The United States’ deployment of its Dark Eagle hypersonic missile system to Australia’s Northern Territory for the 2025 Talisman Sabre joint military drills has significantly altered the deterrence landscape in the Indo-Pacific, particularly concerning China. This strategic move underscores the evolving military dynamics in the region.
Dark Eagle, capable of striking targets up to 2,700 kilometers away, operates through a battery of four launchers and command vehicles, enabling precision strikes at hypersonic speeds. The deployment, executed by the Hawaii-based 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF), marked the system’s first operational use west of the International Date Line, as reported by USNI.
Strategic Implications and Military Exercises
Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), emphasized that the military exercise, conducted from July 13 to August 4 with over 30,000 personnel from 19 nations, validated the US Army’s capability to deploy and operate the system in forward environments. This exercise not only tested the hypersonic missile but also showcased the US military’s operational readiness in the region.
Prior to this deployment, the Dark Eagle had only been tested in Florida and integrated into Navy-led command drills. During Talisman Sabre, the MDTF also launched an SM-6 missile from its Mid-Range Capability (MRC) platform against a maritime target, an action that drew strong protests from Beijing. China warned that such maneuvers risk destabilizing the region and could trigger a new arms race.
Expanding Hypersonic Capabilities
The US Navy plans to deploy a variant of the hypersonic missile aboard Virginia-class submarines and Zumwalt-class destroyers by fiscal year 2028. This move is part of the Pentagon’s broader strategy to enhance long-range strike capabilities aimed at penetrating Chinese and Russian anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) networks.
According to Ankit Panda’s October 2023 report for the Carnegie Endowment, the US strategy increasingly favors mobile, land-based missile systems. These systems’ ability to reposition rapidly complicates adversary targeting and enhances survivability in contested environments. The wheeled launchers, employed in shoot-and-scoot tactics, are seen as effective tools for bolstering deterrence without incurring the diplomatic costs of permanent basing.
Challenges and Criticisms
While the deployment of hypersonic weapons is hailed by some as a significant deterrent, others express concerns about the potential for destabilization. Aaron Shiffler, writing for the Joint Air Power Competence Center in an October 2023 article, notes that hypersonic weapons compress decision timelines and complicate traditional defense postures. Their extreme speed and maneuverability reduce early-warning windows, increasing the risk of miscalculation.
Shiffler argues that these systems could undermine mutual vulnerability—the bedrock of nuclear deterrence—by enabling rapid, precise strikes against high-value targets.
Critics like David Wright and Cameron Tracy, in a March 2024 article for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, argue that hypersonic systems offer little advantage over legacy missiles. They point to intense heating and aerodynamic drag during low-altitude flight as limiting factors that degrade speed, range, and survivability.
China’s Response and Regional Security Concerns
China’s reaction to the US deployment indicates serious concern. Veerle Nouwens and others, in a January 2024 report for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), state that Chinese analysts view US plans to deploy land-based missiles across the First and Second Island Chains as a direct threat to China’s strategic mobility and posture.
According to Nouwens and colleagues, Beijing perceives these forward deployments as a deliberate effort to undermine its A2/AD systems and target inland facilities. In response, Chinese strategists anticipate a surge in their land-based missile deployments, including both conventional and nuclear systems, to break out of perceived encirclement.
A June 2025 report by Kyle Balzer and Dan Blumenthal for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) highlights that Chinese strategists now view these long-range precision missile deployments as existential threats to China’s regional deterrence and national survival. This perception has prompted accelerated efforts to modernize China’s missile forces, including expanding mobile and silo-based platforms to ensure mission survivability and retaliatory capability.
The US bet on forward-deployed hypersonics aims to fracture China’s A2/AD bubbles before they harden, but the payoff hinges on credibility, not just capability. As China accelerates countermeasures, the strategic equation is shifting toward a high-stakes contest of precision, survivability, and political will.
