Is China's 'hypersonic test' the beginning of a new arms race?

Posted on 26th Oct 2021 by rohit kumar

China has recently tested a hypersonic missile equipped with nuclear power. Many are considering this as a major achievement and a 'game-changer in the arms sector, which has also upset US officials.

 

The Chinese army has launched such rockets twice in the last few times, which after circling the entire earth, targeted their target. Financial Times gave information related to this for the first time, they quoted intelligence department sources as saying that for the first time this missile was 40 km away from its target.

 

China called this report wrong, worrying many American experts and politicians. He said that this was a test related to reusing old spacecraft.

 

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Non-Proliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, says China's refusal is "an illusionary move". According to him, he believes this because American officials have told this information to be correct while talking to the media.

 

He believes that China's testing of an orbital bombardment system is "possible for technical and strategic reasons."

 

What are ICBM and FOB?

 

An ICBM is a long-range missile that leaves the Earth's atmosphere and then comes back to strike its target like a parabola.

 

FOB i.e. Fractional Orbital Bombardment System makes the missile an orbit around the earth and targets the target from any direction.

 

Aaron Stein, director of research at the Foreign Policy Institute in Philadelphia, said, "The news and China's denial can both be true. Reusable space planes are hypersonic gliders. They just land. With a glider, A delivered FOB system will do the same thing as a reused space plane, so the difference between the two stories is minimal."

 

"In the last few months, many senior US officials have also pointed to such steps taken by China."

 

FOB is not a new system. This was the idea of ​​the Soviet Union that emerged during the Cold War and China is now trying to try it again. The idea was of a weapon that could partially rotate in the orbit of the earth and attack from any direction.

 

China seems to have integrated FOB technology with hypersonic gliders. They float on the outer edge of the atmosphere to avoid radar and missile defense systems. China has made a new system by mixing them. but why?

 

What will be the benefit to China?

 

Lewis says, "China fears that the US may use advanced nuclear force and missile defense technology in many ways that are much higher than their nuclear defense."

 

"If such a situation arises and America attacks China first, then the Alaska Defense System will easily face the nuclear weapons left by the Chinese side."

 

Stan says that every major country is making hypersonic systems, but everyone has a different view on it. He says that due to this difference of view the arms race is increasing.

 

He believes that both Russia and China see hypersonic systems as a cut of missile defense. At the same time, America wants to prepare it for an attack on large bases such as nuclear command and control centers.

 

Compare to the Soviet Union

 

Supporters of US nuclear modernization see China's recent test as a "moment of Sputnik" when the Soviet Union's first orbital satellite shocked and frightened the US in 1950.

 

But some experts do not agree that China is creating a new threat. James Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says that the US has been afraid of a Chinese nuclear attack since the 1980s.

 

But looking at the program being made by China, Russia, and South Korea to defeat America, it must be considered whether the restrictions imposed by America, especially in the defense sector, are in its interest or not. Lewis says that the most important thing right now is that America concludes.

 

He says, "I'm afraid it's like the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks when we were shocked and going through fear and a sense of being targeted. After that, we made many such foreign policy decisions. Which made us even more insecure."

 

"We decided to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which is one of the reasons China was able to build such systems."

 

All potential US adversaries are trying to modernize and upgrade nuclear weapons. Although China's capability is much less than America's, because of American missiles with a long-range and accurate target, it wants to make new and modern missiles.

 

North Korea is pushing to improve its nuclear capability. Lewis says, "For the last few years, they have been demanding that they should get equal status to America. That's why they want to build an already modern nuclear missile to increase their credibility."

 

All these are increasing the headache of America. The post-Cold War agreements are not proving to be helpful, nor is the growing tension with Russia and China.

 

Security expert Ankit Panda believes that it is most important for America to discuss the limits of weapons.