Posted on 12/14/2020 10:18:36 AM PST by Mariner
MELBOURNE, Australia — A paper published by the Chicago, Illinois-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has estimated that China has 350 nuclear warheads, significantly more than that estimated by the U.S. Defense Department.
The report, written by Hans Kristensen, the director at the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a research associate at FAS, arrived at the number by counting both operational warheads and newer weapons “still in development.”
These weapons include hypersonic missiles, silo-based and road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles, and their submarine-launched equivalents, bringing the total number of nuclear warheads to more that the “low 200s” estimated by the Pentagon in its 2020 report on China’s military.
The think tank’s report also said an estimated 272 of the 350 warheads in the People’s Liberation Army are operational. That estimate includes 204 land-based missile warheads, 48 submarine-launched warheads and 20 aircraft-delivered gravity bombs.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
There is no way to prevent escalation to nukes.
It is also why they will not try to sink a US carrier, the price of which is nuclear exchange.
Biden notwithstanding.
[This is why China will not provoke a hot war with the US.
There is no way to prevent escalation to nukes.
It is also why they will not try to sink a US carrier, the price of which is nuclear exchange.
Biden notwithstanding.]
The fleet that Bernie Schwarz helped build.
Never forget who signed off on technology waivers so the Chinese Commies generals could reach their full military potential and our shores from their villas.
Who hates us most?? China, Iran, NorKland.. CONgre$$??
Strange times. and dangerous.
350 sounds like a lot. Until you realize that if they use them they are surrounded by unfriendlies. India is sitting there with 150, Pakistan has 160. South Korea and Japan could build a first class Lexus quality arsenal practically overnight. Russia has 6100. Not to mention we would obliterate them... at least for a few more weeks unless Biden gets in.
They store warheads, launchers and missiles separately.
We can preempt them at will with a single Trident boat.
Counterforce.
No, they will never try to sink a US carrier.
Note that this is an estimate issued by unilateral no-nukes peaceniks. The Chinese nuclear force is likely several times higher, perhaps by an order of magnitude. The reason is fairly simple. It’s a technology they understand and doesn’t require huge R&D. Why wouldn’t they? The expensive moonshot stuff for them is carriers and stealth aircraft. Adjusted for income differences, the Chinese defense budget likely exceeds the US number. Nukes are small change in the scheme of things.
Kinda missing the point. China’s missiles are dual use...so if they launch ICBMs towards Guam or other locations/Carriers, we will not know what type of warhead will explode, until it does...then it is too late.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is a crazy lefty bunch that wants to prop up every communist regime they can, inflating such regimes’ capabilities whenever possible in hopes of detering US action against them.
This estimate is significantly larger than the Pentagon’s estimate of “low 200s”.
The issue is not just warhead counts, it’s mostly effective, certain delivery systems.
And very, very short notice delivery.
They are also the dorks with the so-called “Doomsday Clock.”
“Warheads” is not always indicative of how many missiles since some missiles carry more than one warhead.
I do not think sinking a carrier would lead to nukes being used.
But devastating conventional military weapons would wreck their navy.
My distrust of the media causes me to distrust this information. That is a shame really. Our choices are with the MSM:
- Be uninformed.
- Be misinformed.
“significantly more than that estimated by the U.S. Defense Department.”
Interesting.
The DOD has a LONG track record of grossly overestimating enemy capabilities, the better to get more money out of Congress...
I’m not sure I understand your point. Why would China look at eliminating half of the US population as a bad thing?
[They store warheads, launchers and missiles separately.
We can preempt them at will with a single Trident boat.
Counterforce.
No, they will never try to sink a US carrier.]
What they have in their underground facilities is anybody’s guess. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Great_Wall_of_China My take is that anyone who nukes China had better be prepared to kill every last one of them. Because nuclear retribution is only a matter of time. A president willing to kill 1.3 b people over the deaths of 5,000 in a conventional attack and risk the deaths of over 100m Americans? I think that’s a stretch.
- Be malinformed
as in not merely misinformed with random inaccurate information, but being deliberately malinformed with carefully crafted and targeted dangerously wrong information.
The Chinese study the Second World War. Japan never believed they could win a prolonged war with the United States, but they did not believe that the United States would persist in a long war after Pearl Harbor. The Japanese seriously underestimated U.S. resolve. It is a mistake that the Chinese do not intend to make. The U.S. was never the Japanese target, it was the Asian colonies of countries overrun by Germany, and those of Great Britain. The U.S. was in the way. Since the U.S. was pledged to grant independence to the Philippines, they didn’t think the U.S. would fight to regain control for a few years.
” A president willing to kill 1.3 b people over the deaths of 5,000 in a conventional attack and risk the deaths of over 100m Americans? “
It would not start that way.
Small tactical nukes against Chinese forces outside the mainland first, escalating to direct strikes against their military facilities on the mainland if they retaliate.
With thousands of warheads in reserve.
[The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is a crazy lefty bunch that wants to prop up every communist regime they can, inflating such regimes’ capabilities whenever possible in hopes of detering US action against them.]
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.