The Newest Military Threat is Not Just From North Korea

The tensions of the North Korean crisis have reached frenzied status and the United States is being warned off from using any aggression toward Pyongyang. From the Russians vowing responsive nuclear strikes to the North Koreans vowing strikes on the United States and its allies, there is no shortage of worrisome military and political activity in the world.

Risks associated with a nuclear-enabled North Korea are three-fold. The first being that of delivery systems. If Kim Jong-un gives the command, it will be followed and the U.S. may find itself on the receiving end of a submarine-fired nuclear missile, possibly detonating as far as the West Coast.

The second risk is that associated with the Chinese enforcement and military domination of the South China Sea, the busiest waterway in the world. If they are able to take a large area of this body of water away from foreign control, they will substantially increase the military effectiveness of their navy.

However, third and perhaps deadliest of the risks involves the Chinese focus for the last two years on “hypersonic” weapons, posing a significant threat to even the American military and homeland.

William Patalon III explains further:

As Adm. Harris saw it, the hypersonic threat and the South China Sea issue are part-and-parcel of China’s new military aggressiveness.

“China’s military modernization cannot be understated, especially when we consider the communist regime’s lack of transparency and apparent strategy,” he said. “China is committed to developing a hypersonic glide weapon and advanced cyber and anti-satellite capabilities that present direct threats to the homeland.

Hypersonic weapons will play a role here. China has developed a hypersonic anti-ship missile known as the “carrier killer” (the Dong-Feng 21). The purpose is to keep U.S. aircraft carriers – the floating airfields the Pentagon uses to project U.S. force to remote regions – at bay.

That’s a “tactical” weapon. But as we detailed in a huge report late last year, both China and Russia are developing strategic weapons known as “hypersonic glide vehicles,” or HGVs. These are super-fast, nuclear-tipped strike weapons – but which are highly maneuverable… unlike conventional ICBMs. That makes them almost impossible to shoot down – at least with current technologies.

He points out that every summer for the last twenty years, the U.S. and its allies send their top aerospace experts – military and civilian – to Huntsville, Alabama, for the Space & Missile Defense Symposium. The key topic at this year’s gathering?

Hypersonic weapons.

There’s a triple-edge sword in dealing with the North Korean crisis. Two of them are China and North Korea. The third edge may just be the Russians.

Time will tell.