On Covid-19 and Security
By Jason Sibert
The Covid-19 pandemic should have changed our views of security to a greater extent than it has.
In our fight against the disease, the healthcare sector is facing strain, retailers and restaurants have been shattered, and workers in the healthcare and retail (grocery) sectors have been key to the fight. However, our political system has been slow to point out the nature of the threat we are fighting. While Congress is currently stalled on another stimulus package for Covid-19, it has little problems funding weapons systems that have no role in the current threat. It also shows little interest in simmering the geopolitical tensions that drive much military spending.
Hypersonic weapons are just one weapon system our government funds lavishly. Hypersonic weapons go faster than the speed of sound – roughly 3,800 miles per hour. The idea behind these weapons is that their speed makes them a valuable weapon against anti-missile systems.
The United States is currently in an arms race with Russia and China, the two nation-states are aligned once again, in the field of hypersonic weapons. The United Kingdom, France, India, and Japan have also joined the race. History serves as a guide in the current arms race. During the Cold War, there was concern about the bomber gap in the 1950’s and concern about the missile gap in the 1960’s between the U.S. and Soviet Russia. Lots of treasure was expended in this arms race and tensions came close to igniting a nuclear war on more than one occasion.
Hypersonic weapons have been useful to Lockheed Martin, as the company has received $3.5 billion to develop the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon guide missile, said reports. Keep in mind Lockheed Martin is the same company that built the F-35 stealth fighter that does not work. Hypersonic weapons create a lot of heat because of their high speed of travel, and this makes it tough for them to reference GPS or receive course correction commands, said the Union of Concerned Scientists. In turn, hypersonic weapons could hit an unintended target.
The Russians want hypersonic weapons because they do not want our anti-missile systems to cancel out their intercontinental ballistic missiles even though ICBM’s can be fooled by decoys. The Chinese want these weapons to keep our aircraft carriers away from their shores.
Covid-19 knows no borders and does not have a steak in our current power struggles. The bickering in this struggle needs to simmer so the world can fight the current, and future, pandemics. Opening diplomatic channels to our geopolitical foes would be a positive step. In addition, the current military budget is $738 billion, but the actual cost is $1.25 trillion a year, according to William Hartung of the Center for International Policy. Half of the amount could provide an adequate amount for our healthcare system during the Covid-19 pandemic and provide stimulus to every individual so he or she can stay afloat economically.
Jason Sibert is the Executive Director of the Peace Economy Project in St. Louis.
