The Hill – Deciding to refocus our military efforts to deter Russia and China and to fight to win if deterrence fails is the most significant national security decision that the Trump administration has made. This is especially true when it comes to China. The meteoric rise of the Chinese military is due to its astute observation of American weaknesses while the United States focused on counterinsurgency operations in the Middle East. By focusing on only specific technologies, the Chinese have managed to chip away at the American military advantage, and the Trump administration is now determined to fight for it. What the United States invests in and deploys today could make or break whether the United States can pull it off.
If China can establish and defend itself as a regional hegemony, it will knock the United States out of the position as the preeminent global superpower. The Chinese strategy to solidify its regional hegemony relies on its missile force. It is imperative for the United States to adapt its missile defense architecture to protect its forces and assets abroad and defend its access to critical sea lanes in the Pacific Ocean. The one program that can provide the most significant improvement to the entire missile defense architecture in the near term is the space sensor layer.
