Page 11 - ADT JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 Online Magazine

Triggering [ REPORT ]
The progress the Chinese military has made
in the field of hypersonic weapons comes in
the wake of reports that the country now has
the largest navy in the world, with 355 ships,
and plans to have 460 war ships by 2030. It is
Panic also mass producing the Dong-Feng 26 (DF-
26), an intermediate-range ballistic missile that
reportedly has a range of over 5,000 km (3,100
mi) and is capable of carrying out nuclear or
conventional strikes against ground and naval
targets. DF-17, a hypersonic missile, and an
array of armed military drones complete an
arsenal so powerful that the U.S. is working
ARMS FLOW IN THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION AS overtime to ensure its allies in the region are
well equipped militarily to keep their big neigh-
CHINA RACKS UP WEAPONS AND ALARMED bor in check.
NEIGHBOURS FOLLOW SUIT

Battle for Supremacy
Experts warn that a hypersonic glide vehicle
Arun Sivasankaran armed with a nuclear warhead would pro-
vide China the capability to conduct global
The unnerving pace of China’s military growth is making its neigh- strikes from space, leaving the U.S., as well as
bors jittery and spurring an arms race in Asia. Many countries China’s neighbors, vulnerable. Modern mis-
in the region – India, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan sile defence systems are designed to destroy
among them – are investing significantly in defense systems amid incoming ballistic missiles and are not equipped
reports that China, which threatens to upset the military balance to counter hypersonic glide vehicles that fly
in the region thorough its deployments in the contested South in lower trajectories and are much harder to
China Sea, has made significant progress in the development of detect.
hypersonic weapons. According to reports, China this year twice
tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that circled the globe The U.S. and Russia also have advanced
before speeding towards its target. hypersonic weapons programs, but with China

ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY January/February 2022 | 11