Intermediate Range

Yesterday, the US Department of Defense tested a 500 km+ cruise missile in California (click the above image to play video). According to Defense One, this marks the end of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty (signed 1987) and the beginning of a cruise missile arms race, with the United States eyeing China and Russia:

"'China poses a much larger and more sophisticated long-term military threat than Russia,' says Elbridge Colby, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security. 'Washington would benefit from having the ability to deploy survivable land-based ballistic and cruise missile systems.'

Colby and others cite China’s growing missile arsenal, most of which is conventional and falls within ranges covered by the INF Treaty. 'The fact that Beijing has such missiles,' writes Marc Thiessen, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, 'puts the United States at a strategic disadvantage in any conflict with Beijing…our only possible response would be to strike China with intercontinental ballistic missiles—an unacceptable escalation.'

Their solution: toss out the INF Treaty, develop an American arsenal of ground-launched intermediate-range missiles, and deploy them to allied territory in the western Pacific. This highly visible and survivable strike option would deter China, they argue, or provide the needed flexibility to hit targets in mainland China should conflict erupt (most likely over Taiwan)."