Pentagon: China on track for 1,000 warheads by 2030, blowing past earlier estimates
(Worthy News) – The Chinese military is rapidly building up its strategic missile forces and is on track to deploy up to 1,000 warheads by 2030 — nearly four times the previous estimates, the Pentagon acknowledged in its annual report on Chinese military power made public Wednesday.
In another sign of Beijing’s quickly expanding military capabilities, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed China’s recent test of a hypersonic missile, which circled the globe from pole to pole in practicing the delivery of a nuclear weapon.
The disclosure that China’s People’s Liberation Army is expected to field a missile force with 1,000 warheads in less than 10 years sharply expands on intelligence from 2020 warning that China’s force of about 250 warheads would double by the end of the decade. China strongly resisted Trump administration pressure last year to join nuclear arms control talks with the U.S. and Russia. Beijing said its nuclear arsenal was far smaller and was intended solely for defensive purposes. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]