Strategic Command (STRATCOM) head General Anthony Cotton told US senators recently that the US was strong, but China was coming. Photo: AFP / KEVIN DIETSCH
The commanders of both the US nuclear and space forces made stark warnings to lawmakers in a US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in recent days to justify billions in funding.
Committee chair and Republican senator Roger Wicker laid out the stakes.
"We're talking about preventing nuclear war, we're talking about being strong enough to prevent a nuclear war.
"And nothing could be more important and, yes, it's going to be expensive but there's no question about it, we're going to have to spend the money as wisely and efficiently as we can to get the job done."
A possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2027 was raised by the generals, and the Indo-Pacific was a prime focus.
Strategic Command (STRATCOM) head General Anthony Cotton urged the senators to fully back a multibillion-dollar nuclear weapons systems upgrade.
"The DoD and the nation are reliant on ageing NC3 systems with a no-fail mission."
The nuclear triad of submarines, bombers and land-based missiles are all undergoing a once-in-a-generation upgrade, the committee heard.
The B-52H bombers are 65-year-old platform meant to last at least another 25 years. The Minuteman missiles date to the 1970s, and are being replaced by Sentinel missiles.
The nuclear command-control-and-communications (NC3) system of satellites dates from a time when China had few military satellites and 'Great Power Competition' hardly factored in near outer or low-orbit space.
Cotton said the US was strong, but China was coming.
"General Secretary Xi Jinping's directive that China be prepared to seize Taiwan by 2027 has driven CCP investment in the expansion of its land-, sea-, and air-based nuclear delivery platforms and the infrastructure necessary to support a major build-up of its nuclear force," he said in testimony notes.
Republican senior committee member Deb Fischer said China now had more ICBM launchers than the US.
"China... is expanding its own arsenal at a breathtaking pace," she said. It would triple its nuclear stockpile by 2035.
"I would also note China has outpaced every previous estimate that we have made."
Cotton said it was the nuclear deterrent that was the umbrella that backed up all the other advanced technologies being built, from electromagnetic warfare to the army's long-range hypersonic weapon.
Cotton and US Space Force commander General Stephen Whiting combined talk of deterrence with that of lethal force.
Whiting also raised the issue of Taiwan.
"We are at a critical juncture.
"Our most pressing threat, China, is marching towards General Secretary Xi Jinping's directed timeline for his armed forces to be ready to militarily reunite with Taiwan, a date that is now less than two years away.
"Though this is not a prediction of conflict, it is a reality that must be taken seriously."
Whiting talked about novel and unprecedented weapons developments, including China's counter-space weapons using lasers or jammers, and "space-enabled kill chains", and Russia's "reported pursuit" of a nuclear anti-satellite weapon.
Kill chains are where satellites and missiles and drones link up to hunt and kill. The New Zealand Defence Force has engaged in US-led exercises to speed up kill chains.
China had 1000 percent more satellites in orbit than a decade ago, Whiting said.
It "seeks to rival the United States in nearly all areas of space technology by 2030 and establish itself as the world's pre-eminent space power by 2045".
NZ in group that might be needed in case of 'conflict'
An international group the US recently set up as its peak space security body was one of his "greatest strengths", Whiting said - New Zealand joined the seven-nation Operation Olympic Defender in October.
"We achieve synchronisation with the Joint Force through the integration of our plans and battle management capabilities with other Combatant Commands; with US-led allies and partners through Multinational Force (MNF) Operation Olympic Defender," said Whiting.
The New Zealand government has stressed the goal of the group was keeping space safe and secure.
Whiting also mentioned space security - but made that clear conflict and combat may also come into it.
Olympic Defender aimed to enhance inter-operability "for combined space operations should they be needed in conflict", he said.
"These advantages and our ability to deter potential adversaries cannot be taken for granted."
Olympic Defender was finalising a seven-nation campaign plan, he added, to achieve "full operational capability by 2027".
This required integrated intelligence and mission planning, and co-ordinated missile warning, defence, and protect-and-defend operations, through Olympic Defender.
Cotton said this was crucial.
"US allies and partners are a critical component of deterrence and provide an asymmetric advantage that potential adversaries cannot outmatch," he said.
"China, Russia, DPRK [North Korea] and Iran do not integrate as we do through planning, exercising, and combined operations."
Vice President J D Vance recently told Europe that it and the US had broken apart on values, but Cotton told the Senate committee: "The relationships and mutual commitments the United States has with its allies and partners are grounded in a shared set of systems and values."
Whiting also stressed SPACECOM was also now focused on initial work on the Golden Dome missile defence system that US President Donald Trump has said was his top priority.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
