Charles Forling, commander of the US Army in the Pacific, has publicly threatened to deploy hypersonic missiles, that is, the US Dark Eagle rapid strike weapon system, in the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, Charles Forin also disclosed that the U.S. Army plans to deploy medium-range missiles, and the United States has been actively promoting related projects since 2018. Charles Flynn told Japanese media on April 3 that the U.S. plan to deploy intermediate-range missiles in the western Pacific region was reiterated and directly declared that it was an action to deter China, and now the U.S. Army is once again showing its sharp fangs.
The long-range projection weapon originally owned by the US Army was only the M142 Seahorse High Mobility Rocket Artillery, although the army tactical missiles equipped with them have been improved and become high-precision tactical missiles, but they still cannot meet the requirements of the US Army in terms of range, so they have the equipment of medium-range missiles, which is the tactical embodiment of the US Army's firepower extension. In recent years, the US Army has been strengthening its deployment in the Asia-Pacific region, which is a coordinated action with the US "Indo-Pacific strategy", mainly aimed at China, and the commander of the US Pacific Army has made no secret of the US purpose.
The U.S. Army's approach to China's Thai-Feng system is actually a land-based version of the Tomahawk cruise missile and the Standard 6 multi-purpose missile, which the U.S. Navy has been equipped with in large numbers. The Tomahawk cruise missile was a "blockbuster" during the Gulf War. The Tomahawk is a strike weapon with terrain matching function, and the U.S. Army originally had a land-based version, but because the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987, the land-based Tomahawk missile became the object of destruction. The treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, which banned the deployment of land-based intermediate-range missiles, was followed by Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but since 2018 the treaty has been abrogated by the United States.
The Standard 6 multi-purpose missile has been quite popular recently, because the US military has projected a large number of Standard 6 during the Red Sea escort mission, in fact, the Standard 6 was originally used for air defense and anti-missile purposes, but after improvement, it has already had the function of anti-ship and land attack, so it has become a medium-range missile of the US Army. The U.S. Navy recently conducted anti-missile tests using the Standard 6 Dual II series, highlighting the multifunctional nature of the Standard 6. The land-based version of the Standard 6 also uses the MK41 vertical launch system, but it has been improved so that it is stored and launched at different angles, as is the Tomahawk cruise missile stored and delivered through the improved MK41 system.
Obviously, the PLA is not intimidated, and the United States has long deployed Tomahawks and Standard 6 on China's doorstep, because the US Navy's Seventh Fleet has long had warships cruising in the waters within the first island chain. The US Navy's Seventh Fleet is equipped with Aegis missile destroyers and missile cruisers, itself carrying Tomahawks and Standard 6 missiles, while the US Navy also has combat deployments of attack nuclear submarines in the South China Sea. Therefore, the deployment of medium-range missiles by the US Army in the western Pacific region does not have much difference in nature, while the PLA's Dongfeng 26 is a Thai weapon system that can easily counter the US Army, and from the perspective of the range of the Dongfeng 26, it is enough to accurately cover the medium-range missiles deployed by the US Army.