ADM Willard: DF-21D (Chinese anti-shop ballistic missile) Reaches “Initial Operational Capability” (IOC)
Five days before the new year and this becomes the most important Navy story of 2010. Nelson once said “A Ship’s a Fool to Fight a Fort,” but in the next decade US Naval forces are being developed and shaped to fight the fortress of defensive capabilities contained in modern maritime Anti-Access, Area Denial (A2AD) defensive systems. The Navy has been careful not to describe the rise of China’s Navy as an arms race, but there is an arms race taking place between the DF-21D and the AEGIS combat system - and for the present time, it would appear the DF-21D is winning.