This is the puzzle a team of Chinese defence scientists has been solving. Their answer, published openly in a peer‑reviewed journal, offers a step‑by‑step guide on how to destroy a US carrier group from 3,000km (1,865 miles) away, precisely the distance from Shanghai to Guam.
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Led by associate professor Gao Tianyun, it was published in Tactical Missile Technology, one of China’s top defence journals, on May 25.
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For years, the US Navy’s big ships operated relatively close to China in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and the South China Sea. That proximity made them vulnerable to China’s growing arsenal of “anti‑access/area‑denial” weapons – mid-range ballistic missiles, hypersonic gliders and swarms of cruise missiles.