US Scrambles to Buy New Missiles to Challenge China

China urges US to stop flexing its military muscles

With US-Chinese tensions at their worst level in decades, new military budget details reveal plans for the US to spend substantially on new guided missiles, particularly being sought as a way of catching up to China’s capabilities, and challenging them further in the Pacific.

Pentagon officials have argued there is a “missile gap” with China, a claim that seemed to be based on the idea of getting more funding for more advanced missiles. This has broadly been successful, even more so now that officials are emphasizing tensions with the Chinese.

Though the US spends vastly more than any other nation on its military, the Pentagon has long emphasized minor points of competition to justify massive outlays of additional cash. This has tended to work very well, which is why US military spending keeps growing.

With constant US challenges in the South China Sea, the Chinese have invested in missiles for potential naval conflicts, and the US Navy and Marines will be looking to get more “ship killer” types of missiles to go after the Chinese ships.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.