At the end of September this year, for the first time in 44 years, Chinese rocket troops conducted a test of the intercontinental ballistic rocket DongFeng DF-41. This rocket was launched from a base on HaiNan Island towards the Pacific Ocean.
DF-41 is simply a weight of about 80 tonnes with a dimension of 21 meters and a diameter of about 2.25 metres, the largest rocket in Chinese atomic arsenal with the largest declared scope (from 12,000 to 15,000 km). The weapon maker is China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). DongFeng DF-41 can accomplish most of the targets in the US and Europe. It is simply a three-stage solid fuel rocket. Thanks to the drive used, it is expected to scope velocity to Mach 25, making it virtually impossible to shoot down. The rocket is designed to carry up to 10 MIRV-type atomic warheads, and can besides carry a DF-ZF-gliding hypersonic vehicle. It is characterized by a advanced operational flexibility resulting from its ability to launch from mobile road launchers, railways, underground silos and submarines. This rocket can be equipped with different guidance systems, including inertial navigation with satellite correction, which allows to accomplish advanced impact precision (a mistake of 100 meters).
Some observers interpreted the DongFeng DF-41 test as a clear signal from Beijing not to underestimate Chinese defence capabilities, atomic deterrence and consequence to any attack.
This test may besides indicate the increasing maturity of the Chinese satellite navigation strategy BeiDou (chin. 北斗), which the People's Liberation Army of China uses to guide rockets.
The Ministry of Defence (chin. 国防部), informing about this attempt, stated that it was a "routine action under an yearly training plan" in accordance with global law and was not directed against any country or purpose.
On July 17, China suspended talks with the United States about atomic non-proliferation and control of its arsenals. Beijing made specified a decision in consequence to the sale of another arms batch to Taiwan. However, the reasons for breaking the conversation and conducting the test after specified a long break may be entirely different. Well, in U.S. military environments, the concept of US limited usage of atomic weapons is increasingly emerging in the event of an armed conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese most likely decided to show explicitly that they had the means and capabilities to carry out a atomic counterattack that the American side would not be able to resist.
China has a much smaller atomic arsenal than the US. However, the Chinese arsenal is simply a mystery to the US, and its actual size and efficiency stay in the realm of presumptions. It is known that at the locations of the ballistic missiles, the Chinese have created an extended tunnel strategy named in the 2009 Chinese Army newsletter "The Underground Wall of China". This strategy is designed to guarantee the endurance of the Chinese arsenal even a fewer atomic attacks. And that's where the cognition of the strategy ends. The reports of thousands of soldiers working on this task have not yet been verified. However, it is certain that due to the advantage of possible opponents (Russia and the USA) China has made quite a few efforts to make it as hard as possible to destruct their arsenal by both hiding it deep below Earth and by deploying missiles on mobile launchers.
How many missiles?
You don't know that either.
Based on:
- cpc.people.com.cn;
- baijiahao.baidu.com;
- aljazeera.com
- Space24.pl
Author: 梁安基 Andrzej Z. Liang, 上海 Shanghai, 中国 China
Email: [email protected]
Editorial: Leszek B.
Email: [email protected]
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