‘US does not know how far China will expand nuclear arsenal’

[beijingwalker]

‘US does not know how far China will expand nuclear arsenal’​

9 March, 2022 07:30 am IST

Washington [US], March 9 (ANI): US military chiefs do not know how far China will go in its current rapid expansion of long-range strategic nuclear missiles, Strategic Command (STRATCOM) chief Adm. Charles Richard said in a congressional testimony.

“We don’t know how far China is going to go. I don’t know that we have an idea what the end point of China’s nuclear expansion is,” Richard told the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

During the hearing, Richard said US military chiefs have not come to any consensus on how China might use its rapidly growing nuclear capabilities for coercive purposes or to otherwise support its interests around the world.

“I don’t think we’ve thought about in a long time what the coercive uses of these capabilities are,” Richard said. He also noted that China’s rapidly growing space program was second only to the United States.

As Russia and China continue to strengthen ties, Richard said he is “very concerned” about potential “cooperative aggression” from the two nations. “I’m very concerned about what opportunistic aggression looks like. I’m worried about what cooperative aggression looks like,” he said.

Speaking at the same hearing, US Space Command head Gen. James Dickenson said China and Russia have developed a wide array of systems and capabilities to destroy, disrupt and challenge American space-based systems.

“PRC and Russia have tested counter-space weapons across multiple domains as a way to blunt US influence, deter and counter a possible US response during conflict or crisis, and across the board reduce US and allied military effectiveness in the future,” Dickinson said.

Russia considers the US dependency on space as an exploitable vulnerability and has therefore developed capabilities including electronic warfare and directed energy weapons that can deny, degrade, and disrupt communications, navigation, and space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, Dickinson said.

“These counter-space capabilities enable Russia to deny, damage, and defeat US space-based systems in order to reduce US military effectiveness and control conflict escalation if deterrence fails,” Dickinson added.

'US does not know how far China will expand nuclear arsenal'

Washington [US], March 9 (ANI): US military chiefs do not know how far China will go in its current rapid expansion of long-range strategic nuclear missiles, Strategic Command (STRATCOM) chief Adm. Charles Richard said in a congressional testimony. “We don’t know how far China is going to go. I...

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[K_Bin_W]

China must have 2nd strike capability covering US and Europe coast to coast. Should not be an issue for the biggest economy. Also arm you Allies to the teeth.

Game over before it even started.

 

[beijingwalker]

China boosting nuke stockpile to be on par with US, Russia, says ex-diplomat Jayant Prasad​

Jayant Prasad, who has served as member of UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, was speaking at event hosted by Institute of Chinese Studies.
PIA KRISHNANKUTTY
9 March, 2022 09:57 pm IST

China is increasing its nuclear weapon stockpile and delivery systems rapidly with the goal to get strategically on a par with the US and Russia, veteran diplomat Jayant Prasad said Wednesday.

Prasad, who has served as a member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters as well as India’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Algeria and Nepal, was speaking at a virtual event hosted by the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS).

“China is augmenting its nuclear weapon and delivery systems very rapidly… It is trying to become a strategic co-equal of the US and of Russia,” he said.

Prasad expressed concern over the possibility of China sharing nuclear material and technologies with Pakistan, and the fact that Beijing is building facilities on the Makran coast in Pakistan and the country’s naval bases, while also having a base in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa.

China has the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile after the US and Russia. It officially operates about 20 silos for the DF-5 missile, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but the discovery of a second missile field last July indicated it was making space for 230 new silos.

“This effectively raises Chinese ICBM capacity — if all the silos are filled with ICBMs — more than 11-fold,” said Prasad.

Last November, a US Defense Department report said China has plans to have at least 1,000 warheads by 2030, exceeding the pace and size the department projected in 2020.

China boosting nuke stockpile to be on par with US, Russia, says ex-diplomat Jayant Prasad

Jayant Prasad, who has served as member of UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, was speaking at event hosted by Institute of Chinese Studies.

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[FuturePAF]

If we accept the long held belief China only has 300 warheads. If it builds approx. 240 warheads a year and the means to deliver them, by 2049, China will have reached parity with the western alliance (US+UK+France) as well as Russia. As the Chinese economy keeps growing, the cost as a percentage of GDP will keep going down but long term maintenance of a large arsenal will become a larger and larger fixed cost in the Chinese military budget.

Perhaps the prestige argument will win out, and the desire for China to be a “full spectrum” competitor rather then one that only fields a minimum deterrent that may or may not be able to ensure deterrence

 

[Communism]

If we accept the long held belief China only has 300 warheads. If it builds approx. 240 warheads a year and the means to deliver them, by 2049, China will have reached parity with the western alliance (US+UK+France) as well as Russia. As the Chinese economy keeps growing, the cost as a percentage of GDP will keep going down but long term maintenance of a large arsenal will become a larger and larger fixed cost in the Chinese military budget.

Perhaps the prestige argument will win out, and the desire for China to be a “full spectrum” competitor rather then one that only fields a minimum deterrent that may or may not be able to ensure deterrence

I don't know why people keep saying that nuclear weapons are super expensive with super expensive maintenance.

The entire U.S. nuclear arsenal has a total annual cost of ~15-16 billion dollars per year.

That is a tiny amount of money.

 

[Han Patriot]

If we accept the long held belief China only has 300 warheads. If it builds approx. 240 warheads a year and the means to deliver them, by 2049, China will have reached parity with the western alliance (US+UK+France) as well as Russia. As the Chinese economy keeps growing, the cost as a percentage of GDP will keep going down but long term maintenance of a large arsenal will become a larger and larger fixed cost in the Chinese military budget.

Perhaps the prestige argument will win out, and the desire for China to be a “full spectrum” competitor rather then one that only fields a minimum deterrent that may or may not be able to ensure deterrence

Nobody knows how much nukes China has. Its been 200 nukes for the past 20 years.

 

[silverox]

I saw a list of nuclear bomb allocations that the United States was preparing for a nuclear strike against China during the Cold War era. I found out that the city I lived in was not listed as a nuclear target in the 1950s. But there is a small county-level city not far from my home. The United States has assigned two nuclear bombs, because there is a military airfield there. They used to be equipped with dilapidated J6s, and now they are still dilapidated J7s.