Prompt Global Strike

Justification for Global Strike MissionsAs those who remember history know all too well, the need for CPGS weapons dates back to 1998 when it became abundantly clear to US military planners that 75 of our most advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles had missed killing Osama Bin Laden in Zhawar Kili, Afghanistan by "some hours," hitting mostly empty tents instead (1). Interest in CPGS weapons for long-range strike missions again peaked with the opening salvos of the Afghanistan War- whereas the DoD (to the public's frustration) was much delayed in its response to the 9/11 attacks due to the inaccessible mountain ranges of Afghanistan along with the country's distance from the United States. The Pentagon's need for new range, speed, lethality, and flexible weapon systems was again pressed hard to US policymakers with the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review (and many subsequent defense reviews), which formally argued that a new generation of conventional strike systems should be developed "for the diverse set of potential adversaries and unexpected threats that the United States might confront in the coming decades;" most notably the borderless battlefields of the global war on terror, along with new asymmetric threats which include rouge states developing Weapons of Mass Destruction (2)(3). In order to meet these new unprecedented security challenges, forward operating bases, carrier battle groups, and large nuclear arsenals are simply not enough, and CPGS proponents (like Marine Gen. James Cartwright) have argued that "unless you want to go nuclear, traditional military response time is measured in days, maybe weeks." (4) In fact, current conventional methods of power projection, such as carrier battle groups and airwings, can take up to as much as 96 hours to deploy overseas (4)(5). Statistics like these are obviously woefully ill-suited for long-range global strike missions which must be accomplished in the short time window that targets are vulnerable - such as Osama Bin Laden in 1998, or hypothetically, Iranian and North Korean nukes. The case for CPGS and similarly fast global strike systems is strong, and the US will greatly improve its offensive and defensive capabilities against all threats by investing in Conventional Prompt Global Strike. Doing More with Less & Securing the Future with CPGSKey elements of CPGS include hypersonic gliders, scramjet boost technology, and ICBMs tipped with conventional warheads with an option for orbital launch platforms, these systems altogether will allow the United States to strike high-valued targets anywhere on Earth in as little as an hour. Doctrine essentials from Full-Spectrum Dominance along with current Joint-Force theory rely on the incredible assumption that the US military can deploy anywhere in the world and operate with impunity. Unfortunately, these doctrines and advanced strategies may soon be called into question as rival countries (such as Russia & China) continue to modernize their forces and proliferate high-tech arms across the world. Already we've seen Russia agree to proliferate S-400 area denial systems to Syria and Iran (repudiating our air access), the Iranians and N.Koreans developing ICBMs, six countries developing 5th generation fighters, and the Chinese developing assassin mace technology which takes CPGS concepts and applies them to sinking American carriers. Overall, as NATO defense budgets continue to shrink, post-Cold War battlefields continue to expand to new locations, enemies continue to modernize A2AD weaponry, and American bases continue to close worldwide, it becomes clear that American power projection abilities are waning and that United States needs a CPGS system.CPGS promises to do more with less, allowing targets to be struck abroad rapidly directly from the United States. No longer will the US President need permission for airspace and basing rights from another country in order to protect American citizens, rely solely on aging nuclear arsenals for deterrence, suffer from lack of strategic options to actionable intelligence on a terrorist's location, worry about our carriers being potentially sunk to diesel submarines (6), or worry about large numbers of US troops being potentially put into harms way on expensive long-term deployments. CPGS will provide the DoD with unprecedented global reach and battle space dominance, and its just the edge we need to maintain America's security for the future. Though opponents to CPGS will argue that CPGS risks beginning a new arms race and that potential launches could be misinterpreted for a nuclear attack, these dangers are avoidable by negotiating new START treaties, allowing international inspections of CPGS land systems (which is already done for nukes) and designing new delivery systems and flight trajectories that are easily distinguishable from a typical ICBM launch. History also shows that the best way to stop an impending arms race is to win it, and that new advanced weaponry typically acts as a deterrent rather than a provocation (from cold war history). Right now however -whether the American public wants to admit it or not - the US may already be in an arms race with other countries and terrorists groups as we mutually compete for our best interests in globalized economies. Its smart and better for us then to stay one step ahead with CPGS. 1)https://en.wikipedia.org...(August_1998)2)https://www.fas.org...3)http://web.stanford.edu... 4)https://en.wikipedia.org...5)http://www.dtic.mil...6)http://nation.time.com...