U.S. military warns of China's missile threat to Taiwan

Washington, June 26 (CNA) United States military officials on Thursday warned of China's expanding missile capabilities and its development of a "kill web" and indicated that Taiwan and the region were well within the missiles' ranges.

In a statement to Congress, senior U.S. Air Force and Space Force officials said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has deployed more than 900 short-range ballistic missiles capable of striking Taiwan and 400 ground-launched cruise missiles that can reach targets across the entire first island chain.

The first island chain refers to the first group of islands off the eastern coast of continental Asia, encompassing Japan, Taiwan, parts of the Philippines and Indonesia, and is seen as a line of defense against China.

"The PLA's rocket force is advancing its long-term modernization plans to enhance its strategic deterrence capabilities," said Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and Chief of Space Operations General Chance Saltzman in the statement.

China also has 1,300 medium-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching the Second Island Chain, 500 intermediate-range missiles that can strike parts of Alaska and Australia, and more than 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons globally, the officials said.

A key concern, the officials said, is China's deployment of a sophisticated "kill web" -- a network of satellites and sensors that allows the PLA to detect, track, and rapidly strike military targets across multiple domains, including Taiwan.

"My biggest concern is that the 'kill web'...that the People's Republic of China has put in place allows them to track and target at great range the rest of the joint force and all the other domains," Saltzman said at the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing.

When asked by Senator Dick Durbin whether this was related to former President Donald Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense initiative, Saltzman clarified that "Golden Dome" focused more on homeland defense.

In contrast, the Space Force must protect joint forces worldwide from space-based threats, he said.

The term "kill web" is relatively new. According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, the U.S. military only began officially using the term around 2018.

Saltzman previously warned in March 2023 that China had launched more than 470 Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) satellites, enabling its advanced sensor-to-shooter kill web.