Saudis’ upcoming trip to China sends strong signal to US

© Getty Images

 

King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia is leading an entourage, including 25 senior princes and 10 ministers, to China later this month, part of a month-long tour of the Asia-Pacific, as the kingdom is seeking to hedge against an unpredictable and divided White House.

While it yearns for a renewed American role in the Middle East and reassurances from President Trump that Riyadh remains an ally, Saudi Arabia now faces a period of uncertainty due to the unpredictability of Trump’s foreign policy stance. That reason alone could explain why a trip to Beijing was planned before a trip to Washington.

Despite its efforts at economic diversification, Saudi Arabia will remain dependent on oil exports for a long time, and China provides the kingdom with a stable market for its energy exports for decades to come.

Global arms race won’t stop now: U.S. eyes potential foes working on new weaponry

It’s just basic human nature, but no one likes to look over their shoulder to see an eager competitor gaining on them no matter what the situation is, right?

Well, while we have the world’s finest, most powerful military, we have some potential enemies, “frenemies,” etc. who are trying to catch up to us with their development and deployment of cutting-edge military weapons.

There’s reason to be unsettled.

China Flight-Tests 10 DF-21 Missiles

DF-21 salvo launch

Show of force comes amid transition to Trump

China’s military conducted a salvo of 10 missile flight tests late last month in a show of force during the transition to the Donald Trump administration.

Chinese state media reported Thursday that the simultaneous flight tests of 10 DF-21 intermediate-range ballistic missiles were carried out in China.

Space: The High Eyes Of The Chinese Carrier Killer

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But a geostationary orbit is much farther out, beyond the range of smaller anti-satellite launched from the surface, In a geostationary orbit a satellite can cover a much larger area. In the case of Gaofen this is a circular patch of the planet 7,000 kilometers wide off the coast of China. Satellites like Gaofen use an optical sensor which can detect objects at sea as small as 50 meters from a geostationary orbit. An American aircraft carrier is over 300 meters long and when its moving the Gaofen can not only spot, identify and track it but does so in real time.

China’s disturbing new nuclear buildup

DF-26 missiles appear at a Beijing parade in this file photo

 

When it comes to China’s ongoing military buildup, most attention is paid to the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) conventional forces, that is, fighter jets, submarines, armored vehicles, precision-guided munitions, and the like. The nuclear side of this buildup is almost totally ignored – and yet what is happening here is equally disturbing.

For China, “going nuclear” was major achievement. Beijing detonated its first atomic (fission-type) bomb in 1964, followed by the test of a thermonuclear (fusion-type) device three years later. Given the relatively backward state of China’s defense science and technology base, these feats, along with the launching of China’s first satellite in 1970, were a source of considerable national pride.

Despite the success of its “two bombs and one satellite,” Beijing faced the problem of what to do with its new-founded nuclear capability. It could not hope to match the nuclear forces of the United States or the USSR in terms of quantity or quality. Nevertheless, there had to be a strong strategic rationale for possessing – and possibly using – nuclear weapons.

Russian nuclear-capable Iskander missiles deployed in Syria

 

Russia has deployed its most advanced tactical missile system, the Iskander-M, in Syria in the last few days, debkafile reports exclusively from its military and intelligence sources. The Russian Iskander is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and has never been made available to any foreign army for operational use.

No nuclear-capable surface missiles were deployed in any Arab country bordering on Israel since 2007 when Chinese DF-21 missiles were installed in Saudi Arabia.

The Russian missiles (NATO codenamed SS-26) have a range of 500 kilometers (see map).

Chinese supersonic ship killer makes U.S. Navy’s job harder

The USS Lassen guided-missile destroyer sails in the Pacific Ocean in November 2009. In a challenge to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy sent the Lassen within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in waters near the Spratly islands Tuesday. | REUTERS

 

 

HONG KONG – Increased interactions between the Chinese and U.S. Navy in the contested South China Sea risk becoming more complicated by the increasingly sophisticated missiles being carried by submarines.

A new report to the U.S. Congress assessing a Chinese submarine-launched missile known as the YJ-18 highlights the danger, noting the missile accelerates to supersonic speed just before hitting its target, making it harder for a crew to defend their ship.

China Deploys Nuclear Missiles at Mt. Baekdu

China has deployed Dongfeng-21 medium-range ballistic missiles at Mt. Baekdu that target Japan, the official International Herald Leader reported on Sunday.

The newspaper claimed it “analyzed” China Central Television footage of a nuclear arms and missiles corps in training in northeastern China to arrive at the conclusion. But since it is an official publication, the news is more likely to be a government plant than an investigative scoop.

US ‘may pull back to central Pacific’ due to China’s DF-21 missile

After all the technology the Clintons had given the Chinese during their tenure, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. America even trained the PLAAF for combat readiness on American soil, sold them super computer technology for nuclear weapons labs that has helped them build the nuclear weapons they have today.

 

Erich Shih, a military expert from Taiwan, says the United States may withdraw its forces from the Pacific First Island Chain–which stretches from Alaska to the Philippines–to the Second Island Chain in the central Pacific as China’s expands its force projection capability, according to the People’s Daily.

3rd anti-satellite missile test launch in China: report

Once China is fully capable of operating its anti-satellite interceptor, Minnick said that the United States may no longer be able to protect its surveillance, navigation and communications satellites. China’s first two anti-satellite tests involving the SC-19 design, based on the DF-21 ballistic missile, took place in 2007 and 2010. However, only the first test was launched directly against a weather satellite. The other two tests were against ballistic missiles.

What would the US do if war were to break out over Diaoyutais?

In an article for the Washington-based National Interest magazine on June 21, US defense expert Harry Kazianis laid out a possible a scenario involving Japan and China clashing over the airspace of the disputed Diaoyutai islands (Senkaku to Japan, Diaoyu to China) in the East China Sea to analyze whether the United States would be ready for such a conflict.

The scenario takes place on Mar. 1, 2015, Kazianis wrote, noting that China has already instituted daily non-naval maritime patrols around the disputed islands while its aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, and other warships have conducted exercises only 50 miles away from the islands since February.

PLA’s DF-15C missile can carry bunker buster: report

China’s DF-15C short-range ballistic missile, equipped with a deep-penetration warhead, would be able to damage or destroy underground command facilities in Taiwan and other security partners of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Weapon, a military magazine operated by China North Industries Group Corporation, a state-run company that manufactures military vehicles.

Beijing War Prep – China moves mobile missiles near coast amid tensions with Japan over islands

The PLA war machine’s intimidation is more than a test for the Japanese. Rather, it’s a test for the United States to show itself to Japan as either a reliable ally or an unreliable ally. At the rate the USA is disarming combined with the economy’s effect on the military and national security, it’s no longer unthinkable that it wouldn’t even be able to protect itself within the next four to ten years — let alone Japan or another ally.

United States intelligence agencies recently detected China’s military shifting road-mobile ballistic missiles closer to its southern coast near the disputed Senkaku Islands amid growing tensions between Beijing and Japan over the islands dispute.

U.S. defense officials said the movements are being watched closely as China’s military is also holding large-scale military exercises that some fear could be a trigger for a conflict with Japan that could involve U.S. forces.