Chinese Missile Could Threaten U.S. Navy Ships

U.S. officials were surprised by China's rapid development of a ballistic missile thought capable of striking ships at sea, but the jury is still out as to whether Internet images of a purported Chinese stealth fighter are evidence of a similar breakthrough in the air, the U.S. Navy's intelligence director told reporters Jan. 5.
"Their anti-ship missile - we underestimated when they would be competent and capable in delivering a technological weapon of that type," said Vice Adm. Jack Dorsett, the deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance and the service's intelligence director.

Dorsett was referring to development and testing of the Dong Feng 21D, a land-based anti-ship ballistic missile that U.S. officials now say has reached its initial operating capability. Analysts said the missile leaves U.S. aircraft carriers vulnerable to attack, and Dorsett seemed to agree, although he did not discuss carriers specifically.
"The technology that the Chinese have developed and are employing in their DF 21D missile system has increased their probability of being able to employ a salvo of missiles to be able to hit a maneuvering target," he said.
At the same time, Dorsett said it is unclear how proficient China would be at targeting ships with the missiles in an actual fight. "They've certainly test fired it over land" but "to our knowledge they have not test fired this over water against maneuvering targets," he said.
Dorsett declined to discuss whether American Aegis-guided rockets on destroyers and cruisers would be able to knock down the DF 21Ds, or whether U.S. carriers would have to be kept out of range of the missiles.
As for China's stealth fighter, called J-2, Dorsett said it remains unclear whether Defense Secretary Robert Gates was wrong when he suggested that the aircraft would not be a threat to the U.S. until 2020. "It's not clear to me when it's going to become operational," Dorsett said of the J-2. "I think time will tell whether we've underestimated it."
Gates has routinely suggested that the U.S. has plenty of combat aircraft in its long-term spending plan and that U.S. must be sure it builds a "balanced portfolio" of weapons. In a May 2010 speech, he said: "Is it a dire threat that by 2020 the United States will have only 20 times more advanced stealth fighters than China?"
Even with the recent advancements in hardware, Dorsett said he is more concerned about China's work in the "non-kinetic" realms of information warfare and cyberspace. He said China is trying to dominate "in the electro-magnetic spectrum, to conduct counterspace capabilities, and clearly to conduct cyber activities."
What is most clear, Dorsett said, is that China is no longer shy about providing public glimpses of its weapons development.
"Over the years, the Chinese military doctrine was one of hide and bide. Hide your military resources and bide your time," he said. Chinese leaders "appear to have shifted into an area where they're willing to show their resources and capabilities, whether it's a naval expedition in China, whether it's deploying forces forward, whether it's conveying some more insights into what their capabilities are going to be in an indigenously produced [aircraft] carrier," Dorsett added.