U.S. Cities, Military Bases Vulnerable to Enemy Cruise Missile Attack

American missile-defense plans focus heavily on ballistic-missile threats, not cruise missiles[MW1]. (Ballistic missiles are launched at long-range targets and send their warheads out of the atmosphere and then Earthwards, while cruise missiles essentially are like small aircraft that carry their warheads while skimming close to the surface.)  However, scant mention exists of defending American coastal cities from surprise attacks from Russia, China, or even Iranian cruise missiles. Spy satellites can monitor movements of conventional surface warships and anti-submarine units can monitor submarines; however, both China and Russia have developed ways of camouflaging cruise missile launchers as shipping containers.

The U.S. military views development in cruise-missile technology by these countries with concern.

“Therefore, it is our responsibility to figure out how to counter that,” Air Force Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday during a briefing sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“So, the key thing is that you need to look at that problem . . . and you don’t just look at it from the terminal phase. If you look at it from the terminal phase, you have to build giant point-defense radars or aerial defense radar, because even a low Earth orbit satellite has a difficult time seeing most cruise missiles,” Hyten continued.