US and China push to modernise and expand weapons in race for naval dominance in the Pacific

US Navy floats plan to equip destroyers with hypersonic missiles to help contain China

Donald Trump’s top national security adviser Robert O’Brien announces upgrade for attack submarines and destroyers

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The US is planning to fit its destroyers with hypersonic missiles. Photo: US Navy

Published: 7:00am, 1 Nov 2020Updated: 10:33pm, 1 Nov 2020

The race between China and the United States to develop a more capable navy is expected to further intensify, with Washington planning to equip its destroyers with hypersonic missiles, outpacing China’s supersonic anti-ship missiles, analysts said.

The move to install the highly advanced weapons came after US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper said in early October that the US Navy would need more than 500 ships in its fleet to ensure maritime superiority over China in coming decades.

According to military news website Defense News, which quoted US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien, the US will equip its attack submarines and its destroyers with hypersonic missiles in a bid to stave off the mounting threat posed by China in the Pacific.

More than 60 destroyers will be outfitted with the weapons that are capable of travelling at more than five times the speed of sound, the report said.

“The Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike programme will provide hypersonic missile capability to hold targets at risk from longer ranges,” O’Brien said at an event at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire.

In the meantime, China is modernising its navy, which has acquired a wide array of platforms and weapons such as anti-ship ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

A report from the US Congressional Research Service released last month said the Chinese navy had already turned into “a formidable military force within China’s near-seas region” and was a “the first such challenge the US Navy has faced since the end of the Cold War”.