New warship-killing bombs, sea mines: Pentagon eyes lethal weapons to shield Taiwan amid China invasion fears

The Pentagon is quietly moving to strengthen its military capability to deter or confront China in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, including through the deployment of new anti-ship weapons and advanced naval mines, reported Bloomberg, citing a 121-page report submitted to Congress by the head of US Indo-Pacific Command.

The report adopts a sharper tone regarding Beijing’s military ambitions than the broader Trump administration, which has taken a relatively conciliatory approach toward China, particularly ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned summit in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China’s People’s Liberation Army “is undergoing historic expansion across all domains and is training for two primary missions: forcing Taiwan unification and countering US and allied defence capabilities, with military readiness targeted by 2027,” Admiral Samuel Paparo stated in the report to lawmakers, according to Bloomberg.

The document outlines how military strategists intend to allocate funds in Asia from the Trump administration’s record $1.5 trillion defence budget proposal. Paparo urged Congress to approve the proposed increase in spending — 44% higher than the previous year — to “defend the homeland and defeat China’s misaligned strategy.”

A major component of the budget proposal includes $592 million for the development, testing and procurement of the Quicksink seeker add-on, which would convert Boeing Co.’s GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs into a “low-cost, all-weather anti-ship weapon capable of sinking vessels by detonating beneath the waterline to break the ship’s keel.”

According to the report, Quicksink kits would assist in “countering numerically superior adversary fleets across the Indo-Pacific,” an apparent reference to China, which currently possesses the world’s largest Navy with over 430 ships, according to the Congressional Research Service. In comparison, the US Navy operates 291 combat vessels.

The report, dated 6 April, also reiterates the significance of the year 2027 — symbolically important as the centenary year of the PLA — as the target by which Chinese forces are expected to be prepared to seize Taiwan. However, a US intelligence assessment released earlier this year had softened earlier Pentagon projections that China could attempt to capture the island by force by 2027.

The budget request additionally includes nearly $2.5 billion for unmanned systems intended to provide the US with a “significant and affordable warfighting advantage against near-peer threats in the Pacific,” another indirect reference to Beijing. “These systems would include unmanned surface vessels and underwater vehicles.

Another weapons initiative known as “Quickstrike” seeks $531 million for a family of “shallow water, aircraft-laid mines used against surface and subsurface targets.”

Paparo also highlighted another anti-China programme called the “Clandestine Delivered Mine” initiative, which relies on existing submarine-launch capabilities.

The programme would enable the US “to clandestinely emplace minefields in key areas” and complement aerial mining capabilities through the deployment of so-called Hammerhead mines — seabed-moored devices equipped with sensors that detect threats and launch Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes.

The request notes that the newer generation of sea mines could help the US maintain “strategic control over critical waterways,” a capability that has gained fresh relevance amid the ongoing US conflict with Iran, where Tehran’s influence over the strategic Strait of Hormuz has become a central concern.