Popular Mechanics has a long piece about the US Navy’s leaning into lasers for missile defence. They sound just like the laser packs on the Big Hill in Weapons of Choice. Purpose-built to take down Chinese missile swarms.
Problem is, they’re still as fictional as that book, but the hypersonic antiship missiles they’re supposed to defend against are already in the PLAN’s armoury.
China’s missiles are capable of inflicting catastrophic damage. Its 35-foot-tall DF-21D is a ballistic nuclear missile that can destroy ships from 1,000 miles away or more. China can launch this 32,000-pound weapon from the ground or from heavy bombers in the air, and analysts believe that its nuclear warhead can maneuver in flight to hit moving ships.
The DF-26 stands more than four stories high and has an even greater range. But the most fearsome is the DF-ZF, a hypersonic missile that can reportedly reach speeds of Mach 10 and attack from more than 1,500 miles away. Unlike the other two weapons, which fly in a conventional arc that makes them more easily intercepted, the ZF remains highly maneuverable as it reenters the atmosphere and zooms toward a target.
The more you read this piece on the USN’s race to build a working laser pack, however, the more you wonder why Xi Jinping hasn’t already gone, “All you Taiwan Semi Conductor plants are belong to me now.”
If these things are moving at Mach 10, and an Aegis cruiser can only pick them up at 200nm out, that leaves a minute and a half to designate the target and take it out.
Of course, the Chinese government has provided zero proof that the DF-21 is maneuverable at hypersonic speeds, just press releases. Which the press reprint as if they are facts.
How would they control an over the horizon missile strike in real time?
I really enjoyed over a year ago watching the expression on Zhao Lijian (China's foreign ministry spokesman) when he announced the successful test of a hypersonic missile stating with a straight face saying "According to my understanding, this test is a routine spacecraft test, used to test a reusable spacecraft technology,” casting a wry smile which said the US understands exactly what China has just demonstrated.
Yeah, I've been watching these developments with a sense of unease. The eighty-year peace and the post-1945 world is vanishing, and major causes are wishful thinking, complacency, and the march of time. The generation that knew first-hand how tenuous our wonderful world actually is are mostly gone, replaced by leaders who grew up in a much softer environment. Some, such as Ukraine's Zelensky, will rise to the challenge. Alas, I fear that many others will not.
Time to build drone carrying subs
Of course, the Chinese government has provided zero proof that the DF-21 is maneuverable at hypersonic speeds, just press releases. Which the press reprint as if they are facts.
How would they control an over the horizon missile strike in real time?
I really enjoyed over a year ago watching the expression on Zhao Lijian (China's foreign ministry spokesman) when he announced the successful test of a hypersonic missile stating with a straight face saying "According to my understanding, this test is a routine spacecraft test, used to test a reusable spacecraft technology,” casting a wry smile which said the US understands exactly what China has just demonstrated.
Yeah, I've been watching these developments with a sense of unease. The eighty-year peace and the post-1945 world is vanishing, and major causes are wishful thinking, complacency, and the march of time. The generation that knew first-hand how tenuous our wonderful world actually is are mostly gone, replaced by leaders who grew up in a much softer environment. Some, such as Ukraine's Zelensky, will rise to the challenge. Alas, I fear that many others will not.