CCTV officially announced that our Hongqi-29 is an intercontinental missile interception system, which is the only mobile intercontinental missile interception system in the world. CCTV directly used the phrase "leading the world" to describe it.

Strictly speaking, Hongqi-29 was developed as a result of being misled by the United States. In 2003, the U.S. defense industry established the "KEI" program, which aimed to design, develop, and test a kinetic kill weapon capable of destroying enemy missiles through direct collision.

The KEI system was designed as a mobile defense platform, consisting of a mobile launch vehicle, an interceptor missile, and a command, control, battle management, and communication system. It could be rapidly deployed globally via C-17 transport planes and be ready for operations within three hours after arrival, enabling mid-course interception of intercontinental missiles.

The project was originally scheduled for its first flight test in 2008, with interception tests starting in 2009, aiming to achieve initial operational capability around 2014. However, it faced continuous budget overruns, and the U.S. Department of Defense doubted whether such a mobile interception system could be realized.

Not to mention a mobile intercontinental missile interception system, even achieving intercontinental missile interception is extremely difficult. Even the United States has not yet built an intercontinental missile defense system. The Standard 3, considered capable of intercepting intercontinental missiles, failed during the Israel-Palestine conflict, with an interception success rate of only 30% against ordinary ballistic missiles.

The key to intercepting intercontinental missiles is first to determine the trajectory of the target, then to have the interceptor missile capable of flexibly setting its own trajectory. Next, the interceptor missile must release its warhead at the designated time and location. Finally, the warhead of the interceptor missile must coincide with the target at the predetermined location. Simply put, missile interception is like satellite docking at high relative speed. The difficulty of missile interception lies in determining the flight trajectory of the target, which not only requires high-precision tracking devices but also a comprehensive trajectory database and a high-performance trajectory computer.

After evaluating the situation, the U.S. Department of Defense believed that directly colliding with and destroying an intercontinental missile traveling at speeds exceeding 18 Mach using a kinetic interceptor was too difficult. Therefore, this project was ultimately terminated.

It's no wonder that the U.S. defense industry can easily make money. They just made a PowerPoint presentation, invested billions of dollars, and finally said it was too difficult to achieve, leading to the project's termination, and they still got their money.

However, the U.S.-proposed "KEI" program caused us great anxiety. If the U.S. succeeded, China's nuclear weapons would become ineffective against the U.S. Therefore, we have been vigorously developing the mid-course anti-missile system.

Hongqi-29 is the culmination of these efforts. Like the U.S. "KEI," our Hongqi-29 also adopts a mobile deployment and kinetic interception approach, meaning we can stop and fire at any time, shoot and leave, making it impossible for the U.S. to determine the location of our intercontinental air defense and anti-missile system.

In other words, the U.S. failed "KEI" program was ultimately realized by China.

This is a fatal message for the U.S., meaning the U.S. nuclear deterrence against China will be ineffective. Whether it is the Minuteman III launched from silos or the Trident D5 launched from Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarines, they can all be intercepted by our Hongqi-29.

Even more worrying for the U.S. is that its traditional aerial nuclear strike platforms may also fail to play a role. If the B-2A "Spirit" or B-21 "Raider" stealth strategic bombers are deployed to try to penetrate China's air defense network, they will face China's carefully constructed multi-dimensional anti-stealth system — including advanced meter-wave anti-stealth radar, space-based infrared and optical reconnaissance constellations, and joint monitoring by airborne early warning and electronic warfare systems.

Before approaching Chinese territory, the U.S. bombers will be intercepted and destroyed by long-range air defense systems or fighter jets equipped with ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles.

China is different. China not only has land-based and submarine-launched intercontinental missiles that can strike the U.S. mainland, but our bombers do not need to go deep into the U.S. heartland; they can directly launch the Jinglei-1 to conduct nuclear strikes on the U.S. China has built a four-in-one nuclear strike capability against the U.S.

Moreover, what worries the U.S. even more is that because Hongqi-29 intercepts intercontinental missiles outside the atmosphere, it means that Hongqi-29 has the capability to destroy space satellites. In wartime, the PLA can directly use Hongqi-29 to destroy U.S. GPS and space reconnaissance satellites.

It is known that once the U.S. loses GPS, almost all of its precision-guided strike systems will suffer devastating impacts — from a significant drop in the accuracy of intercontinental ballistic missiles, to cruise missiles losing long-range navigation capabilities; from drone combat systems becoming inoperable, to the disruption of cross-theater coordination and command and control links. The U.S.'s long-standing "global positioning, precise strike, network-centric warfare" operational model will be fundamentally shaken.

Additionally, due to China's advanced propulsion system, the size of Hongqi-29 is not too large. Therefore, the U.S. is worried that China may introduce a sea-based version of Hongqi-29 (such as mounted on the 055-type destroyer) in the future, further pushing back the anti-missile defense line and enhancing strategic deterrence and regional control capabilities.

At that time, the U.S. nuclear deterrent power will be completely gone.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7547930640495264296/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author. Please express your opinion below using the 【top/down】 button.