Balance of Power: China and the United States
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On today's episode, Sarah and Steve talk with Klon Kitchen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and veteran of the intelligence community to discuss the latest news out of China. What do China’s hypersonic missile tests mean for the balance of power between the United States and China? Are we at the start of a new "cold war?" Kitchen answers these questions and more.
Show Notes:
-“Why China’s Hypersonic Missile Tests Are So Concerning” by Klon Kitchen
I'm not super concerned about China (or other powers) getting ahead in hypersonics. In most cases, other countries deploying weapon systems more advanced than what the US operates has much more to do with our advanced defensive capabilities.
Take, for example, the fact that the Russian, Indian, and Chinese navies have fielded sea-skimming hypersonic anti-ship missiles for years, while the US has not. The reason to develop those weapons is because the US navy has excellent anti-missile defenses. The Russians and Chinese don't have ship-based defenses nearly that sophisticated, so the US navy has no reason to build hypersonic sea-skimming missiles.
The same goes for these nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicles, they are purpose-built to counter our missile defense systems. The Russians and Chinese have nothing approaching our missile defense systems, so why would we need hypersonic glide vehicle when a normal reentry vehicle will do the job? We should develop them to keep technical parity and to reap the benefits of tangential technologies, but the pressures driving China to develop these weapons are simply not present for the US.
i was late to listen to this episode, but would be very interested in Klon's reaction to "The Bureau". I am an ignoramus but a big span of spy dramas and that show (French show, available on AMC+) is the best one I have ever seen. It got more sensational later in the run but seemed relatively authentic.