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A gleeful Vlad the Impaler superimposed in front of the new Russian Oreshnik hypersonic missile. The Oreshnik ("hazel tree" in Russian) is thought to fly at Mach 10, or approximately 7,600 miles per hour. It carries six warheads, and each warhead releases multiple cluster bombs. The Russians tested an Oreshnik during the Ukraine War in November 2024. It worked! |
Before you were born (probably long before you were born), there was a much-beloved man named Dwight D. Eisenhower.
He was a United States Army general who was "Supreme Commander" (gotta love these titles sometimes) of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II.
Later, he became President of the United States during a time of relative peace, prosperity and stability (1953-1961). He was a Republican.
When he was term-limited out of office (he almost certainly would have been elected again), he gave a farewell address to the American people.
In his address, he struck a dour note that no one expected. He warned his fellow Americans to watch out for the undue influence of a group he referred to as the "military-industrial complex."
Apparently, that group was already well-entrenched by 1961. By now, 2025, it is of course the most powerful grouping in the country, often referred to as the dreaded "Deep State."
Why do I mention this in a post about weapons that OTHER people have?
Because while all-consumed in their madcap quest for more control of our lives, more wars, and ever more of our hard-earned greenbucks, the military-industrial complex has also managed to leave us naked in front of our supposed enemies.
They've been doing a heck of a job, Brownie.
Quite Impressive
The video above shows an Iranian missile attack on the city of Tel Aviv, Israel, near the end of the recent "12-Day War."
For the first moments of the video, missiles are raining down, and Israeli interceptors are firing upwards, all very war-like and exciting.
At the 55-second mark, a missile comes down moving very fast, much faster than all the previous missiles in the video. It has the tell-tale flaming plasma sheath at the front, a hallmark of a missile moving faster than the speed of sound.
It makes impact untouched, and hits a building. It is thought to be Iran's Fattah-1 hypersonic missile, capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 15.
To be clear, it's well-understood in military intelligence circles that Israel is not able to defend itself from Iranian missile attacks.
In the recent war, the United States Navy (warships parked in the Mediterranean Sea), France, England, Jordan, and even evil little Israel itself were working together to shoot down Iranian missiles, with mixed results.
Iran appears to have launched a handful of Fattahs - all of them evaded the combined missile defenses of five countries, and hit their targets.
At this moment, the Fattah-1 is considered extremely difficult, if not impossible to stop with existing missile defense technologies.
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Chinese hypersonic missiles have been in development since at least 2008. |
What is China doing?
The Chinese are believed to have the most advanced hypersonic missile program in the world, and by a lot. The Russians and Iranians are pikers, compared to their friends the Chinese.
China has at least five hypersonic missile systems - the DF-17, the DF-27, the DF-41, the YJ-21, and the "Starry Sky 2."
The Chinese are known to be developing their hypersonics as so-called "ship killers," designed to take out the kind of large naval ships the United States prides itself on.
In almost any war scenario between the United States and China, the war mostly takes place in the Pacific Ocean, near Chinese shores, pitting the US Navy against the Chinese Navy, and missiles launched from the Chinese mainland.
This is because the spark for the war will likely be Taiwan, which is a series of islands about 80 miles from China.
For several years, there has been concern in US military circles that China is building a larger navy than we are, and because of their vastly superior manufacturing base, in a long war will be able to replace their ships much faster than we will.
The unveiling of hypersonic missiles in combat have taken those fears to a new level.
It doesn't take a genius to see that if China has weapons we can't defend against, our huge, slow-moving ships in the Pacific will be sitting ducks.
In fact, late last year, when he was still a TV host, our drunken Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth suggested the Chinese would take out all of our aircraft carriers in the first 20 minutes.
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and an American aircraft carrier, both living on borrowed time. |
What is America doing?
The United States has invested billions of dollars in hypersonic missile technology.
The Air Force is working on something called the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile. Developmental delays have led to its scheduled release being pushed back to sometime in 2027.
The Army is working on "Dark Eagle," which was supposed to be released in 2023, but is also years behind schedule.
Since at least 2021, the Navy was working on its "Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (that is a fucking mouthful) (HALO)" missile. Earlier this year, they cut the program because it was too expensive.
In fact, despite dropping billions into each program, so far the US hasn't fielded a single operational hypersonic missile, and (as indicated previously) has no apparent way to intercept the ones our scary enemies already have.
Maybe we will do it through prayer.
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Christian Taliban, eh... faith leaders pray over Donald Trump inside the Oval Office. |
A Modest Proposal
Even if the US can somehow get these missile programs off the ground (questionable), they can't mass produce the missiles in the quantities required to fight an actual war.
This is because the US is dependent on China for the rare earth metals needed to manufacture sophisticated weaponry. Between 70% and 80% of the rare earth elements we use for our military come from China.
Yes, I know. Quite silly to threaten a war against them, no?
Anyway, China has gone us one better now. Since April 2025, they have essentially banned the export of rare earth metals to military contractors outside of China.
In other words, we can't get our hands on them for any amount of money.
Maybe it's time to admit that:
1) the military-industrial complex in the US was just a very bad idea;
2) it's full of greedy, stupid people; and
3) we should stop trying to fight wars against everyone, everywhere.
Hey, maybe going forward, we could use some of that previously malinvested "defense" money for (I don't know) healthcare, infrastructure, education and housing.
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August 2024 - bizarre parade in which the real Taliban showcased weapons, ground vehicles, helicopters, and even a few airplanes the United States left behind in its mad rush to evacuate Afghanistan at the end of that war. The US spent an estimated $2 trillion in taxpayer dollars over 20 years in Afghanistan. |
Words of Wisdom
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17, 1961
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War
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