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| East Asia |
| PRC missile buildup across from Taiwan |
| 2003-05-16 |
| China's military is stepping up the buildup of short-range missiles opposite Taiwan. Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Stokes stated in a recent briefing that China's military now has 450 missiles opposite Taiwan and that the number is expected to reach 600 by 2005. Col. Stokes said the Chinese are adding 75 new missiles a year. Several years ago, the Pentagon estimated that Beijing was adding 50 new missiles a year. Quantity has a quality all its own. Col. Stokes, one of the Pentagon's top specialists on the Chinese military, also said the Chinese missiles, primarily CSS-6 and CSS-7s, are getting more accurate. The missiles use U.S. Global Positioning System satellites for midcourse guidance correction. I'm assuming there's a way to fix that. Col. Stokes also said the Chinese are expected to deploy a new land attack cruise missile before 2005. China's "growing arsenal of conventional and land attack cruise missiles pose [the] most significant [Chinese] coercive threat to Taiwan," he said. A copy of his briefing slides to the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference, held in Texas, was obtained by us. "Taiwan has limited ability to defense against [Chinese] ballistic missiles today," Col. Stokes said in an appeal to Taiwanese military officials to buy and field missile defenses. "Taiwan's senior political and military leadership must commit to defending against ballistic and land attack cruise missiles." Taipei is under pressure from the United States to purchase U.S. Patriot PAC-3 antimissile systems, and defense officials say a purchase is expected this year. This should be a no-brainer: either the Patriot or the Israeli Arrow system, or both. Otherwise you're living with a loaded shotgun to your head. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 Rifle308 --- I like your idea. If the Chinese have anything technically on the ball, they would design anti-spoofing countermeasures into their guidance systems. Some kind of backup. Maybe the Taiwanese could have spoofing missles that go up in an attack and act like the pied piper to the attacking missles and take them back to the ChiCom launch sites. Heh heh.... |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-16 17:52:58 |
| #3 So, those missiles use our GPS signals, how rude to turn our own stuff against us via an ally. Wonder if we can monkey with the transmission and send any launches to certain coordinates in Peking? |
| Posted by: Rifle308 2003-05-16 17:27:22 |
| #2 Conventional ballistic missiles are expensive and inaccurate. They also pack no more punch than a JDAM because most of the weight consists of the rocket fuel burned up during the takeoff and cruising phases. They are a big waste of money, which is probably why we're trying out reverse psychology on the Chinese, hoping that they'll spend more money there, given that we complain so much about it. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-05-16 11:19:56 |
| #1 Both, I believe the Arrow intercepts at a higher altitude. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-05-16 10:45:55 |