US, India race China’s hypersonic missile test that exposes BMD vulnerability

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CHenna is did Testing of a new space capability with a hypersonic missile, as previously reported The Financial Times. The test is believed to have been conducted in secret in August 2021. The report relied on experts from the US intelligence community and may have been a deliberate leak. It managed to touch the most vulnerable cord-potential vulnerability of any country’s strategic community.

A flood of comments soon shattered the information landscape. It mattered little that the development did not create a vulnerability in the ballistic missile defense (BMD) of the US or any other country that deployed it. The vulnerability already existed, and all efforts to create a BMD system have been chasing their tails since 2001 – when the US started the BMD arms race as it withdrew from the 1972 Ballistic Missile Defense Treaty with the Soviet Union. The Financial Times The report indicated that the US has now been deprived of China’s technological progress. This sits easily with the larger narrative of Beijing’s growing technological and military capability.

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weakening of mutual vulnerability

one must read Article ‘Cool Your Jets: Some Perspectives on the Hype of Hypersonic Weapons‘ published by bulletin To understand the binding of this hype to nuclear scientists in January 2020 that report has now come out. The reality is that the development of the offensive ability to penetrate the BMD has continued to outpace its ability to defend.

the White House Statement On the occasion of the George W. Bush administration’s withdrawal in 2002, revealing—”With the treaty now behind us, our job is to develop and deploy effective defense against limited missile attacks. As the events of September 11th made clear We no longer live in the world of the Cold War for which the ABM Treaty was drawn up. We now face new threats from terrorists who carry any threat to rogue states armed with weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles. We want to destroy our civilization in any way possible. Protecting the American people against these threats is my top priority as Commander-in-Chief.”

The BMD Treaty of 1972 was the result of an understanding with the unbridled nuclear arms race. It accepted mutual vulnerability as an axis of strategic stability. The premise of the treaty was that if one side built a BMD for protection, it would trigger the building of offensive capability by the others and a perennial offensive-defensive arms race would begin. The treaty allowed the development of protection against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.

The attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 introduced the need to protect against terrorists who might be in possession of missile capabilities. The desire to defend against terrorist threats undermines a cornerstone of strategic stability – interpersonal vulnerability. Developed a plethora of missile defense systems. But no system is capable of providing any level of assurance of security. The development of crime capabilities has always preceded protection against it. The September 2019 attack on one of Saudi Arabia’s most important oil facilities was a sign of the defense’s vulnerability even against subsonic cruise missiles.

In 2018, Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of hypersonic weapons that were invulnerable to America’s defenses. He said the developments were made specifically as a reaction to the cancellation of the US BMD. China has now joined the race. The US, especially with its military weapons, has long been a supporter of hypersonic vehicles. With the development of Russia and China, the Pentagon’s budget request for hypersonic-related research is increasing. The race is on, and it’s still chasing its own tail. Pursuit is more complicated than intentional access to ambiguity about the payload, which may be conventional or nuclear.

read also: China’s hypersonic missile test is ‘awakening’ in this nuclear arms race

India must stay in the race

India is also in the race. According to reportsIt is developing a dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile as part of its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle program. India successfully test-fired a Mach 6 scramjet in June 2019 and September 2020. Earlier, in early 2000, following the Kargil conflict, the country had initiated a program to develop a BMD system that was intended to defend against threats from Pakistan. recent reports Its deployment is described. The acquisition of the S-400 Triumph from Russia and its operations in a few years will add to India’s BMD capacity.

India did not have much choice but to join the race to protect itself from ballistic and cruise missiles. But it must be mindful of the limits of its efforts, as the ability to overcome defense systems will remain in the ranks of nature. India must certainly be in the running until conscience returns from an impossible task, and an international dialogue seeks to halt the current madness of vulnerabilities-seeking in the name of bolstering resistance.

India must balance capacity performance with spending scarce fiscal resources. It should see international developments in missile capability as part of an ongoing dialogue of deterrence between nuclear powers. Dialogue is, in essence, an exchange that conveys the message that ‘any nuclear attack will be retaliated and your defenses will not be able to protect you.’ It is also a dialogue of the deaf, which, as everyone knows, has no answer to the question – ‘What happens after the initial nuclear weapon is fired?’ It has been a story of pursuing a nuclear strategy that has been timelessly disproportionate to the effort expended. Hypersonic vehicles are merely the offspring of that pursuit.

Lt Gen (Dr) Prakash Menon is the Director Strategic Studies Programme, Taxila Institute, Bangalore and former Military Advisor, National Security Council Secretariat. He tweeted @prakashmenon51. Thoughts are personal.

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