COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
There has been talk of this Chinese anti-ship missile for
some years.
Now it would appear to be operational.
It climbs in a very high arc and, when it turns down, an
elaborate computer and sensor system guides it to a target.
It reaches a great velocity - many, many times the speed of
sound - and the tremendous kinetic energy with which it hits its target makes a
warhead almost superfluous.
There are pictures on the Internet of experiments with
targets shaped like the decks of flat tops, and the missile punches a big hole
right through them.
China is reportedly stationing units of the new ASBM (Anti-Ship
Ballistic Missile) along its sea coast.
China with this and other measures is clearly telling the
United States that the South China Sea is not an American lake, and rightly so.
Russia, by the way, has another approach to attacking capital
ships. Its Sunburn cruise missile travels at several times the speed of sound
and weaves unpredictably as it closes in on its target. It is a very effective
weapon.
There are yet other new weapons. China has a submarine which
entered the space of an American battle group a few years ago and surfaced
right in the middle of it undetected by all the American fancy array of electronic
gear. The US Navy was said to be horrified at the remarkable feat but has kept
quiet about it.
The technologies involved in the submarine - special rubbery
coating on its hull and virtually silent screw drives - may well be of Russian
design since Russia's newest submarines are so equipped.
American aircraft carriers grow more vulnerable every day,
and, if they are not already doomed in a big war, they will soon be.
A further note, China and Russia both are developing another
potentially very deadly weapon, a hypersonic, steerable ram jet vehicle which
may be used in various ways, including on top of a missile. China has tested
this totally unstoppable weapon at least three times of which I am aware.
