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March 31, 2009

Great News: China Can Sink Our Carriers!

But don't worry! The Most Experienced State Department Ever will talk them out of it

With tensions already rising due to the Chinese navy becoming more aggressive in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy seems to have yet another reason to be deeply concerned.

After years of conjecture, details have begun to emerge of a "kill weapon" developed by the Chinese to target and destroy U.S. aircraft carriers.

First posted on a Chinese blog viewed as credible by military analysts and then translated by the naval affairs blog Information Dissemination, a recent report provides a description of an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) that can strike carriers and other U.S. vessels at a range of 2000km.

The range of the modified Dong Feng 21 missile is significant in that it covers the areas that are likely hot zones for future confrontations between U.S. and Chinese surface forces.

The size of the missile enables it to carry a warhead big enough to inflict significant damage on a large vessel, providing the Chinese the capability of destroying a U.S. supercarrier in one strike.

Because the missile employs a complex guidance system, low radar signature and a maneuverability that makes its flight path unpredictable, the odds that it can evade tracking systems to reach its target are increased. It is estimated that the missile can travel at mach 10 and reach its maximum range of 2000km in less than 12 minutes.

Needless to say, the Navy is not amused.

As analyst Raymond Pritchett notes in a post on the U.S. Naval Institute blog:

"The Navy's reaction is telling, because it essentially equals a radical change in direction based on information that has created a panic inside the bubble. For a major military service to panic due to a new weapon system, clearly a mission kill weapon system, either suggests the threat is legitimate or the leadership of the Navy is legitimately unqualified. There really aren't many gray spaces in evaluating the reaction by the Navy…the data tends to support the legitimacy of the threat."

But surely the Chinese know better than to butt heads with The Unicorn?

Gosh, it's so comforting having the world loving us again.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at March 31, 2009 01:03 PM

Comments

Yup, restoring American diplomacy sure does work, doesn't it?

And the Navy has its work cut out for it, developing countermeasures for this beast.

Posted by: JeffS at March 31, 2009 03:02 PM

Oh goodness, Jeff, we can't do that! That might violate an ABM treaty!

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at March 31, 2009 03:04 PM

The President will have to use his Care Bear Stare on the missiles, which will turn them into rainbows. This is right after all of our industry is converted to run on unicorn farts.

Posted by: nightfly at March 31, 2009 04:08 PM

It is amazing how eleven years ago China couldn't even launch a missile and guide it successfully.
The Los Alamos espionage, and stolen data
during the Richardson and Clinton sell- out of secrets: now they're now up to landing people on the
moon.It is amazing what a 11 million dollar book
advance and a few million spent among Washington
plastic, hollow politicians have bought the Red Chinese.The sickness is so deep that Treason is
joke now.It's all for sale.Now there's nothing left, except the bones of a nation that has been thrown to the leeches of the world.

Posted by: greg newson at March 31, 2009 11:25 PM