China’s ‘Phantom Space Strike’ System Could Overwhelm US Nuke Defenses

ANALYSIS – As Communist China continues its mad dash preparations for likely war with the U.S., undermining America's strategic nuclear forces is a key goal.

This is a growing threat I have written about extensively, here, here and here.

And its new computer-tested ‘Phantom Strike System' is a big part of that preparation.

As part of its effort to neutralize America's nuke advantage, Beijing has been systematically and rapidly expanding its land-based nuclear missile force (United States Strategic Command, USSTRATCOM, recently admitted China now has more land-based ICBM launchers than the U.S.) and adding new nuclear-capable bombers and ballistic missile submarines to its own Strategic Support Forces.

It is also feverishly pursuing hypersonic missile testing and expanding its theater nuke forces.

China hopes to achieve strategic nuclear parity with the U.S. – if not superiority – by 2030 or soon thereafter.

But all this isn't enough in the shorter term as the U.S. – for now at least – maintains a numerical advantage in overall strategic nuclear weapons.

So as China prepares for a likely conflict with the U.S. over Taiwan as early as next year or 2025, it is looking for other means to close the gap.

That's where its new ‘Phantom Strike System' comes in, creating a swarm of fake target signals from space, making its attacking nuke forces appear far larger to a defender than they are.

As the Daily Mail reports, “China has successfully tested a ‘phantom space strike' – a new tactic to overwhelm and sabotage missile defences by emitting fake target signals from space.”

The innovative tactic could overwhelm enemy missile defenses since there are only so many incoming threats any system can cope with.

The exhaustion of the enemy's weapon supplies is the goal.

How would it work?

While not technically feasible before, Chinese military researchers have apparently exploited “a weak spot in radar stations where signals can become fuzzy and crossed over.”

In the simulation described by the Daily Mail, a Chinese ballistic missile was launched against an enemy like the United States, which had a robust missile defense system.

The news outlet continues: “After surpassing the atmosphere, the missile released three spacecrafts containing radio interference equipment which picked up enemy radar network signals and sent back dummy signals, successfully triggering enemy forces to launch an interceptor.”

After release from the missile, the distance between the three spacecrafts would increase over time and alter the accuracy of the dummy signals.

The number of spacecrafts released by the missile could increase, according to the researchers who said more devices could lead to more phantom signals to confuse the enemy.

The Daily Mail adds: “The spacecrafts' direction, speed and formation would be decided before the launch and would be based on the information obtained about the enemy's radar station.”

This new concept could create added risk for U.S. leaders and defense planners already concerned about China's growing nuke capabilities.

For now, the idea has only been simulated on a computer as a ‘proof of concept,' but expect the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to move quickly to tackle the engineering challenges and deploy a working system within a few short years.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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