The Chinese Rocket Force’s increasingly capable missile fleet is a growing threat to U.S. bases and security partners in the Asia-Pacific, top Pentagon officials told lawmakers.
The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) is responsible for China’s missile and nuclear arsenal and is a key component of Beijing’s efforts to surpass Washington as the region’s leading military power.
In some areas, the Rocket Force’s capabilities have already surpassed those of the United States, such as with its so-called “carrier killer” hypersonic missiles. While these weapons remain untested in combat, they could potentially keep American forces at bay in a wartime scenario.
“The PLA’s Rocket Force (PLARF) is advancing its long-term modernization plans to enhance its strategic deterrence capabilities,” read a written testimony by U.S. Air Force and Space Force leadership prepared for a Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing.
China’s missile arsenal is estimated to include 400 ground-launched cruise missiles capable of reaching anywhere within the so-called First Island Chain, a stretch of islands from Japan to Indonesia that Washington considers crucial for containing China’s navy in the event of a conflict, such as one over Beijing-claimed Taiwan.
China is also believed to field 1,300 intermediate-range ballistic missiles that can strike targets even further afield, threatening the Second Island Chain, which includes U.S. military bases in Guam.
Another 500 medium-range missiles put parts of Alaska and U.S.-allied Australia within range, while 900 short-range ballistic missiles could easily cross the narrow Taiwan Strait to strike the self-ruled democracy.
The Rocket Force’s arsenal also includes 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads anywhere in the world.
China’s advances in hypersonic missile technology—difficult-to-intercept missiles that travel at over five times the speed of sound—remain a major concern for the Pentagon.
In particular, the Dong Feng-17 hypersonic missile may increasingly replace older missile systems and could target foreign bases and naval assets in the Western Pacific, the officials said.
Though China still lags far behind the U.S. and Russia in warhead count, the country has rapidly expanded its nuclear forces in recent years, a buildup analysts attribute to President Xi Jinping’s emphasis on nuclear deterrence against the U.S.
The Department of Defense estimates China surpassed the 600-warhead mark last year and is on track to field over 1,000 operational warheads in the coming years, according to the statement.
Beyond missile systems, officials also discussed “kill webs,” or networks of sensors, satellites, and weapons that detect threats, share data, and coordinate military responses across air, land, sea, and space.
General Chance Saltzman, U.S. Space Force chief of space operations, during the hearing: “My biggest concern is that the kill web, as we call it, that the PRC [People’s Republic of China] has put in place allows them to track and target at great range the rest of the joint force in all the other domains.
“They’ve put a very capable ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] web together on orbit, and if we’re going to protect the joint force, we have to be able to mitigate the effects that they’re generating by that constellation.
General David Allvin, U.S. Air Force chief of staff: “The PRC is rapidly modernizing its military with the clear intent to reshape the international order—to include nuclear breakout that includes unmatched deterrence capabilities.”
Citing “unprecedented threats to our homeland,” Allvin outlined three top priorities for the service: to defend the homeland by detecting, tracking, and defeating threats; to provide a reliable, safe, and effective nuclear deterrent; and to project power globally—either independently or as part of a joint force.
The Pentagon has requested $961.6 billion for its 2026 defense budget—an amount that, supporters note, is roughly half the proportion of the U.S.’s GDP that defense spending consumed during the height of the Cold War.
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