A lot is happening in military developments around the world. This post will offer a quick look at many of these developments around the world as the global alliances continue to be in a new arms race to gain ascendancy over their rivals. Let’s begin with the sensational reports of a new Chinese super-missile.

A flurry of media reports warned that the Chinese had tested a new hypersonic missile which can orbit the earth before flying downward into a target on the earth’s surface. Reportedly, the missile missed its intended test target by about 24 miles or so. Details about this Chinese missile test are in the first link and second link. China then denied that it was a military test at all, but asserted that it was only an orbital test of a new Chinese spacecraft (third link). If the Chinese test was of a new military design, the fourth link offers analysis about the challenges it presents to the Western world.

I do have some questions and comments about this Chinese orbital test. To begin with, China’s military and civilian space programs are entirely opaque, so the truth is not independently verifiable. It is possible that it was a spacecraft test because having an independently targeted re-entry point for an orbital capsule is a valid need for China’s expanding space program with human “astronauts.” The USA and Russia have been doing this for decades. If it was a military test, a “miss” of 24 miles in its targeting ability would mean it is not yet a truly effective weapon. A “miss” by that far would leave many targets unscathed. Also, hypersonic missiles use up an immense amount of fuel to attain such incredible speeds. The more fuel you pack into a hypersonic missile, the lighter the warhead needs to be. This was an impressive test, but since China hasn’t issued an ultimatum to the world to submit to its rule and learn Chinese, it does not have a deployed super weapon…yet. It does starkly highlight the truth that the USA’s military has, for far too many years, been shaped to subdue lightly-armed jihadis rather than face the high-tech weaponry of superpowers like Russia and China. Also, If China deployed these missiles into orbit, the USA has a military space plane of its own…the B-37B, which can stay in orbit well over a year. The offensive and defensive weaponry carried by the B-37B is classified, but it surely must have the ability to shoot down any orbiting weapons system that Russia or China can put into orbit. At the minimum, China had shown it can put into orbit a hypersonic rocket/missile which has at present a rather inefficient targeting system. I’m not going to lose sleep over this matter, but it does show the sophistication of weaponry is steadily advancing and that the USA and the West must redouble their efforts to upgrade their own weapons platforms.

The fifth link has a very interesting proposal regarding the question of how to defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack. It proposes that nations with nuclear weaponry sell nukes to Taiwan. If Taiwan had its own nuclear arsenal, it would almost surely be able to deter an attack from China since Taiwan would be able to cause unacceptable damage to China in any exchange of nuclear weapons. It points out Taiwan is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation agreement, so any nuclear-armed nations are legally free to sell nuclear weapons of any kind to Taiwan. If Taiwan had its own nukes, the deterrence factor would also make the chances of a very costly and bloody conventional war far less likely. I’d like to offer a thought about this proposal. Nuclear-armed nations have known for decades that Taiwan can legally buy nuclear weapons on the open or black markets; what if Taiwan has already done this years ago? Taiwan has had the motive, the means and the opportunity to buy nuclear weapons for many years. If they did so, they would keep this secret “up their sleeve” for as long as possible. The sixth link details additional expenditures by the Taiwanese military to beef up their conventional weaponry.

The seventh link offers a video of a commentator on an Australian TV network excoriating the Biden administration’s failed exit from Afghanistan as well as its general indecision and incompetence. You can be sure you will not see the American leftist media air this powerful expose about Biden’s weak presidency. Now to other developments in the Indo-Pacific region.

Japan is one of the nations buying the F-35 warplanes made by the USA, and an F-35 recently landed on a Japanese “Helicopter Destroyer” to demonstrate that F-35s can operate from Japan’s carriers (eighth link). In a war, it is good to know that F-35s can operate interchangeably from American, Japanese, British or any allied carrier. One of the large, new British aircraft carriers is making ports-of-call in the Indo-Pacific region and the ninth link shows it stopping at Singapore, which was a major British overseas base in the pre-World War II world. While in the Indo-Pacific region, the new British aircraft carrier participated in a very large naval exercise involving six nations. There were four aircraft carriers from the USA, the United Kingdom and Japan and their naval escorts as well as other warships from NATO allies, Canada and the Netherlands, plus a warship from New Zealand (tenth link).

In other military news, Greece is buying three warships to be made by France, and it worth noting that France and Greece are steadily becoming close military partners within the NATO alliance (eleventh link). Japan is now building a class of submarines which use an entirely new method of storing electricity inside the submarine, and the first two subs are in the process of being prepared to enter the Japanese navy (twelfth link). Guess how the Pentagon has chosen to equip the US Marine Corps to fight in future wars? It has decided to remove all 452 tanks from the Marine Corps’ inventory and leave it without a single tank (thirteenth link). That might be OK if the Pentagon can get a future enemy to agree to fight land battles without tanks.

