Newsweek
he United States has successfully test-fired a precision missile, showcasing its so-called “extended range flight capability” aimed at fighting island warfare in the Pacific Ocean.
Newsweek has reached out to the Chinese defense ministry for comment by email.
Why It Matters
General Charles Flynn, the then-commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific, claimed last February that he could threaten China’s critical capabilities by placing a network of land-based fires on key terrains within the first island chain in the Western Pacific Ocean.
The first island chain, which extends southward from Japan to the Philippines via Taiwan, is a U.S. defense concept that seeks to leverage allied or friendly territories to constrain military activities by China. Tokyo and Manila are America’s treaty allies.
What to Know
The Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Increment 1 flight test was held at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on March 19, the U.S. Army Program Executive Office Missiles and Space said. It was fired from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
