Wednesday, September 02, 2020

Assuming the Kill Chain

China fired off a "carrier killer" DF-21 ballistic missile that plowed a sea crater in the South China Sea. A test gets to skip a lot of steps in the kill chain.

This isn't quite a test of killing an American carrier:

China’s military test-fired two missiles into the South China Sea, including a “carrier killer” military analysts suggest might have been developed to attack U.S. forces, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The DF-26B and DF-21D missiles fired Wednesday targeted an area between the southern island province of Hainan and the Paracel Islands, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported, citing unidentified sources close to the Chinese military.

I worry about the anti-ship capabilities of the Chinese missile. But I worry only if everything works in China's favor. There are many links in the kill chain that China has to achieve before an American (or soon, Japanese and South Korean) carrier is blazing. And so far there is no evidence that China has mastered every link in the kill chain.

Mind you, I'd rather dethrone the carrier as the centerpiece of our ship-killing power. I want more baskets for our ship-killing eggs.