美俄中掀起新一轮核军备竞赛

choi

William J Broad and David E Sanger, 冷战阴云重现？美俄中掀起新一轮核军备竞赛. 纽约时报中文网, Apr 18, 2016
http://cn.nytimes.com/world/20160418/c18armsrace/

, which is translated from

William J Broad and David E Sanger, Race Escalates for Latest Class of Nuclear Arms; Shades of a Cold War; US, Russia and China try to build smaller, faster warheads. New York Times, Apr 17 (one of the two front-page top reports).
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/1 ... e-russia-china.html

Quote:

"The American version [of a hypersonic glide vehicle] would be nonnuclear: The goal is a weapon so fast and precise that it relies on the raw force of impact to destroy a fixed target, such as a missile silo. [The report did not say anything about China's version, if on the road to success.]  While that fulfills the president's commitment to rely less on atomic weapons, it may prompt adversaries who cannot match the technology to depend more on nuclear arms.

"Christopher P Twomey, a national security expert at the Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey, Calif * * * Last year in testimony to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, created by Congress, he reported that Beijing felt increasingly encircled. It sees Washington's hypersonic glider as a way to attack China without crossing the nuclear threshold, complicating its assessment of nuclear retaliation.  Dr Twomey said Chinese leaders had similar apprehensions about growing numbers of antimissile interceptors on American warships in the Pacific as well as bases in California and Alaska.

My comment:
(a) You should view the graphic of the English report (the Chinese translation does not have the graphic), which describes the trajectory (something I learn for the first time) of a hypersonic glide vehicle.

(b) "In February, the White House backed development of an advanced cruise missile. Dropped from a bomber, the flying weapon is to hug the ground for long distances and zip through enemy air defenses to smash targets.”

James Drew, It's Decision Time for the Air Force's New Nuclear Cruise Missile. War Is Boring, Feb 17, 2015
https://warisboring.com/it-s-dec ... issile-51832637571d

The following quote and analyze the War Is Boring report.
(i) "The Pentagon calls it the Long-Range Standoff Weapon, or LRSO for short, and it would replace the outdated Air-Launched Cruise Missile your grandfather's warbird—the 50-year-old B-52 Stratofortress—still carries on bomber runs over the Pacific and Europe to deter a preemptive attack on America and her allies. * * * what’s special about this weapon [LRSO] is its range—around 1,500 to 3,000 miles or greater, a relatively easy achievement given today’s engine technology."

cruise missile
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile
(section 4.1.6 United States: "AGM-86 ALCM air-launched cruise missile, 350 to 550 missiles and W80 warheads still in service"
(A) ALCM is the acronym for air-launched cruise missile (which is a proper name).


(B) SO FAR (but this War Is Boring report said US Air Force hoped for one with conventional warhead called CALCM] ALCM is always nuclear-tipped, armed with W80.
(ii) "Combine the missile with a smart, radar-evading flight system [Northrop Grumman B-21, under development], and you have a very powerful weapon that is extremely difficult to shoot down."
(iii) "The Navy has its own sea-based cruise missile—the Tomahawk. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 explicitly forbids the use of ground-launched cruise missiles."
(iv) "The Pentagon junked the more stealthy Advanced Cruise Missile [AGM-129 ACM; see the same Wiki page above] in 2012 to comply with the New START Treaty Pres Barack Obama signed with Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin."
(v) There is no need to read the rest of the War Is Boring report.

(c) "China has already re-engineered many of its long-range missiles to carry multiple warheads * * * The step troubled analysts because Beijing for decades has known [but did not act on the knowhow until recently] how to miniaturize warheads and [how to] put two or more atop a single missile."

(d) In the graphic of the NYT report, one entry states, "Unlike a ballistic missile, which travels in parabolic arc, the glide vehicle is able to pull up and transition to a glide."

ballistic missile
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_missile

See top graphic and section 2 Flight.