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Pictures of Chinese ICBM appear to confirm US study
Ted Parsons, JDW Correspondent
Images of a new type of Chinese mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) published on the Internet appear to confirm information on China's ICBM capability revealed in the Pentagon's 3 March 'Military Power of the People's Republic of China' report.
The images showed a missile - believed to be the DF-31A - on a 16 x 16 wheeled transporter erector launcher (TEL). This new missile's emergence appeared to tally with the annual Pentagon report, which noted for the first time that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) had deployed up to 10 DF-31A mobile ICBMs. The 2007 version of the same Pentagon report noted that "initial operational capability [IOC]" for the DF-31A was "imminent".
The DF-31A - believed to have succeeded the now dormant or cancelled DF-41 - is credited with a range of "11,200-plus km" by the Pentagon. The smaller 7,200-plus km-range DF-31 uses a highly reinforced transporter tube that is then used to 'cold launch' the missile. The tube for the DF-31A is longer and wider than that of the DF-31 and is apparently built in five sections. In contrast to the launch tube for the DF-31, available images for the DF-31A show extensive external bracing and an opening on the aft end, indicating the possibility that the missile may be 'hot launched'. These images, however, may also simply show an incomplete tube.
One controversy surrounding the DF-31A is whether it is armed with multiple warheads. In 2007 an Asian military source told Jane's that the DF-31A and the new JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) were to be armed with three to four warheads. The 3 March report referred to this possibility by noting that "China is researching" measures to overcome ballistic missile defences, such as "manoeuvrable re-entry vehicles (MaRVs), multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles (MIRVs), decoys, chaff, jamming, thermal shielding and ASAT [anti-satellite] weapons".
Ted Parsons, JDW Correspondent
Images of a new type of Chinese mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) published on the Internet appear to confirm information on China's ICBM capability revealed in the Pentagon's 3 March 'Military Power of the People's Republic of China' report.
The images showed a missile - believed to be the DF-31A - on a 16 x 16 wheeled transporter erector launcher (TEL). This new missile's emergence appeared to tally with the annual Pentagon report, which noted for the first time that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) had deployed up to 10 DF-31A mobile ICBMs. The 2007 version of the same Pentagon report noted that "initial operational capability [IOC]" for the DF-31A was "imminent".
The DF-31A - believed to have succeeded the now dormant or cancelled DF-41 - is credited with a range of "11,200-plus km" by the Pentagon. The smaller 7,200-plus km-range DF-31 uses a highly reinforced transporter tube that is then used to 'cold launch' the missile. The tube for the DF-31A is longer and wider than that of the DF-31 and is apparently built in five sections. In contrast to the launch tube for the DF-31, available images for the DF-31A show extensive external bracing and an opening on the aft end, indicating the possibility that the missile may be 'hot launched'. These images, however, may also simply show an incomplete tube.
One controversy surrounding the DF-31A is whether it is armed with multiple warheads. In 2007 an Asian military source told Jane's that the DF-31A and the new JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) were to be armed with three to four warheads. The 3 March report referred to this possibility by noting that "China is researching" measures to overcome ballistic missile defences, such as "manoeuvrable re-entry vehicles (MaRVs), multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles (MIRVs), decoys, chaff, jamming, thermal shielding and ASAT [anti-satellite] weapons".
