A senior Army official has said the Defense Department has begun to consider the potential placement of mobile artillery weapons in South China Sea that will be used as an aerial defense against hostile rockets and missiles, Scout Warrior reported Tuesday.
Kris Osborn writes DoD’s consideration of such an option is in response to China’s recent deployment of surface-to-air missiles in the disputed territory.
The Army official told Scout Warrior that the U.S. might field weapons systems that have been utilized in ground-based offensive attack missions, such as the M777 howitzer and the Paladin artillery system.
“We could use existing Howitzers and that type of munition (155m shells) to knock out incoming threats when people try to hit us from the air at long ranges using rockets and cruise missiles,†the official added.