China’s recent test of a new ultra-high speed strike vehicle highlights growing concerns that Chinese military advances will overtake those of the United States in as few as five years, a senior Pentagon official told Congress Tuesday. Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer, told lawmakers that when it comes to "technological superiority, the Department of Defence is being challenged in ways that I have not seen for decades, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region."
Citing China's major investments in anti-ship missiles,
stealth fighter jets, hypersonic vehicles and other hi-tech weaponry,
Kendall said the United States could lose its dominant position if it
failed to respond to the altered strategic landscape.
