Forget Hypersonics: China’s Cruise Missile Threat is the Stuff of Nightmares

Brandon J. Weichert

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China’s Cruise Missile Arsenal: The Hidden Threat to U.S. Forces

It is easy for Americans to get caught up in the next big thing. This holds especially true when speaking about defense and military technologies. Those of us who analyze military developments professionally often fall prey to this bias. You can see that play out in the fixation, for instance, on the rising threat of hypersonic weapons and the newfangled ways for countering them. Indeed, these are threats.

But sometimes there’s nothing quite like a classic.

Cruise missiles have been a staple of the arsenals of modern militaries for decades. Now, China has begun a rapid program of modernization and expansion of their cruise missile arsenal.

China’s rapidly growing cruise missile arsenal is probably one of the single greatest threats to the safety of U.S. forces operating within range of the things.

The Growth of Chinese Cruise Missile Capabilities

In just a couple of decades, the Chinese cruise missile capability went from rudimentary to highly complex. That threat is still growing, too. Indeed, China has progressed to precision-guided munitions.