¡@
China improving ¡¥area denial¡¦
DEFENsE UPGRADE: A former National Airborne Corps (NAC) official said that
the 60 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters the US agreed to sell to Taiwan would be
delivered in 2013
By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER , WASHINGTON
Friday, Sep 24, 2010, Page 3
A new report by a professor at the US Naval War College says
Chinese military planners ¡§covet the ability¡¨ to prevent US and allied forces
from intervening effectively in the event of a Taiwan Strait crisis.
¡§The PLA [People¡¦s Liberation Army] is improving rapidly in many areas, and has
manifold advantages on which to draw, particularly in its proximity to, and
focus on, the most likely scenario ¡X a multi-vector PLA offensive to pressure
Taiwan into reunification,¡¨ the report says.
Written by Andrew Erickson and just published by the Jamestown Foundation, the
report says China is on the verge of achieving major breakthroughs with
anti-ship ballistic missiles; streaming cruise missile attacks; precise and
reliable satellites and space weapons.
The report claims such achievements could ¡§radically improve¡¨ China¡¦s
anti-access and area denial capabilities by allowing it to dangerously threaten
any ships or aircraft that enter ¡§strategically vital zones¡¨ around the country.
Of greatest concern to Washington, the report says, is a solid propellant
anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) with two stages and a reentry vehicle.
The sensors on this weapon may be able to find, and the warhead severely damage,
an aircraft carrier.
With a range of about 1,500km, this missile could stop US aircraft carrier
battle groups from entering an area ¡§far beyond Taiwan and the First Island
Chain into the Western Pacific.¡¨
Erickson¡¦s report says China may already be producing rocket motors for the
missile in a purpose-built factory.
If developed and deployed successfully, the anti-ship ballistic missile ¡§would
be the world¡¦s first weapons system capable of targeting a moving carrier strike
group hundreds of kilometers from China¡¦s shores from long-range, land-based
mobile launchers,¡¨ the report says.
While there have been previously published reports of the missile, this stark
warning from Erickson ¡X a founding member of the China Maritime Studies
Institute ¡X is alarming.
The US Navy has developed systems to deal with anti-ship cruise missiles but
this weapon is ¡§qualitatively different.¡¨
For one thing, a US attack on the launchers ¡X hidden well inside China ¡X would
be ¡§highly escalatory¡¨ and would risk all-out war.
However, the report quotes an unnamed US Department of Defense official as
saying that Beijing scientists ¡§still have a ways to go¡¨ before they can
integrate the missile system with its command and control computers and with
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
¡§Yet China has many ways to mitigate limitations for kinetic operations around
Taiwan,¡¨ the report says.
¡§While conflict is by no means foreordained and interaction and cooperation
should be pursued whenever feasible and equitable, the challenge presented by
China¡¦s emerging anti-access and area-denial infrastructure cannot be ignored,¡¨
it says.
¡§Long before a crisis, and to deter one from ever erupting, US leaders need to
ask, ¡¥where are threats to our carriers and how can we counter them?¡¦¡¨ the
report says.
In related developments, former National Airborne Corps (NAC) director Chen
Chung-hsien (³¯±R½å) told reporters on Monday that the 60 UH-60M Black Hawk
helicopters the US agreed to sell to Taiwan as part of a major arms package
earlier this year would be delivered in 2013. The military said it planned to
allot 15 to the NAC for civil rescue operations.
The NAC said the 15 helicopters would substantially improve the nation¡¦s air
rescue capabilities.
The NAC said the Army was also in negotiations with Bell Helicopter on an
upgrade program for NAC¡¦s UH-1H helicopters.
¡@
|