U.S. New Strategy to Counter China




In the Asia-Pacific region, China has become a major headache for the United States. The U.S. has begun amassing a significant number of anti-ship missiles to counter China in this region. Additionally, preparations are underway to enhance the readiness of U.S. forces in the area.

Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has pushed American thinking towards a new paradigm: affordable weaponry. According to a missile industry executive, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, there is a growing focus on producing a large number of relatively inexpensive weapons.

Senior analyst Yuan Graham from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute noted that China's development of weapon-armed ships and conventional ballistic missiles capable of attacking various vessels is a natural countermeasure to U.S. actions.

Neither the Pentagon nor China's Ministry of Defense has commented on this issue.

The U.S. has intensified testing of a special weapon called "QuickSink." QuickSink is essentially an affordable and potentially powerful bomb that can strike moving targets using GPS guidance at a lower cost. Last month, the U.S. Air Force used a B-2 stealth bomber to hit a target with QuickSink in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts believe that China will still have an advantage in terms of anti-ship missiles because they can deploy them within their own territory. However, increased production of weapons like QuickSink by the U.S. may narrow this gap. This could pose a risk to China’s 370 or similar warships. In the event of a future conflict in the South China Sea, Chinese warships could face increased threats. China has faced such risks even before it began modernizing its military in the 1990s.

QuickSink is still in the development stage and is being produced by U.S. companies Boeing and BAE Systems. It can be used in conjunction with other weapons, and it allows for converting a 2,000-pound bomb into a missile at a lower cost.

The U.S. military command in the Asia-Pacific region has long expressed a need for such weapons. However, a top official in this sector, who wished to remain unnamed, did not disclose specific numbers. The official stated that an increased use of affordable weapons would make it difficult for China’s naval defense to cope. In such cases, the U.S. military could use long-range anti-ship missiles (LRASM) or SM-6 missiles to destroy Chinese warships or their radars, followed by using weapons like QuickSink to drop bombs.

Various types of anti-ship weapons are being amassed in the U.S. for the Asia-Pacific region. In April, during military exercises in the Philippines, the U.S. Army deployed its new Typhon mobile missile battery. This affordable and cost-effective weaponry can easily target sea-based objectives using SM-6 or Tomahawk missiles.

These weapons are relatively easy to produce, based on designs and large stocks of missiles that have been available for a decade or more. This will enable the U.S. and its allies to quickly catch up with China in the missile race in the Asia-Pacific region, where China is currently the leader.

The U.S. has not commented on how many missiles will be deployed in the Asia-Pacific region. However, according to government procurement documents, over 800 SM-6 missiles are expected to be purchased in the next five years. The documents reveal that several thousand Tomahawk missiles and several hundred thousand JDAMs are already stored in the U.S. arsenal.

The South China Sea is a major maritime route, through which goods worth $3 trillion are transported annually. In 2016, the Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China’s claims over the South China Sea have no legal basis. However, Beijing has rejected this ruling.

Analyst Yuan Graham mentioned that China's goal is to restrict the movement of U.S. naval forces from the western Pacific to the First Island Chain.

However, Yuan Graham noted that the U.S. plans to make things more difficult for the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). By placing anti-ship weapons in locations like the Philippines, much of the South China Sea would come within reach of the U.S.