Are they too vulnerable to new Chinese anti-ship missiles as Defense Secretary Gates implies?
Upgrades may allow all of China's Sukhois to fire Russian Kh-31 supersonic anti-ship missiles.
China also is developing its own advanced anti-ship missiles and its navigation satellite-guided bombs, like the U.S. JDAM.
Simultaneously, Iran's navy grows stronger by the day as it acquires more fast attack boats and anti-ship missiles.
Beijing also has been developing anti-ship missiles and other weapons that could deny U.S. warships access to its littoral waters.
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With increasing range of anti-ship missiles, our carrier airwings need a long- range stealth attack capability, both manned and unmanned.
The Arleigh Burke-class vessels are equipped with launch tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and gun placements for close combat.
Since President Chen took office, it has installed less advanced subsonic anti-ship missiles on outlying islands that could also hit the mainland.
Its long reach would have enabled the warships launching it to stay far away from the shore, reducing the threat from enemy anti-ship missiles.
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But Boeing, which makes the Harpoon anti-ship missiles, has also produced more than half of China's commercial jets and ensures they stay airworthy with spare parts.
The idea is to use pinpoint ground attack and anti-ship missiles, a growing fleet of modern submarines and cyber and anti-satellite weapons to destroy or disable another nation's military assets from afar.
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Switching on radar, or an anti-aircraft gun firing a single salvo, now brings down a hail of bombs on anything deemed threatening, from command bunkers to radar stations, and even anti-ship missiles.
The capability to severely disrupt America's C4ISR network, coupled with the deployment of advanced submarines and anti-ship missiles, presents a new form of strategic deterrence that is only recently receiving the attention it deserves.
Complementing the anti-ship ballistic missiles, China has purchased advanced Russian anti-ship missiles like the supersonic Sunburn and the very advanced Club-two-stage anti-ship missile. (We need to ensure that our ship defense can defeat these missiles).
The Cornwall carries a 4.5 inch MK8 gun, Goal Keeper CIWS close in weapon systems, Sea Wolf anti-missile system, Harpoon missile launchers, two 20mm close range guns, Lynx MK8 helicopter armament, anti-ship missiles, and one of the most sophisticated command and control communications systems on water.
For example, Britain's defence secretary during the Falklands war, John Nott, revealed in his memoirs that France had been Britain's staunchest ally, providing information that helped to render the Exocet anti-ship missiles used by Argentina ineffective, and supplying Mirage and Super-Etendard fighters for British Harrier pilots to pit themselves against in training.
Chinese design and technology are seen in Iranian ballistic and anti-cruise ship missiles, anti-ship mines and fast attack boats.
The Russians have also been marketing to international customers a family of deadly sea-skimming anti-ship cruise missiles with air-, surface- and submarine-launched variants.
These include: eight sophisticated diesel submarines, advanced SU-30 fighter aircraft, modern air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles and as many as 350 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.
It has tripled to 36 the number of surface combatants carrying anti-ship cruise missiles.
The PLA's space networks and ground surveillance systems will help target the PLA's new revolutionary long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles.
China has also purchased Russian-built SS-N-22 Sunburn and SS-N-27 Sizzler anti-ship cruise missiles, designed specifically for targeting U.S. carrier strike groups and defeating the Aegis anti-missile system.
Further, according to ONI's Scott Bray, who wrote the report on China's navy, China since 2000 has tripled to 36 the number of ships carrying anti-ship cruise missiles.
The facts show that while the Aegis DDGs are adequate to the task today, these "new" Arleigh Burke DDGs and the radars they can physically support will quickly become obsolete against emerging high-end threats, e.g. anti-ship ballistic missiles.
" The wire service quotes the Pentagon analysis as saying this "concept appears to include a range of weapon systems and technologies related to information warfare, ballistic and anti-ship cruise missiles, advanced fighters and submarines, counterspace system and air defense.
Rather, the purchase or indigenous production of advanced fifth-generation stealth aircraft, nuclear submarines, anti-ship and other ballistic missiles, new generations of nuclear and conventional forces, space weapons, etc.
Gates, acknowledged that China's investment in anti-ship weaponry and ballistic missiles could prove a significant threat to the way we project power in the Pacific and help our allies, particularly from our forward bases and carrier strike groups.
Arguing that the proliferation of advanced anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, mines and other sophisticated weapons into the hands even of Third World nations is making endangered species of the vessels that form the backbone of "over-the-beach" warfighting, Mr. Gates and his senior subordinates seem disposed - all other things being equal - to argue for scaling back, if not eliminating, such platforms.
What would the West do if a Russian aircraft carrying anti-aircraft missiles took off for Belgrade, or if a Russian cargo ship headed for Yugoslavia's remaining Adriatic port?
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