The United States has created a 400,000 troop-strong military force in the Asia-Pacific region,
Igor Kostyukov, chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU), the Russian military
intelligence agency, has revealed.
Speaking at a conference on international security in Moscow, Kostyukov accused Washington
of demonstrating that it's not ready to engage other countries in dialogue on the principle
of equality and suggested that US actions, including efforts to pull India into a new
NATO-style Asia-Pacific alliance, indicate its attempt to dominate the region and counter
Russia and China.
The NATO-style alliance being referred to is the QUAD or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how the U.S plans to take on China as per the
Russian intelligence chief?
Let's get started.
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The officer recalled that the US Asia-Pacific presence includes over 200 military facilities,
including more than 50 bases.
Kostyukov also pointed to Pentagon designs to create a task force in the Pacific specifically
to "contain" China in the south and southeast Asia by 2024 and plans to set up two hypersonic
missile-armed brigades in the western Pacific region by 2028.
The Pentagon also plans to increase its ground- and ship-based missile defense capabilities
in the region by 2030, according to the GRU chief's information.
This includes increasing ship-based missile defense from 23 to 40 units, the number of
THAAD anti-missile batteries from two to three, and the number of Patriot PAK-3 batteries
from 12 to 16.
He stated, "The confrontational course set by the United
States is fully manifested in the Asia-Pacific region, which is turning into the locomotive
of the world economy...The United States aims to establish control over this region of the
world, which produces 60 % of the world's GDP and where up to 45 % of world trade is
concentrated"
We will now check each aspect one by one.
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense OR THAAD is a United States Army anti-ballistic missile
system, which is designed to shoot down short, medium, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles
in their terminal phase.
THAAD is strictly a ballistic missile defense system and is not designed for general air
defense duties like defense against aircraft.
It is considered to be one of the best when it comes to ballistic missile defense systems
having been designed from grounds up for this purpose.
THAAD is engineered to defend against ballistic missiles in challenging scenarios like even
if the rival launches a barrage of missiles and simultaneous interception of multiple
missiles is required.
The system is quick to deploy and mobile, which makes it a very flexible weapon.
An object is said to be hypersonic once they exceed the speeds of Mach 5 that is 5 times
the speed of sound.
This is about 1,715 meters per second or 3,836 mph or 6,174 km/h.
The current air defense systems can intercept projectiles that are supersonic but against
hypersonic weapons, there is no dependable defense.
As per reports, the U.S military is pursuing 9 programs that are dedicated to fielding
hypersonic weapons.
For example, Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, or LRHW is one of the initiatives and is expected
to have a speed of Mach 8 and a range of almost 4,000 miles or 6437 km.
The system uses Transporter Erector Launchers for mobility.
The American Patriot Air Defense System is an all-weather tactical mobile air defense
system.
The system has the ability to defend against cruise and ballistic missiles, drones as a
well as different types of aircraft.
The latest variant of the Patriot is the PAC 3.
The Patriot Pac 3 uses a passive electronically scanned array radar.
It is equipped with IFF (Identification friend or foe) and electronic counter-countermeasure
to resist jamming.
The radar has a range of around 100 miles or 160 km.
Patriot PAC-3 introduced the new MIM-104F missile, which is also referred to as the
PAC-3 missile.
It has reduced size compared to previous Patriot missiles and is more maneuverable.
The missile uses the 'hit to kill' strategy though it has a small high fragmentation warhead
to enhance the kill probability.
The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy's first
class of destroyer to be built from grounds up to incorporate the Aegis Combat System.
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is designed by the United States Department
of Defense, Missile Defense Agency to protect against short and intermediate-range ballistic
missiles.
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense is devised to intercept ballistic missiles post-boost
phase and prior to reentry.
The latest Flight III upgrade is centered on Raytheon Technologies AN/SPY-6(V)1 radar.
The new radar is designed to help ships track missile and aircraft threats at farther ranges
while maintaining resilience to noise and other forms of interference.
The U.S currently has around 68 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and the number will swell as there
is a plan to have around 90 of these.
A significant number of these will be deployed in the Asia Pacific.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD, also known as the Quad) is an informal strategic
forum between the United States, Japan, Australia, and India that is maintained by semi-regular
summits, information exchanges, and military drills between member countries.
The forum was initiated as a dialogue in 2007 by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, with
the support of Vice President Dick Cheney of the US, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia,
and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.
While the alliance has been formed for some time now, it is gaining more relevance because
of China's aggressive maneuvers in the region.