U.S. commander says China missile fire over Taiwan must be contested

Paul, you don’t want to waste hardware unnecessarily.

Like all the times Lil’Kim fired ICBM’s DIRECTLY over Japan, a while back.

It costs too much to replace them, and shows exactly what you’re capable of doing, neither of which is a good idea.

The Israelis have demonstrated that interceptor from their Raytheon manufactured Stunner anti-ballistic missile system can be air launched from an F-16. The interceptor is a little smaller than an AMRAAM and since it uses hit to kill technology, the space normally reserved for a warhead, fuse and target detector is instead used for a larger rocket motor. It is thus longer ranged than AMRAAM. Ponder that in the context of the Chinese shooting missiles over Taiwan. They would not necessarily need to use something expensive like THAAD or SM-3. Since Raytheon builds them Taiwan would not have to buy them from Israel and put Israel in foreign policy bind with China.

Apparently Russia and China have hypersonic missiles that are unstoppable.

Not really. They are unpowered hypersonic glide vehicles or "boost glide vehicels" that are launched on very conventional ballistic missiles. To achieve any kind of range the ballistic missile has be pretty big which limits how many you can own and where you can launch them. The glide vehicle is hard to hit in the terminal phase because they can maneuver to a degree but something like SM-3, especially if shot from a ship near the Chinese coast or South Korea can hit the ballistic missile before the glide vehicle separates. Then it is just a normal ballistic missile intercept.

That Russian Kh47M2 Kinzhal thing is just a 9K720 Iskander-M surface to surface tactical ballistic missile launched from an aircraft. There is nothing high tech about it. It is equivalent to mounting the US Army's ATACMS missile on an aircraft. It flies a ballistic profile from release. Most ballistic missiles are hypersonic and that doesn't prevent systems like PAC-3 or THAAD from successfully engaging them.

The Holy Grail are air breathing hypersonic cruise missiles because they can fly so much lower and are more maneuverable. Something like HACM. They can also be more numerous because they don't need a big booster rocket, instead being air launched.

US fires it's minute man missile to the Marshall Islands to show off

Scheduled stockpile reliability test. Pretty common sight for anyone who lives on the west coast. Not inexpensive either.

Seth has it right, but you can’t waste $ multi-million hardware on a fireworks show.

Shoot it down.

This should be the new standard. There is no way to distinguish a missile fired over your home being a 'drill' from being an attack.

Paul, you don’t want to waste hardware unnecessarily.

Like all the times Lil’Kim fired ICBM’s DIRECTLY over Japan, a while back.

It costs too much to replace them, and shows exactly what you’re capable of doing, neither of which is a good idea.

Unfortunately, you have to wait until something bad happens.

US commander says China missile fire over Taiwan must be contested:

Go ahead and challenge China.

Some leaders and generals had made such similar uncalled-for comments before.

Waiting to get engaged in a major military confrontation and conflict soon..?

Try and see..

Too fringing right, they should have been shot down before they went over.

The thing is, this is the USA (and every other country's) business. If countries can freely invade and annex neighboring countries under any pretext, the world will be a much more dangerous place.

You should follow the news. USA is inciting a proxy war in Taiwan and Japan just like the one in Ukraine.

both China and Russia have supersonic nuclear weapons that could wipe out the USA in a matter of days…which would cause a nuclear winter with scientists predicting the deaths of around 6billion people and at least two decades for the world recover.

I would recommend they mind their own business and concentrate on their own internal meltdown.

If maritime insurers refuse to insure ships entering Chinese ports near where the PLA is shooting missiles they will be forced to stop

eh? This is exactly what the CCP want, ie to control territory. Sea lanes, air space operating at the discretion of the CCP is a massive gain to the CCP. Yes, it has to be contested, but then again, commanders after commanders have been advising the Biden administration since he took office, but the administration ignores everything.

Well, so much for China being a civilized and peaceful country.

It’s difficult to see how this macho muscle flexing is going to enhance China’s global image.

Why doesn't the USA actually do something about it ?

You should follow the news. USA is inciting a proxy war in Taiwan and Japan just like the one in Ukraine.

both China and Russia have supersonic nuclear weapons that could wipe out the USA in a matter of days…which would cause a nuclear winter with scientists predicting the deaths of around 6billion people and at least two decades for the world recover.

I would recommend they mind their own business and concentrate on their own internal meltdown.

Indeed, the question is HOW without being escalatory?

If maritime insurers refuse to insure ships entering Chinese ports near where the PLA is shooting missiles they will be forced to stop. There are already discussions in maritime circles about this.

Why doesn't the USA actually do something about it ?

What would you suggest the US do?

Indeed, the question is HOW without being escalatory?

And the Admiral’s point is taken re: the S. China sea. This, Syria and Crimea are all areas where failing to take a strong stand led to bigger problems later.