Free Republic

During the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (1995–96), United States naval dominance was demonstrated through the deployment of two carrier battle groups as a show of force within 100 miles of the Chinese mainland. Then-Secretary of Defense William Perry could state that while the Chinese “are a great military power, the premier—the strongest—military power in the Western Pacific is the United States.” Since then, there has been a steady encroachment on the U.S. Navy’s maritime dominance through the development of technologically advanced and increasingly effective anti- ship cruise missiles (ASCM). While American forces have been focused on irregular warfare operations over...

Iran's IRGC to test supersonic missiles at sea: commander The Aerospace Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Iran plans to test-fire new "supersonic surface-to- sea missiles" as part of its war games in the Persian Gulf in the coming days, the English language satellite Press TV reported on Monday. Hajizadeh said that the new missiles have been designed to target ships and forces at sea, said the report. "Last year, we achieved (the technology of) new anti-ship missiles that can hit targets with multiple speed of sound," he was quoted as saying....