U.S Navy To Equip Ships With Patriot Missiles As China Uses Hypersonic Weapons In The Indo-Pacific

According to senior defence officials, the U.S. Navy has planned to equip some of its ships with Patriot Interceptor Missiles amidst concerns of Beijing using hypersonic weapons to target ships in the Indo-Pacific.

The PAC-3 MSE interceptors are mainly used by the U.S. Army and other nations for land-based air defence but will now be used by the Navy, to counter China.

The missiles built by Lockheed Martin will be integrated with the air defences of the Navy ships in the face of rapidly modernising Chinese Military force.

However, many PAC-3 interceptors are required and the U.S Army seeks to double the production shortly.

The United States sees Japan as an ideal location for jointly producing the patriot missiles. Also, Lockheed Martin wants to establish a new production line in Florida.

PAC-3 have been successful in shooting down hypersonic missiles in Ukraine however more tests are needed to develop a method for their successful launch from a Navy Ship and their synchronisation with the SPY-1 radar, the major sensor in the Aegis Missile System.

China’s most advanced anti-ship ballistic missile called the DF-27 was tested in 2023. PAC-3 has a shorter range than the Navy’s SM-6 Missiles. However, its advantage is that it strikes the target and does not explode near it.

A PAC-3 interceptor from a Patriot missile system was tested recently on a virtual Aegis ship but this has not been deployed on naval ships.

However, in 2023, it countered many ballistic threats and aircraft in Ukraine and the Middle East, along with Russian Khinzal missiles, after which it was added to Navy magazines.

PAC-3 is quite small and weighs around 300 kg than the 1500 kg SM-6, though both cost $4 million each.

China has built a prominent arsenal of anti-ship ballistic missiles, including the DF-21 D and DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Its latest DF-27 could reach 8000 kilometres and has an aerodynamic warhead to dodge defences and easily strike its moving target, per Tom Wright from the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

References: Reuters, stratnewsglobal

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