Is China's Nuclear Power Ally or Enemy? ("Defense News" USA)
The United States is trying to identify the length of nuclear storage tunnels. weapons and the number of nuclear warheads in the People’s Republic of China, and the US’s ability to “neutralize” them in the event of a military conflict, January Defense News reports 5.On January 2, US President Barack Obama (Barack Obama) signed the law on the development of a new national security concept, according to which the US strategic command (STRATCOM) ordered the 15 of August to report on the “underground tunnel network in the PRC and the capabilities of the US neutralizing such tunnels and destroying what is stored in them. ”
Earlier, a group of specialists from Georgetown University, headed by Philip Karber (Phillip Karber) conducted a three-year study to identify a complex of nuclear tunnels in China, which, presumably, has a length of 3000 km.
In 2011, the report Strategic Implications of China’s Underground Great Wall (Strategic Implications of China’s Underground Great Wall) concluded that American intelligence estimates regarding China’s nuclear arsenal were incorrect. Carber calculated that in China there may be 3000 nuclear warheads hidden in tunnels in several areas. American intelligence believed that at best, China could have an arsenal of 300 warheads.
The report of the Karbera group says that China has a complex system of tunnels for nuclear testing and storage of warheads, which are much more than is necessary for an arsenal of 300 warheads.
Bonnie Glaser, China’s China Center for Strategic and International Studies, believes the need for new data is a reaction to the Carber group’s report. The STRATCOM report should fill knowledge gaps about Chinese nuclear weapons development programs and the threat to US national security. The report should reflect China’s nuclear deterrence strategies, including historical perspective, as well as a detailed description of the Chinese nuclear arsenal, in particular, the number of nuclear warheads of intercontinental range. A comparative analysis of the US and Chinese nuclear forces will be carried out, forecasts will be made regarding the development prospects of the PRC nuclear arsenal, a description of the control and command functions of the control system and an assessment of fissile material stocks, and parameters of the civilian and military segments of the country's nuclear sector.
Karber, as well as retired Russian Colonel-General Viktor Esin, appeared in the press, believing that China possesses an arsenal of nuclear warheads at 3600, but Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, considers these data to be wrong, STRATCOM agreed . However, Christensen said that opacity in this area increases the danger of war between China and the United States, and "these two countries are dancing a dangerous dance that increases military tensions and can potentially lead to a small cold war in the Pacific."
Christensen also said that most American SSBNs are deployed in the Pacific Ocean, squadrons of nuclear bombers are periodically deployed on the island of Guam (the deployment time has recently been increased from three to six months), the US naval groups are shifting more and more into the Pacific.
Analysts are wondering how the US will use conventional and nuclear forces to neutralize Chinese tunnels: Tests of low-penetrating nuclear bombs, such as B61-11, have been disappointing. It is not clear whether the program to create a new nuclear weapon of penetrating action (Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator program) or the improved nuclear bombs B61-12 will be able to solve such problems. Given the areas, the length and the different depths of the tunnels outlined in the report of the Carber group, more than one nuclear bomb will be needed to destroy them.
Carber believes that China’s nuclear arsenal can instantly destroy 50 million US citizens, plus or minus 50% of residents will suffer from radiation sickness with a catastrophic reduction in life expectancy, two thirds of hospitals 7569 will be destroyed or not able to perform their functions, half of doctors may die . One third of the generating capacity and 40% of the national food production potential will be destroyed due to the destruction of agricultural land and as a result of subsequent radioactive contamination. 100 million Americans will suffer from hunger for 10 years. “As a result, the lives of 200 million Americans will be lost, the rest of the survivors will live in the dark with food ration, lifestyle and its duration equivalent to the conditions of existence in primitive times,” concludes Carber.
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