On opposite sides of the world, the escalating risks to the United States from President Joe Biden’s failure to invest adequately in upgrading America’s missile defense shield are on full display.
In the South Pacific, China’s growing aggression and world-class hypersonic missile capabilities pose a direct threat to American military assets and key allies like Japan and Australia. In May, Admiral John Aquilino, the outgoing head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, warned that the Chinese Communist Party is “getting more bold, and it’s getting more dangerous,” an alert which echoes the concerns of other experts in the region.
Specifically, Admiral Aquilino stressed the need for a comprehensive 360-degree integrated air and missile defense capability for Guam, home to more than 21,000 U.S. service members and their families and just under 3,000 miles from mainland China.
The DF-26, China’s most advanced intermediate-range ballistic missile, reportedly has a range of over 3,100 miles and is capable of precision nuclear strikes on ground or sea-based targets, leading some observers to dub it the “Guam Express.” Other hypersonic Chinese missiles are capable of reaching speeds of over 4,000 miles per hour, which would effectively neutralize existing U.S. missile defense systems in the region.
Meanwhile, in Israel, the importance of a comprehensive state-of-the-art missile defense shield has been underscored by an onslaught of attacks from the Jewish state’s hostile neighbors, most notably Iran.
In the largest Iranian assault earlier this year, there were three waves of attack. The first consisted of 170 Shahed drones intended to overwhelm radars. The second consisted of 30 cruise missiles, which Israeli engineer Tal Inbar told me was the “most significant” such barrage he could recall. The third wave consisted of 120 ballistic missiles, which Inbar said was “more than double the amount of missiles that Saddam Hussein fired against Israel over the span of two months in 1991.”
Despite this daunting onslaught, however, the multi-layered missile defense shield of the Israeli Defense Forces succeeded in effectively neutralizing the attack. The American Patriot missile system stopped the first wave of attack, while “David’s Sling” ship-based interceptors and the “Arrow” system halted the second and third waves, respectively.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed that 99 percent of the threats were shot down. According to Inbar, some Israeli officials were so confident in the strength of Israel’s missile defense systems that they even went to bed during the attacks.
Experts I interviewed for this column said that these developments in Israel and the South Pacific should be a “red alert” for the Biden administration to invest more in new missile defense systems as a top priority.
During a congressional hearing in April, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces for the House Armed Services Committee, pointed out that the White House had requested almost a billion dollars less for the Missile Defense Agency than the level planned for in the previous year’s budget. He noted that these cuts were not limited to just fiscal year 2025, but would remain in effect until 2028. “The overall level of funding is inadequate given today’s threat environment,” Lamborn emphasized.
Biden has a long history of skepticism toward missile defense investments going back to his time as a senator. On September 10, 2001 – just one day before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon – Biden, then Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, gave spirited remarks lambasting President George W. Bush’s plans for a new missile defense system, claiming it would “raise the starting gun on a new arms race.” Biden further called the Bush administration’s plans “unreliable, ineffective, and provocative.”
However, the real-world evidence since then has proven how wrong Senator Biden was. In Israel’s case, other Arab countries such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE contributed to the defense of the Jewish state in what retired Brigadier General Shachar Shohat called “the largest orchestra ever played in the region.” Instead of ratcheting up tensions, Israel’s investment in missile defense promoted common cause and acted as a deterrent against more attacks. Shohat emphasized that “the missile defense system’s success created trust among many Arab nations,” refuting Biden’s claim that it would be seen as a provocation.
The success of Israel’s missile defense shield has also refuted Biden’s claims that upgrading such systems would be “ineffective,” as countless lives were saved and further hostilities avoided.
Moreover, it is America’s apparent weakness on missile defense in the South Pacific that is causing strain with U.S. allies and emboldening China, rather than Biden’s claim that upgraded systems would be “provocative.”
The one thing Senator Biden was correct about was that missile defense would be “the most crucial national security debate and decision in our lifetime.” Unfortunately for the United States, Biden is on the wrong side of that debate.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.