of concern.
“Right now, we’re helpless,” Republican Senator James Inhofe, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was quoted by The Hill as saying in advocating for more funding for hypersonic missiles.
The talk on Capitol Hill comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted that Russia now has intercontinental ballistic missiles that are invulnerable to Western anti-missile systems.
“We don’t have any defense that could deny the employment of such a weapon against us, so our response would be our deterrent force, which would be the triad and the nuclear capabilities that we have to respond to such a threat,” US Air Force General John Hyten, Commander of US Strategic Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week.
Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, when asked if the US was really behind Russia and China on hypersonics, said flatly: “Yes.”
“And the reason is the US hasn’t been doing anything near the same pace both in terms of developing our own capabilities but also failing to develop sensors and shooters necessary to shoot down theirs,” he continued.
But there is also reason to take these assessments with a grain of salt. Some have noted to Asia Unhedged that the US defense establishment’s goal when speaking to lawmakers is to drum up support for more funding. Exaggerating threats, or shortcomings, instills a sense of urgency for additional investment in arms development.
In short, to no one’s surprise, classified materials on the progress other countries have made in developing weapons read a little bit differently from the information that is leaked to the press or reported to Congress.
i knew that putins revelation of the russian ""WONDER WEAPONS""would be used as the excuse to spend even more on the u.s. military. any old excuse is enough to set the neocon congress on fire .they will approve huge amounts for missile developement .
The Pentagon is after the 47 % of the Federal Budget that still goes to running the country. They now get 53 % of all discretionary spending .by the Federal Government, and still thats not enough for them.
There comes a point in a flawed plan when pouring more money in is like pouring it down a rabbit hole . In a company when that situation is reached one of two things happen, there is a change of direction and strategy or the company just enters into bankruptsy and wound down.. Money has never been the problem for the Pentagon, the proof is in the way the Pentagon spends it. More waste than anything else. Systems like he Patriot,, Zumwalt and F 35 are just three examples of this collosal waste of funds. The Pentagon does not need more money what it really needs is a complete overhall from ground up. Fire the top 100 generals and begin again.
USA has one weapon, that neither Russia, nor China has; Legalized Homosexuality.
This can defend America like never before!
russia and china has patriotic scientists .. america imports scientists from all over the world.. and these scientists are capitalists.. lmao.. they give information to the governments on their native land.. lol. they are not stupid.. their root will not be wipes off the face of the earth.. lol
Yap, agreed just to drum up support for more funding. Hypersonics is still a dream come true and fund risky. Better concentrate on developing Z MACHINES AND ELECTROMAGNETIC TRAIN SHOOTERS that can shot down all kinds of missiles whether hypersonic or not.
yes Americans are slso fighting with nature
I think this is a time for America to develop her capability and missile Against hypersoni missile which the russian president claim that it’s an invissible or unstoppeble for any defence system. Trump is very good in make money but Our world don’t only need money but also your defence should be very strong. A Country like US has many enemies and the Big enemies of America is Russian and somehow china. would anyone tell Trump this(from Africa)… America is world Police!
I mean electromagnetic rail guns and not electromagnetic train shooters should be drveloped by US becsuse it is proven by China to be feasible and practucal, hence lesser risk of failure. Together with Z machines and superior retalliatory nuclrar strike, these could be more effective deterrence to enemy nuclear attack. Developing hypersonic missiles is finsncially risky
The best deterrent is to come up with a button to detonate those nuclear bombs in the place or custody of the enemy!
Don’t worry! China and Russia are far behind in destabilizing sovereign countries, supporting terrorists, dislocating people and bombing wedding ceremonies.
You hit the right answer. Its an excuse to spend more with their contractors. Somebodys piggy banks gonna be full again.
I want TO tell you people, if America
wants
To be the best
and most powerful country in military and economy, America should return to embrace the laws and doctrine of god. Junk the same sex marriage.
Kojo Kencho mostly indians
Crab hole sir
Exactly
Its a fake news
Since the Republicans are back in Power and in the Presidency, increased military spending,unrestrained arm race and war mongering which is the Party’s Foreign Policy Plank must necessarily take the driver seat in the American Policy calculus under Trump.
i beg to disagree. what if the assessment of defense officials are true? shall america take it sitting down? TO KEEP THE PEACE, PREPARE FOR WAR. this is the time-honored maxim since the time of the pharoahs. that is why nations must have armies. no one can refute this.
Oscar Moreno Reciña As if US is not yet the highest military budget spender for so many years, approx. 10x more than Russia & 3x more than China. China coped up just in recent years. The difference is, US is using private arms contractors asking for higher cost with limited state quality control. While in Russia & China, the government controlled weapons manufacturing which means less cost for more bang. "To keep peace, prepare for war?" In case you missed it, US never cease involving & creating war since WW2.
The Cold War end with the demise of USSR. Another round of arms race is on! This time on a hypersonic scale. Who will be buried? Probably the ones that breaks the bank! USA, Russia, China or others?
Dan Alcantara Dan maybe they spend more on tanks, airplanes, radar, ships like battleships, which are obsolete. They spend zero on missile, can u please elaborate?
the Americans already in the tank for 21 + trillion dollars . The Russian weaponry is built to defend the mother country. American weaponry is built to enrich the shareholders of the American military industrial complex. Everything the Americans build, costs twice or more as much as the Russians spend. the American military budget is more than 10 times that of the Russian military budget , but in bang for the buck terms, the Russians appear to get a lot more. The Americans build giant aircraft carriers, and grossly expensive aircraft , all of which become redundant in a very short time with the Advent of more modern weapons, such as hypersonic cruise missiles. the Russians are building small ships like Corvettes and frigates so heavily armed that they are the match of much larger American vessels. The Americans are still using Cold War thinking .
they can spend as much as they like they still won’t catch up as they are useless incompetants