The New York Times reports another 110 missile silos under construction in China have been “discovered” bringing the total of recently “found” missile silos under construction to 245-260 .
Is this a big deal?
Well, it depends upon your assumptions. The projected cost to build 260 silos is roughly $31 billion —but just for unhardened silos. For the projected 355 deployed and test missiles, the cost would be a projected $45 billion.
Warheads, infrastructure and NC3 would be add to that.
Now why would China be making such a huge investment, for a massive buildup of their nuclear arsenal if one assumes to date China wants only to keep a minimal deterrent of around 300 warheads?
The Times’ reporters—William Broad and David Sanger—conclude if the Chinese are building up, well the US made them do it. As former US ambassador to the United nations famously quipped in a 1984 speech, critics of the US security and foreign policy “always blame America first.”
