Recently released U.S. Navy documents
US Pacific Fleet Station
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
Extensive upgrades and modernizations underway
Equipped with high speed weapons.
Destroyers and nuclear submarines prepared for deployment
What is the hidden intention of the US military in this move?
US military accelerates Pearl Harbor escalation
Hypersonic weapons and equipment will be deployed
Press releases and photos issued by the U.S. Navy show that four docks in Pearl Harbor have begun to install ultra-high voltage power supply equipment one after another, with the main purpose of providing support for the "zumwalt" class guided missile destroyer.
The three currently in service "Jumvalter" class destroyers are undergoing or are about to undergo a comprehensive transformation, with the main content being to remove the armor position and install 12 vertical launched "conventional rapid strike" high-speed supersonic missiles.
In order to meet the deployment needs of the "Jumvalter" class missile destroyer, the U.S. military needs to strengthen its logistical security capabilities, including construction of power systems, storage facilities and maintenance systems.
At the same time, the U.S. Navy also plans to deploy more Virginia-class attack nuclear submarines in Pearl Harbor. According to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, two to three of them will be equipped with special vertical launch modules, allowing them to carry an additional 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles or 12 "conventional fast strike" hypersonic missiles.
In order to meet the maintenance needs of them and the next generation of attack nuclear submarines, the U.S. Navy is modernizing Pearl Harbor's aging dry dock No. 3 and building a new dry dock No. 5.
The U.S. Navy says the dry dock of No. 5 is about 200 meters long, enough to park the U.S. Navy's latest attack nuclear submarine, designed to be in use for up to 150 years.
U.S. Military Changes to Pearl Harbor
What intentions are behind?
The U.S. military has made massive changes to Pearl Harbor, only for the deployment of new ships? military expert DuVin Long believes that the U.S. military's "major workplace" has shifted from Guam to Pearl Harbor for two reasons:
First, increase the resilience of deployment. The US military believes that the opponent's missile range is increasing and the power is increasing, and it is likely to suffer significant losses in its own close deployment in the "first island chain" and "second island chain".If it moves to the "third island chain" and Hawaii, it is not only resilience, but also weapons positions and personnel can be preserved, from the root "fear of being hit."
Second, the establishment of new strike positions. The U.S. military plans to add new weapons equipment in Pearl Harbor, all with typical attack capabilities, is to establish attack deployment in the "third island chain". Previously, the U.S. military plans in Guam can launch front-end attacks, now front-end backward contraction, thanks to the improvement of some weapons range and Turkish defense capabilities, can also maintain the U.S. military capabilities to a certain extent.
However, the range of new weapons and equipment being developed by other countries has been able to fully cover the "second island chain" to the "third island chain". Therefore, the U.S. military's "large-scale construction" at Pearl Harbor can only have an expedient effect on the temporary situation.
Why the U.S. military intensively modifies ships
To carry hypersonic missiles?
In addition to the transformation of Pearl Harbor, the impending destroyers of the "Jumvalter" class and the "Virginia" class nuclear submarines are undergoing intensive modifications to enable them to carry "conventional rapid strike" high-speed ultrasonic missiles.
Military commentator Wei Dong Xu said that the U.S. Navy for a long time because of the old, long-range fire-strike system there is a short-board cruise missile and ship-carrying aircraft operational model, in its great-powered game of tasks has become unhealthy. because the U.S. Navy ship-carrying aircraft now have no advantage, other platform launched "Tax" missiles are also easily intercepted by air defense missile systems.
Therefore, the U.S. Navy can now say that it is in "hard waiting" for high-speed hypersonic missiles, but can not build a new operational platform for it, can only take the "disassembly supplement" way, use the existing large-scale operational platform for transformation, want to make up for its shortcomings in the field of long-range fire and high-speed weapons as soon as possible.
Source: CCTV Military Comprehensive CCTV-7 "Global Weapons Event"