By Robert Farley
China may be demonstrating to its neighbors just how valuable cruise missiles can be.
The recent monograph by Dennis Gormley and Andrew Erickson on the development and relevance of China’s cruise missile force has received just acclaim from all quarters. Over the past two decades, China’s armed forces have developed a formidable array of cruise missiles to threaten U.S. and allied forces. Launched from land, surface ships, aircraft, and submarines, the cruise missiles can strike American ships and land installations, potentially rendering them unusable in case of conflict.
As Gormley and Erickson point out, the cruise missile array may be even more impressive than the development of anti-ship ballistic missiles. But what happens when other states start adopting China’s model?
Cruise missiles aren’t exactly weapons of the weak; they require a significant infrastructure to maintain and operate. A cruise missile system as sophisticated as China’s requires a huge investment over a long period of time. At the same time, states such as Iran, Iraq, and even Hezbollah have managed to use cruise missiles effectively in the past. If they can do so, then the deployment of an effective cruise missile force would fall well within the means of Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
This has long been the double-edged sword of China’s A2/AD system-of-systems. As China develops more effective tools for power projection, other states will begin to see the appeal of anti-access systems.
Read the full story at The Diplomat