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Washington, March 13: According to the “Asia Times” report, as China’s production of explosives and propellants has declined, the firepower gap between the United States and China has widened. China has surpassed the United States in the development of new explosives.
This month, Forbes reported that China has surpassed the U.S. in developing new explosives, particularly its version of CL-20, a dynamite developed in the 1980s that was 40 percent more powerful than RDX or HMX, and has since It has been used extensively in U.S. munitions since World War II, Asia Times reports. Read also | Pakistan seeks US help to revive stalled IMF loan program.
According to Forbes, China tested an equivalent of CL-20 in 2011 and has since manufactured the explosive in large quantities. Read also | Islamabad court issues non-bailable arrest warrant for Imran Khan amid threats against female judge.
By contrast, nearly all U.S. military explosives are manufactured at a U.S. Army factory in Holston, Tennessee, using World War II-era production and blending methods, the report said.
It also notes that only limited quantities of more modern explosives, such as CL-20, can be made using these outdated technologies. With its existing reserves of precursor chemicals, the United States can produce 10 tons of CL-20 per year, but to widely use CL-20, the production rate needs to reach 1,000 tons per year, and American companies need three to five years to scale up.
Forbes pointed out that the United States relies on China as the sole source of six chemical components used in its military explosives and propellants, as well as a dozen other countries, which calls into question the security of the US energy logistics chain.
It also notes that only limited quantities of more modern explosives, such as CL-20, can be made using these outdated technologies. With its existing reserves of precursor chemicals, the United States can produce 10 tons of CL-20 per year, but to widely use CL-20, the production rate needs to reach 1,000 tons per year, and American companies need three to five years to scale up.
To create the weapon, Chinese researchers have developed an entirely new boron-powered solid-fuel ramjet. The engine has a number of novel features, including fuel rods that contain twice as much boron as conventional ramjet fuel rods, and nano-fuel particles that are multi-layered to tune their explosive properties.
They assert that a cross-vector attack is impervious to onboard defenses, as it may change course at will or sneak up to 100 meters to evade them.
Additionally, China has been working on thermobaric weapons, which use oxygen in the air as an oxidant to create an atomized explosive. Thermobaric weapons produce explosions much larger and more powerful than ordinary explosives, followed by a deadly vacuum effect.
Sean Carberry has warned that the United States could be at a disadvantage in a conflict with China, whose planes and ships carry explosives that can travel farther and are smaller, lighter but more powerful weapons bigger.
According to Carberry, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the global war on terrorism have reduced the need for new energy sources under new and different capability requirements, such as counterinsurgency tactics and precision strike to produce longer-range and more powerful munitions. The United States led in energy production during World War II and the Cold War.
According to Asia Times, the loss of the ability to produce energy directly affects the ability of the United States to provide Taiwan and Ukraine with weapons sufficient to fight Russia and China for a long time.
According to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) starting in January 2023, the US will spend more weapons than it currently has on hand to defend Taiwan, and within a week of going to war on Taiwan, it will run out of long-range, precision guided weapons.
According to CSIS, the U.S. defense industrial base requires a greater surge capability than China, which is investing in munitions and advanced weapons at five to six times the rate of the U.S. for protracted warfare.
According to the Asia Times, the CSIS analysis pointed out that since the concept of deterrence is based on sufficient weapons stockpiles, these shortcomings will ultimately weaken effective deterrence.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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