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The Marinesâ Missile Imperative
Congress may not fund ground-based weapons for Pacific defense. Journal Editorial Report: The week s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn, Allysia Finley and Dan Henninger. Images: Zuma Press/AP/Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly By Dec. 17, 2020 6:37 pm ET
Next yearâs Pentagon budget will total about $700 billion, but Congress could harm Americaâs defense against China if it misallocates some $100 million for missiles in the looming military appropriations bill.
How can such a small line-item make such a big difference? The answer has to do with U.S. strategy for great-power competition in the Pacific. China has developed an arsenal of thousands of ground-launched precision missiles especially along its eastern coastline. Beijing wants to use these to limit the U.S. Navyâs ability to operate, including if it decided to invade Taiwan.
Over a decade, the U.S. Navy experienced a series of defeats in wargames which pitted the Fleet against its primary adversary in the Pacific. The most recent of these wargames resulted in unacceptable losses that, if real, would put the future role of the United States in Asia at risk.
Strategically, there is “a growing disparity between American commitments in the Far East and the ability to defend those commitments.” While our rival’s political and economic ambitions have grown, “across-the-board cuts in [America’s] defense establishment” have weakened our military and provided our competitor a numerical advantage in critical areas. Accordingly, “Army analysts remained unalterably convinced that the military and diplomatic balance in the Far East” will continue to favor our opposition, “which enjoys local strategic superiority.” Some have “suggested it might be advisable to cut loose from the Far East altogether before the nation finds itself in a war it is
Thursday, 17 December 2020 4:25 PM
[ Last Update: Thursday, 17 December 2020 4:46 PM ] Russian President Vladimir Putin attends his annual end-of-year news conference outside capital Moscow, on December 17, 2020.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says it was the United States that started a new arms race, forcing Russia to develop hypersonic weapons in response.
Asked about the risk of a new arms race, the Russian leader said in his annual news conference on Thursday, It happened already, and this is obvious.
Putin said he believed US President-elect Joe Biden is open to dialog on the issue, but “we need some reaction from our American partners.”
The Russian president had earlier urged the White House to agree on a one-year extension of the New START treaty, which is the last major nuclear arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington that puts a limit on the development and deployment of strategic nuc