U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) on July 13 sponsored legislation to develop a strategy for deploying ground-based theater-range missiles in the Indo-Pacific region.
“China’s aggression is growing, and a strong deterrence strategy is needed to confront the Chinese Communist Party. As China’s rocket force has taken the lead in the Indo-Pacific, the shocking gap in America’s missile capabilities calls deterrence into question,” Sen. Ernst said. “I’m working to close this gap by building ‘rings of fire’ around our pacing threat and reducing China’s home-field advantage.”
Sen. Ernst sponsored the Rings of Fire Act, S. 2318, which outlines requirements for the U.S. Defense Secretary to develop a strategy no later than 180 days after its enactment, according to a summary provided by the lawmaker.
The strategy under S. 2318 would include an assessment of current gaps in the United States’ theater-range precision strike capabilities; an identification of military requirements for these missile systems; and a list of prospective locations to base these missile systems, the summary says.
Additionally, the bill would include a description of operational concepts for use of these missiles; an identification of allies and strategies for co-development of new missiles; and a cost and feasible time assessment for developing and deploying these missiles.
The designation of a commander to be responsible for the theater missile strategy also would be included in the strategy, according to the bill summary.
Introduction of the lawmaker’s bill follows questions Sen. Ernst posed on April 18 to U.S. Navy Adm. John Aquilino, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, during a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
The admiral testified that the U.S. has zero fielded capabilities to match China’s arsenal of theater-range missiles and does not have any longer-range theater missiles under development.
While the U.S. has had the ability to build and deploy these missiles, the Pentagon has made little progress at doing so, said Aquilino, and this has allowed the Chinese Communist Party to build a sizable missile advantage in the region.
Sen. Ernst’s “rings of fire” strategy, which is included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in both chambers of Congress, would leverage allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific to host shorter and longer-range missile systems, creating rings of fire across the region to offset China’s missile advantage.
“Through coordination with key allies, we can develop and deploy the missiles we need throughout the Indo-Pacific and force China’s military onto its back foot, so Xi Jinping thinks twice before taking Taiwan by force,” said Sen. Ernst. “It’s time to offset China’s missile advantage and keep the peace through strength.”