Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #PershingII
Most recents (2)
Some context re. reported speed of #NorthKorean #missile:
All #ballistic #missiles are #hypersonic (faster than Mach 5) at some point in their flight. N.Germany’s V-2, deployed Sept. 1944, was hypersonic during its boost phase. Intercontinental ballistic missiles (#ICBMs)… 1/n
All #ballistic #missiles are #hypersonic (faster than Mach 5) at some point in their flight. N.Germany’s V-2, deployed Sept. 1944, was hypersonic during its boost phase. Intercontinental ballistic missiles (#ICBMs)… 1/n
…, first deployed by the US in 1959, are high-hypersonic (Mach 25) throughout their entire flight. Subsequent decades have witnessed the emergence of “#hypersonic” #missile systems that can maneuver instead of following a fixed parabolic trajectory, including #ASBMs, #HGVs… 2/n
…and air-breathing supersonic combustion ramjets (#scramjets). The US investigated maneuvering re-entry vehicles in the late 1970s, the #SovietUnion #HGVs in the mid-1980s; both failed. In 1981, the US fielded the #PershingII medium-range #ballistic #missile (#MRBM), whose… 3/n
ADM #HarryHarris:
#PLARF "controls the 'largest & most diverse #missile force in the world, with an inventory of more than 2,000 ballistic & cruise missiles.'
...if #China were a signatory [to #INF #Treaty], 95% of its #missiles would be in violation"
andrewerickson.com/2019/08/u-s-en…
#PLARF "controls the 'largest & most diverse #missile force in the world, with an inventory of more than 2,000 ballistic & cruise missiles.'
...if #China were a signatory [to #INF #Treaty], 95% of its #missiles would be in violation"
andrewerickson.com/2019/08/u-s-en…
My take: #Russia wouldn’t fully honor #INF. #China wouldn’t join INF. Unilateral constraint was a losing proposition: China developed the world’s foremost force of #missiles precisely within the ranges that INF would prohibit. So this increasingly antiquated treaty had no future.
1 post-INF option for US—reach agreements w allies/partners to allow rapid introduction of missiles in various contingencies to support their defense. Even if peacetime politics precluded permanent deployment, more concerning scenarios could tip balance in favor of local support.
