“To date, our (US)-wide power projection platform has been an aircraft airline and its ability to strategically project that way around the world,” Heggs said in a recent interview.
However, Hegseth added that China’s 15 Hi-sonic missiles “can ingest 10 aircraft in the first 20 minutes of the conflict.”
Hegseth said the US is “losing China in all war games.” “China is building an army specifically designed to destroy the United States.”
Hegseth has denounced the US bureaucracy and slow rates of arms acquisition because of China’s growing edge in conflict with the US.
The US Secretary of Defense also pointed to China’s risks towards the Panama Canal, an artificial 82-kilometer (50.9-mile) Panama waterway connecting the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
According to the Sobel Shipping Network, approximately 40% of US container traffic relies on this route every year, and the US is the canal’s biggest user.
In 2021, more than 73% of all ships passing through the canal were doomed to US ports.
Since Panama’s Chinese diplomatic perception of Taiwan in 2017, Beijing has expanded its region’s presence and has invested heavily in infrastructure projects near the canal.
MNA