A US admiral says he is assured the US Navy’s strike teams can counter China’s ‘service killer’ missiles

• A US admiral stated his strike group can “execute the mission no matter what the risk is.”

• Rear Adm. Carlos Sardiello brushed apart considerations about China’s “service killer” missiles.

• China doubled its stockpile of “service killer” missiles between 2021 and 2022.

A US admiral has brushed apart considerations that China’s “carrier killer” missiles may pose a critical risk to the US naval fleet.

“I’m completely assured that the service strike group can execute the mission that it was designed to do successfully and safely,” Rear Adm. Carlos Sardiello informed journalists on Wednesday, per Nikkei.

Sardiello, who instructions the USS Carl Vinson strike group, was giving his evaluation of the hazard posed by China’s medium-range ballistic missiles, the DF-21.

“Our extremely educated sailors can function these advanced, contested domains and be deadly and survivable, and execute the mission no matter what the risk is,” Sardiello stated on Wednesday.

China has reportedly doubled its stockpile of DF-21s in recent times, going from round 500 missiles in 2021 to 1000 in 2022, in response to estimates from the Department of Defense’s China Military Power Report printed final yr.

In 2021, the Division of Protection stated in its report that the DF-21s would give China “the aptitude to conduct long-range precision strikes towards ships, together with plane carriers, out to the Western Pacific from mainland China.”

Representatives for China’s protection ministry didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider despatched exterior common enterprise hours.

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