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Mar 10 • 11 tweets • 7 min read
#Russia's use of #hypersonic missiles - specifically the Kinzhal - to batter #Ukraine has almost everyone's attention at the moment (see below)

BUT US defense intelligence officials warn #China's hypersonic program may be the more worrisome

1/x
 voanews.com/a/british-mini…
"#China is leading #Russia in both supporting infrastructure & numbers of systems" @DefenseIntel Chief Scientist for Science and Technology Paul Freisthler told US lawmakers Friday

2/x
"#China has dramatically advanced its development of conventional & nuclear armed hypersonic missile technologies & capabilities" per @DefenseIntel's Freisthler

"...through intense & focused investment development testing & deployment"

3/x
#China's #hypersonic tests sites include:

- China Aerodynamic Research & Development Center w/18 wind tunnels
- China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, which claims to have 3 wind tunnels operation at Mach 8, Mach 10 & Mach 12

4/x
#China #hypersonic systems:

- DF-17 medium range ballistic missile w/a hypersonic glide vehicle, range of 1,000 miles
- DF-41 ICBM w/a hypersonic glide vehicle, which circumnavigated the globe in a July 2021 test
- DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle w/range of 1,200 miles

5/11
More #China #hypersonic systems:

- Starry Sky-2: nuclear-capable hypersonic vehicle prototype

6/x
#Russia's #hypersonic tests sites include:

- Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute
- Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
- Dombarovskiy Air Base
- Baykonur Cosmodrome
- Kura Range

7/x
#Russia #hypersonics:

- Kinzhal air launched ballistic missile, w/claimed top speed of Mach 10 & range of 1,200 miles
- Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle w/claimed speed of +Mach 20 & range of 6,500 miles
- Zircon ship launched hypersonic missile, Mach 8 & 600 mile range

8/x
#Russia has also announced plans to place a hypersonic glide vehicle on the Sarmat ICBM & is developing an air-launched hypersonic - the Kh-95

9/x
Information on #Russia & #China's #hypersonic programs / systems from testimony Friday by @DefenseIntel's chief scientist for science & technology & from the Congressional Research Service

10/x
More on hypersonic weapons and who has them: voanews.com/a/what-are-hyp…

11/end

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More from @jseldin

Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Mar 13
Pentagon asking for $30.6 billion for munitions in FY 24 - a 12% increase over FY 23 & a 50% increase over 5 years ago

"We are buying to the limits of the industrial base, even as we are expanding the industrial base" per @DepSecDef Kathleen Hicks
Munitions & munition production has been in the crosshairs due to demand/aid to #Ukraine

Per @DepSecDef, 1/3 of munitions spending will go for long range fires, including #hypersonic missiles
"This latest budget...procures the maximum amt of munitions that are most relevant for deterring &, if necessary, prevailing over aggression in the #IndoPacific..." per @DepSecDef's prepared remarks
Read 8 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Mar 8
Happening now: US Senate's Annual Worldwide Threats with:

@ODNIgov Dir Avril Haines
@CIA Dir William Burns
@DefenseIntel Dir LtGen Scott Berrier
@CYBERCOM_DIRNSA Gen Paul Nakasone
@FBI Dir Christopher Wray
intelligence.senate.gov/hearings/open-…
"We are increasingly seeing rising competition in the technology space with authoritarian regimes that are challenging democratic norms at home & around the world," per Senate Intel Committee chair @MarkWarner
#China's communist party "is now a near-peer competitor with the United States in its economy, technology & military capabilities" per @MarkWarner
Read 60 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Mar 7
#Russia #cyber ops in the war on #Ukraine - "We continue full spectrum operations w/a series of partners to include Ukraine to provide them assistance as they battle the Russians" @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA Gen Paul Nakasone tells lawmakers
#Russia "a very capable [#cyber] adversary" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA "We continue to work very tightly w/our other partners within the US gvt -CISA, @FBI- to ensure our US critical infrastructure is protected, and @NATO in general"
Background:

“If the conflict continues to not go well for #Russia, there is some chance that Russia will be increasingly brazen in its cyberattacks” an NSA spox told @VOANews “...will increasingly look outside of Ukraine's territorial borders"
voanews.com/a/us-bracing-f…
Read 22 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Mar 2
NEW: 2 US citizens arrested for conspiring to evade export laws & provide #Russia|n companies with aircraft electronics aka avionics

Per @TheJusticeDept, 59yo Cyril Buyanovsky & 55yo Douglas Robertson of #Kansas even did repairs for Russia's Federal Security Services (FSB)
"The defendants concealed the true end user & end destination by providing a fraudulent invoice to the shipment company identifying the end destination as Germany" per @TheJusticeDept on the repairs done for #Russia's FSB
Per @TheJusticeDept, Buyanovsky & Roberston used their company, KanRus Trading Company, to evade the laws prohibiting the export of certain technologies to #Russia following the invasion of #Ukraine
Read 4 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Mar 2
#China's spy balloon - "This was a surveillance balloon period...it is equipment that is inconsistent w/weather balloons" per @ASD_IndoPacific Ely Ratner, speaking at @HudsonInstitute

We "have not heard a plausible explanation for this activity" from the PRC, he adds
US deterrence vs #NorthKorea "is to deter agression & deter conflict" per @ASD_IndoPacific

"It's not to deter Kim Jong Un from killing a bunch of fish with his missiles"
"We're focused on readiness. We're focused on deterrence. We're focused on ensuring that Kim Jong Un doesn't take risks that go way beyond his capacity" per @ASD_IndoPacific

re #DPRK
Read 9 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Mar 1
BREAKING: US intelligence concludes "very unlikely" a foreign adversary is responsible for so-called anomalous health incidents (#AHI), aka #HavanaSyndrome, per just-released assessment

Assessment based on of 7 key US intelligence agecnies, noting various levels of confidence
Per just released US intel assessment ruling out foreign adversaries as cause of #AHI / #HavanaSyndrome:

2 - moderate to high confidence
3 - moderate confidence
2 - low confidence, calling it "unlikely" but noting some intelligence gaps
"There's no credible evidence that a foreign adversary has a weapon or a collection systems that caused AHIs" per an intelligence official familiar w/the report who spoke on the condition of anonymity
Read 11 tweets

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