The Pentagon recently released its annual report on China's military, in which it acknowledged a faster-than-expected expansion of China's nuclear arsenal to 600 warheads in 2024. Further, Beijing's ability to employ those warheads grew thanks to its arsenal of at least 1,300 medium-range ballistic missiles – up from 1,000 just a year ago. The report also indicates China is likely exploring conventionally armed ICBMs for targets in the third island chain – specifically, Hawaii and Alaska.
Bob Maginnis is a senior fellow for national security at the Family Research Council and author of several books, most recently "Preparing for World War III." He tells AFN that while he believes "we're heading" toward WWIII …
"I would hope that we would delay [a worldwide war] as much as possible so we can prepare ourselves accordingly. I think inevitably unless we have some major changes – and I hope Mr. Trump brings those changes to bear – we're heading to a very bad place in the future."
According to Maginnis, the U.S. is very vulnerable to drone and cruise missile attacks launched from ships.
"We don't have an Iron Dome or David's Sling; we don't have those [Israeli] capabilities along our shoreline in this country," he explains. "The best we have is mid-course systems that are designed to shoot down ICBMs launched from North Korea.
"We can't even defend ourselves significantly against a massive Chinese or Russian attack, and yet they're both very capable – and the Chinese are going to be outpacing us by the end of this decade."
Altogether, he says, that leaves "a lot that we need to be concerned about."
