Realizing that it could not win the Dongfeng missile, the US military went to China's doorstep to insert a "nail" and threatened to be ready for high-intensity operations? Experts pour cold water: it's too early to tell!
In recent years, how to deal with potential military conflicts, especially in the face of a powerful adversary such as the People's Liberation Army, has quietly risen to the core issue of US military strategic planning.
The report issued by the Strategic Posture Committee under the US Congress at the end of last year clearly pointed out that the United States needs to expand and strengthen its conventional forces, the joint defense system, and the construction of nuclear weapons.
It is worth noting that although this strategic adjustment of the United States mentions China and Russia, in terms of actual actions, the US military seems to pay more attention to the movements of the PLA.
Against this background, the US military has accelerated the integration of the Army's "Patriot" air defense missiles and the Navy's shipborne vertical launch system to enhance its defense capability against incoming missiles. It is not difficult to see that the Western Pacific is now in the midst of a storm.
(Illustration: "Patriot"-3MSE anti-aircraft missile "went to sea", successfully intercepted a simulated cruise missile)
The latest tests of Lockheed Martin showed that the Patriot-3MSE anti-aircraft missile successfully intercepted an analog cruise missile, marking the initial results of the integration of land-based anti-aircraft missiles with the sea-based Aegis system.
Military experts believe that although the US Navy has been equipped with high-performance standard series anti-aircraft missiles, such as the Standard-6 and Standard-3, these systems have excellent performance in high-end interception capabilities, they face capacity constraints and are difficult to quickly meet the needs of the rapidly growing US military, especially in the context of the expected increase in high-intensity conflicts.
Therefore, the "launching" of the "Patriot"-3MSE anti-aircraft missile will help the US Navy to increase the inventory of anti-aircraft missiles more quickly in order to cope with possible high-intensity conflicts.
In addition, the Houthi attack on a US aircraft carrier some time ago also sounded the alarm for the US military, exposing the weak links of the US Navy's aircraft carrier strike group in anti-missile defense. This also further determined the necessity of the land-based "Patriot" anti-aircraft missiles to "go into the sea" from the side to enhance the survivability of the aircraft carrier formation.
(Illustration: The "Patriot"-3MSE can be deployed on the MK-41 vertical launch system of US ships)
In a future high-intensity conflict imagined by the US military, an attack on aircraft carriers with anti-ship ballistic missiles would be one of the major threats facing the US military.
Among the many anti-ship missiles, several PLA missiles have a long range and are fast enough to pose a substantial challenge to the US military. In this case, the deployment of the "Patriot"-3MSE can effectively solve the above problems.
This is mainly due to the fact that the "Patriot"-3MSE can effectively intercept high-speed incoming ballistic missiles by relying on direct collision kinetic kill technology and enhanced warheads.
On the other hand, due to its small size and high output, it can also achieve "one pit and four bombs" by matching the MK-41 vertical launch system, which greatly increases the density of interceptor missiles and thus improves the defense capability of the entire aircraft carrier strike group.
However, this is only an assumption of the US military, and it seems that it is still too early to say whether the above deployment will really enable the "Aegis" warship to have an "incorruptible body" during high-intensity operations.
(Illustration: In addition to promoting the "launch" of Patriot missiles into the sea, the US military also promotes the "landing" of sea-based weapons, such as the "Typhon" deployed in the Philippines)
The current rapid pace of development of military science and technology means that any advanced weapon system may soon encounter new challenges.
In particular, hypersonic missiles such as the "Dongfeng" are not only extremely fast, but also highly maneuverable, which greatly increases the difficulty of interception. This makes such advanced interception systems as the "Patriot"-3MSE and "Aegis" systems helpless.
Moreover, in recent years, decoy bombs, electronic jamming technology, and stealth technology have all been greatly improved, and to a certain extent, they can also effectively weaken the interception capability of the "Patriot" missile and the "Aegis" system.
From this point of view, even if the US Navy has upgraded its technology, there are still many loopholes in its so-called "incorruptible body" in the face of the enemy's diversified attack methods.
It is also worth mentioning that in addition to promoting the "Patriot"-3MSE "into the sea", the US military is also trying to "go ashore" with sea-based weapon systems. For example, the "Typhon" land-based medium-range missile system deployed on the Philippine island of Luzon
This move is tantamount to hammering a "nail" at China's doorstep. However, the "Typhon" system is intended to be deployed quickly, and it remains to be verified whether such a hasty patchwork can cope with the complex battlefield environment.
What should China do in the face of these actions of the US military? Experts warn that they should be firm and calm and constantly strengthen their own strength, after all, in the face of absolute strength, everything will come to naught.