China’s Test of Orbital Hypersonic Missile enhances its first strike capabilities

Recommendable! The Communist Party of China under Xi Jinping is becoming more aggressive and dangerous! China developed a new weapons category! This is serious stuff! This could be a game changer!

Military doctrines or strategies like mutually assured destruction (MAD) of the past Cold War that maintained peace during this period maybe obsolete!

"... China had combined two advanced missile technologies in a test of a new nuclear capability.

The test featured a so-called Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, which is launched into space and can orbit the globe before releasing a missile at its target. The Fractional Orbital Bombardment System was reportedly armed with a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle, which can fly at low altitudes and maneuver to its target once released from space. ...

a hypersonic orbital nuclear weapon would provide China with specific military advantages, particularly because it could avoid U.S. early warning systems.

While the U.S. can detect most large rocket and missile launches, it might not be able to track a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System throughout its orbit, or even determine if a Chinese orbital system is armed with a nuclear weapon.

If effectively operationalized, orbiting a nuclear weapon through space could enable China to release the weapon from anywhere around the globe, exploiting gaps in U.S. early warning systems. Once released, the hypersonic nuclear vehicle can fly at low altitudes at hypersonic speeds and maneuver through the atmosphere, avoiding U.S. space- and land-based radars—further reducing warning time. ...

This concept of assured nuclear retaliation is fundamental to deterrence.

However, systems able to avoid early-warning satellites and radars raise the prospect of a disarming surprise attack that cripples the nation’s ability to respond. This undermines the core of deterrence and, for this reason, such systems have been widely regarded as destabilizing. ...
While one test does not mean China is necessarily embracing a doctrine of nuclear preemption, the development of capabilities that might allow the mere contemplation of such an approach should be of great concern. ..."

China’s Test of Orbital Hypersonic Missile Is a Big Deal