NORTHCOM Considers Cruise Missiles One Of 'Biggest Threats' Facing US - Gen. O'Shaughnessy

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2019) The US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) considers the threat of a cruise missile attack to be one of the biggest threats facing the United States, NORTHCOM Commander Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy said.

"When I look at the cruise missile threat, I see that as one of the biggest threats that we face," O'Shaughnessy said during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday. "If you look at the new approaches through the Arctic, that's a key avenue of approach that we have to be able to defend. That's places where we haven't traditionally operated."

O'Shaughnessy said there is a lot of talk about hypersonic weapons, but emphasized that he is surprised the cruise missile threat has not received greater attention.

Hypersonic missiles, which fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound, are rocket-boosted to high altitudes and may be launched from land, sea or air.

Russia and China, and now the United States, are leading the way in developing hypersonic capabilities.

In February, the Trump administration announced that the United States would exit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, which prompted Russia to undertake a reciprocal action after the two sides exchanged allegations of treaty violations. The US suspension of the INF treaty will become official on August 2.

The INF treaty, signed in 1987, required both parties to eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,417 miles).