Lastly, you might have noticed the media reports that the USS Connecticut, an advanced US submarine, collided with an unrevealed object in the ocean. The collision occurred in the South China Sea during the overall major allied exercise described above which featured aircraft carriers from the USA, the United Kingdom and Japan (fourteenth link). Given that China has asserted a claim to ownership over almost the entire South China Sea (a claim no civilized nation recognizes), we can be sure Chinese subs monitored the allied naval exercises. Did the US sub collide with a shadowing Chinese sub while operating underseas? No one knows, but it is possible. The link does note that the damaged sub has to go all the way back to the US West Coast for full repairs as the US lacks a fully-capable forward repair base in the Pacific theater. It does make me wonder how the Pentagon could spend mega-billions of dollars over the last two decades chasing jihadis and not foresee the need for a naval repair facility in the Pacific region to prepare for a future war with Russia and/or China. How can the USA have spent so much money and have so little to show for it? The USA is making a belated effort to try and adequately defend its air and naval base at Guam, which would be vital in any future Pacific war. The military is deploying an Israeli Iron Dome air defense system at Guam for testing on site (fifteenth link). Having an Israeli Iron Dome system fully deployed at Guam would be a huge step in the right direction.

As you can see, the nations are jostling for military advantage in any future East-West world war. I wish that I could believe that peace will last in the world, but the record of human history and biblical prophecy both assure us that a final World War III still lies ahead of us. The Bible’s prophecies clearly show that we are living in the climactic time period called “the latter days” in the Bible. My article, Are We Living in the Biblical Latter Days?, offers much proof in support of that conclusion. A biblical prophecy in Ezekiel 38-39 is the most detailed, latter-day prophecy in the Bible, and it reveals with stunning accuracy the modern East-West alliances that currently are in place in world geopolitics. That prophecy also reveals much about the motive, tactics and outcome that will occur in World War III [modern war-planners would be wise to learn what the divine “script” reveals about what is going to happen so they could prepare for it]. The fact that a 2,500+ year-old prophecy is coming to pass in our modern world with incredibly accuracy is proof that only an immortal and divine author could both inspire that ancient prophecy and also be able to implement in our modern world. You can read about what has been divinely-determined for the nations at the end of our age in my article/research paper, What Ezekiel 38-39 Reveals about a Future World War IIITo specifically focus on the destinies of two nations in the modern “Quad” alliance opposing China, please read my articles, The United States of America in Biblical Prophecyand Japan’s Role in Biblical Prophecy. If you read the above articles, you will realize that modern nations are acting out a divinely-appointed “script” whether they realize it or not. If you benefit from the articles, feel free to forward them to anyone who might find them of interest. 

 

  1. https://www.foxnews.com/world/chinese-hypersonic-missile-test-surprises-intelligence
  2. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-tested-hypersonic-weapon-flew-around-world
  3. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58953352?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bgnl.newsletters%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D&xtor=ES-213-[BBC%20News%20Newsletter]-2021October18-[top+news+stories]
  4. https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/we-just-dont-know-how-to-defend-against-possible-chinese-hypersonic-missile-us-ambassador_4054593.html?utm_source=News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-10-18-3&mktids=c03604fb4195daff118c1b6a3bf35158&est=gYf%2BXzvBEXVB0CbHh5nCiocy%2Bvpdj55QJ0VZLHGLb5O3rKzTZyp4V0v%2FX5JHIbFgAFI%3D
  5. https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/4055171_4055171.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-10-19&mktids=20531d34ef6623de9f28c4ac5de04d42&est=bACFtw9js8Ye%2FjmzNHE6F%2FzGPyaUaMImvx%2FYqd%2BRNjaXGdOhLxKPvYYcrN2liGhDTD0%3D
  6. https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2021/10/07/taiwan-is-spending-an-extra-9b-on-its-defense-heres-what-the-money-will-buy/
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rguwPFZdoZU
  8. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2021/10/11/marine-f-35b-lands-on-japanese-ship/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2010.12.21&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief
  9. https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2021/10/12/a-british-aircraft-carrier-departs-singapore-amid-tensions-in-the-pacific/
  10. https://www.military.com/video/multiple-carrier-strike-group-operations-philippine-sea?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2010.12.21&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief
  11. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/09/28/greece-signs-pact-to-buy-three-frigates-from-france/
  12. https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2021/10/14/japan-launches-second-taigei-class-submarine-hakugei/
  13. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2021/03/22/goodbye-tanks-how-the-marine-corps-will-change-and-what-it-will-lose-by-ditching-its-armor/
  14. https://www.forbes.com/sites/craighooper/2021/10/11/hurt-uss-connecticut-highlights-ship-repair-shortfalls-at-key-guam-base/?sh=6260f5322db8&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2010.12.21&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief
  15. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2021/10/07/iron-dome-heads-to-missile-defense-experiment-in-guam/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2010.12.21&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief