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I think USN confidence of current abilities is reflected by the fact the Pompeo, as much of aChina hawk he is, no longer sends US carriers through the Taiwan st
by dirtyid 6y ago
I think USN confidence of current abilities is reflected by the fact the Pompeo, as much of aChina hawk he is, no longer sends US carriers through the Taiwan strait. Clinton sent two during the third strait crisis. My understanding is USN is 5+ years out from having credible counters to Chinese AShM right now.
- Iv 6y agoThere only so much you can do against ballistic threats.
- ashtonkem 6y agoWith the advent of hypersonic missiles, it's time for the return of flak. A few grams of aluminum do a lot of damage at mach 6.
- evilos 6y agoYou'd have to hit the incoming pretty far out, or you're just gonna get hit by hypersonic buckshot.
- xster 6y agoApparently it can even change course mid-flight. So it's even less likely the type of thing this countermeasure's meant to respond to. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/25904/china-wants-u-s-to-know-its-ships-in-s-china-sea-can-be-targeted-by-long-range-ballistic-missiles https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/25904/china-wants-u-s-...
- baybal2 6y agoThey do not need a ballistic threat. Very regular modern antiship missiles have very good chance overwhelming the carrier formation defences.
- oh_sigh 6y agoI don't think Pompeo's reasoning for not doing that is because he thinks China is going to start a hot war with the US by taking down two of its many aircraft carriers. A true war hawk would be salivating at the thought of China stupidly killing a few thousand Americans.
- discordance 6y agoDoesn't help that they seem to collide into one another