An ICBM attack by North Korea against the US mainland has been simulated by a team of Chinese defense scientists.
the US “defence chain” has a hole
If the US missile defense network fails to intercept the missile, simulation study by the Beijing Institute of Electronic Systems Engineering has indicated that North Korean ICBMs can target the central US in 1,997 seconds, or almost 33 minutes.
One of China’s top research centers for the aerospace and defense sector is the Beijing Institute of Electronic Systems Engineering.
Importantly, comparable studies by Chinese experts in the past frequently omitted the identities of nations or regions in the widely disseminated study, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The new analysis is based on a simulation of the Hwasong-15 missile launched by North Korea in 2017, which was used for the first time.
A two-stage, nuclear-capable missile with a maximum effective range of 13,000 km—enough to reach the entire US mainland—the Hwasong-15 has this capability.
A Hwasong-15 missile was fired from the city of Sunchon in central North Korea, according to research conducted by Tang Yuyan and published in the journal Modern Defense Technologies on March 15. Its intended victim is the Central American city of Columbia in the state of Missouri.
Chinese experts claim that 20 seconds after the launch, the US missile defense headquarters will be informed of it. Within 11 minutes, the first group of interceptors will depart from Alaska’s Fort Greely. If they are unsuccessful, Vandenberg Space Force Base in California will launch another set of interceptors.
It is still unclear whether North Korea’s warhead will be able to strike its intended target, a tiny US city with a population of roughly 120,000.
Simulations reveal that the existing US missile defense network still has gaps in the “kill chain” system to recognize and repel an assault, despite its amazing strength. via ICBM. And Mr. Tang Yuyan believes that the adversary could take advantage of that weakness.
China’s anxiety
For a very long time, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has adopted a defensive stance. Yet as the relationship between the two nations has gotten worse recently, there has been a growing amount of curiosity in the idea of China starting a war on US land.
For instance, a January analysis by Chinese military intelligence identified prospective US targets for hypersonic weapon attacks.
Yu Jintao carried out this research at the Air Force Early Warning Institute’s intelligence division in Wuhan. The findings indicate that the largest US ground-based radar sites, Beale Air Force Base in California and the Cape Cod peninsula, could be the targets of the initial wave of Chinese attacks.
For instance, a January analysis by Chinese military intelligence identified prospective US targets for hypersonic weapon attacks.
Yu Jintao carried out this research at the Air Force Early Warning Institute’s intelligence division in Wuhan. The findings indicate that the largest US ground-based radar sites, Beale Air Force Base in California and the Cape Cod peninsula, could be the targets of the initial wave of Chinese attacks.
According to Chinese intelligence officials, these installations are at risk from hypersonic weapons because they can hit at five times the speed of sound, can travel around the world, and are unpredictable.
Early destruction, according to Yu Jintao and colleagues writing in the Journal of Tactical Missile Technology, would hinder the enemy’s movements, make it harder for them to intercept missiles, and offer China a tactical edge.
The primary goal of Mr. Tang’s team’s investigation, according to them, was to evaluate how effectively the US missile defense system could defend its territory.
Simulations show that because to class coordination and complementarity, the US defense grid can successfully counter conventional ballistic missiles like the Hwasong-15.
Chinese scholars claim that the approach is far from ideal, even when facing a relatively weak adversary like North Korea.
Modeling by the team demonstrates that current American surveillance systems in space, the ocean, and on land can occasionally lose sight of North Korean missiles, particularly during ascent and fall mid-flight.
They determined that the US missile defense system would be overrun if North Korea launched multiple missiles each with more than 40 warheads or decoys.
The biggest US military installation in the Western Pacific, Guam, was the target of Tang’s team’s missile strike simulation. Additionally, even though the US has access to four rounds of interceptors that can be launched from foreign military sites like Japan, some of these interceptors could malfunction if North Korea’s missiles follow their trajectory at an extremely high altitude.
Given that North Korea is also developing hypersonic warheads that can change the path of the atmosphere, the United States does not currently have the ability to deal with such targets in close space.
War action alert
The United States’ missile defense capabilities may, however, considerably advance during the coming years.
Beijing and Pyongyang have consistently voiced their vehement opposition to Washington’s intention to place new missile defense systems, such as the THAAD system, in South Korea.
The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Kim Yo-jong, declared last week that Pyongyang will keep conducting missile tests for self-defense and that the Pacific Ocean does not belong to the United States.
On the morning of March 16, North Korea fired a mysterious ballistic missile into international waters to its east. North Korea fired off two short-range ballistic missiles on March 14. On March 12, Pyongyang additionally asserted that it fired two “strategic cruise missiles” from a submarine.
These launches are viewed as a reaction by the US and South Korea to the Freedom Shield (FS) exercise. The exercises were condemned by North Korea as “preparation for an aggressive war” against it.
