USNI News:

China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran’s continued investment in modernizing cruise, ballistic and hypersonic missiles has left the United States “not in a very good position,” the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Tuesday.

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, speaking in a Center for Strategic and International Studies online forum, said “we need [to] have a strategic deterrence review” that examines “our strategic capabilities as an integrated whole” to address the threats posed by these four nations.

The deterrence review, in his estimation, would encompass sensors, command and control and other areas usually not considered in the existing required “stovepiped” Pentagon studies.

For example, “we don’t have an integrated sensor architecture” for hypersonic missile defense, but “the common thread for all missile defense systems is, can I see the threat, can I see the threat coming at me,” he said. Hyten added that “the big piece is not shooters but sensors. [However,] we just love to talk about the interceptors.”

As it stands now, the Pentagon is producing separate reviews on nuclear posture, space and missiles – and they often do not align easily. “We have to figure out what our priorities are,” he said…

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