Guam Critical in US Defense of Taiwan: Expert

The Pentagon is spending $10 billion to bolster defense at Guam in case it becomes a target for China's ballistic missiles. But would China's hypersonic glide vehicle warhead be able to bypass Guam's defense systems? Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, weighs in. Rick Fisher, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. Tiffany, thanks for having me back. Now, the Pentagon successively intercepted a ballistic missile. This was during a defense test on Guam. Now, this is just the first step of a bigger plan to bolster Guam's defenses. That's in case of a worst-case scenario with China. Now, given Guam's location, how essential will these shields be in the case of countering that China threat? Tiffany, the $10 billion estimated Pentagon missile defense plan for Guam is essential. Guam is the farthest American controlled military outpost in the Pacific. It is the most important outpost for the United States in deterring a Chinese attack against Taiwan, Chinese military action against the Philippines, and Japan. Everything that the will depend on access to functioning military bases in Guam. Now, on the other hand, China is developing something known as the DF-27, which is equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle, or HGV. That's to avoid detection as it's a lot more maneuverable than a ballistic missile. Now, it's not ready yet, but would that be able to bypass these defense systems on Guam? It's very likely that China has a hypersonic glide vehicle-equipped missile that can attack Guam today. But the DF-27, yes, is an imminent threat, a much longer-range missile. But the air-launched ballistic missile that the People's Liberation Army Air Force launches from its H6N bombers very likely has a hypersonic glide vehicle warhead. Yes, these are maneuverable. If the warhead is maneuvering within, let's say, the last phase of its attack trajectory, that really makes it difficult for a radar to calculate where the warhead is going to be, and then transmit that information to an intercepting missile. That's why hypersonic glide vehicles are so dangerous, and why the United States is planning a layered defense of long-range anti-missile interceptors and short-range missile interceptors. Now, when it comes to the timeline for this missile defense shield on Guam, that's set to be completed in about 2030. Now, China's DF-27 is not out yet. What do you see as the timeline for both of these? Will either come first, or what can we expect? The defensive task for the Americans on Guam is very steep, and will get worse as we approach the end of the decade. However, the United States must also prepare the same kind of defenses for Hawaii, which would be our fallback if Guam was damaged sufficiently. And defending both of these territories and states is essential practice for the Trump administration's ambition to create a national missile defense for the continental United States. Greg Fischer, thank you so much for your time. Thank you.