US Admiral says China's new weapon DF-26 ballistic missile won't win next war

US Vice-Admiral Jeffrey Trussler, the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare and Director of Naval Intelligence on Friday said that Beijing's vaunted DF-26 ballistic missile - the so-called "aircraft carrier killer" won't 'win the next war, reported Washington Examiner.

"I hope they just keep pouring money into that type of thing. That may not be how we win the next war," said Trussler during an Intelligence and National Security Alliance event.

A race between the Chinese and the US military forces to gain crucial advantages in a potential conflict to control the South China Sea is well underway.

China has displayed an array of new military capabilities tailored to defeat the US military, the newest being the DF-26 ballistic missile.

In propaganda, the Chinese state media has highlighted the perils of the so-called "aircraft carrier killer," reportedly located deep in Chinese territory yet capable of striking US military positions thousands of miles away, reported Washington Examiner.

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials signalled that the Chinese Communist regime's confidence in the new weapon is misplaced.

"They're pouring a lot of money in the ability to, basically, rim their coasts in the South China Sea with anti-ship missile capability," said Trussler. "When you see that, those are troubling developments. They're probably aimed and specifically developed toward the United States Navy, so we watch them very closely."

China has claimed the vast majority of the South China Sea, a swath of open ocean "more than twice [the size] of the Mediterranean Sea," in defiance of the territorial rights of several neighbouring countries. Functional control of those sea lanes would bring major economic advantages, while the increasing vulnerability of US allies and American forces in the region might necessitate a retrenchment enables Beijing to bring any future conflict to American shores, reported Washington Examiner.

"At present, the U.S. military possesses a comprehensively developed missile defence network, which features a heavy element of ship-based systems," Singapore-based military analyst Collin Koh told the South China Morning Post.

In addition to the missile defence tests, US military officials recently have highlighted the fact that the US Air Force's B-52 aircraft can bomb the Chinese military on just 28 hours' notice. Yet, more work remains to be done, said Gregory Poling, a US analyst of Center for Strategic and International Studies.

( With inputs from ANI )