Posted on 08/20/2019 4:54:45 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
This story was updated on Aug. 19 at 1:23 p.m. EST to include video of the test.
The Defense Department on Aug. 18 conducted a test of an intermediate-range, ground-based cruise missile, about two weeks after the withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
A mobile launcher fired the conventionally configured cruise missile at San Nicolas Island, Calif., and it accurately “impacted its target” more than 500 kilometers away, according to a Pentagon statement.
“Data collected and lessons learned from this test will inform the Department of Defense’s development of future intermediate-range capabilities,” the statement reads.
The statement alludes to the fact that the cruise missile, while currently configured for a conventional payload, could carry a nuclear one. The Trump Administration last year announced its plans to pull out of the treaty, citing Russia’s long disregard for it and development of an intermediate range cruise missile that violates its parameters. The process for pulling out of the treaty began in February, and the US military has been developing new missiles.
“What we’ve been working on over the past several months is some research and development work for what could become a non-INF-compliant weapon system, should we get to [that] point, so we’ve postured ourselves for this possibility that we may find ourselves at a point in the near future where we’re not obligated by the INF Treaty,” Vice Adm. Dave Kriete, deputy commander of US Strategic Command, told reporters July 31. “That’s just prudent military planning.”
The treaty, which went into effect in 1987, banned all land-based cruise and ballistic missiles, either nuclear or conventional, that could strike targets between 500 and 5,500 kilometers away.
“The United States will not remain party to a treaty that is deliberately violated by Russia,” the State Department said Aug. 2 in announcing the withdrawal. “Russia’s noncompliance under the treaty jeopardizes US supreme interests as Russia’s development and fielding of a treaty-violating missile system represents a direct threat to the United States and our allies and partners.”
I should mention the Pershing II missiles as well, that were manned by the US Army. These were slated for many European bases also, and were withdrawn due to the INF Treaty.
INF treaty and Chinese détente. What short sighted stupidity that was. Now CHina is more powerful than RUssia and not hampered by an arms treaty.
GOlly. what genius thought of that! Oh, yes, that KGB mole Kissinger identified by that Romanian defector...
BEsides, what a stupid move to reveal your arms to an enemy. Peace you get when the robber knows not how well armed the owner of the house is, just that he is well armed. Good grief. Not to mention that arms control means you admit to be a regular hunter predator with a set limit on weaponry to do the hunting with. Why would we admit guilt as managed like by game warden? We are into self defense and undefined armament, not police predatorial behavior!
Thank the globalist Bushes for this idiocy concept of a global cop in a border less world.
Actually, time is the problem
Time has passed during which China has changed and prospered.
Russia has shrunk from the USSR and can’t seem to get it together to prosper
Yet Trump is heading us in the right direction. First, he shut down the INF. It is no more.
Second, he follows up with new GLCM deployments, and these GLCMs are far advanced compared to what we had in the 1980s.
Third, he is working to get China back into a better relationship with the USA, not by offering them concessions, but with the hard whip of tariffs and trade agreements.
We’ve had Tomahawk cruise missiles deployed on ships for a long time. All they had to do was set them up to be launchable from a truck. Or lengthen the MLRS launcher pack a bit.
Selling Tomahawks to Taiwan would complicate Chinese invasion plans.
The BGM-109 Gryphon was the US Air Force version of the Navy’s Tomahawk, yes.
The GLCM they tested recently is a far more advanced model.
“Selling Tomahawks to Taiwan would complicate Chinese invasion plans.”
Add a couple of old Ohio Class subs with full nuclear payloads to the mix.
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