China appears to be building a second missile silo field, eventually possibly with 110 silos. New York Times has the story nytimes.com/2021/07/26/us/… based on our analysis fas.org/blogs/security…
My assistant @mattkorda found it first. Thanks to @planet for satellite images.
@mattkorda @planet An 800 square kilometer grid of roads being filled in with silos and support facilities. Construction started early this year. fas.org/blogs/security…
@mattkorda @planet China has for decades maintained a policy of a “minimum deterrent” and not being part of an arms race. The scale of the current nuclear build-up appears to contradict both of these policies. fas.org/blogs/security…
@mattkorda @planet How to deal with this? Some will argue we need more nukes. Others that we need more arms control. More nukes are unlikely to fix this and might even make it worse. Arms control is a challenge, not least because China shows little interest. fas.org/blogs/security…
@mattkorda @planet The Hami & Yumen missile silo fields are located deeper inside the Chinese landmass than any other ICBM base, potentially to be out of reach of U.S. conventional cruise missiles. This will make them targets exclusively for nuclear missiles, mainly Trident. fas.org/blogs/security…
@mattkorda @planet It will be interesting to see how the DOD pending report on Chinese military developments will address this. And the Biden administration’s Nuclear Posture Review will have to resist calls to increase nuclear arsenal. Plus how will the NPT Review Conference react?
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