Chinese missile test shrouded in Secrecy?

Chinese missile test shrouded in Secrecy?


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2010-10-10 11:29
A People's Liberation Army (PLA) warship launches a missile during a live-ammunition military drill.



On Wednesday, U.S. officials verified the covert flight trials, the Washington Times reported, which took place Sept. 25; in the tests, the Chinese military launched a missile from its Taiyuan missile center to Korla, a western Chinese city 1,800 miles away.



U.S. officials were made aware of the impending tests on Sept. 23, when the Chinese government issued a "notice to airmen" alerting aircraft to avoid the airspace between the two towns.


Though the Chinese government has yet to comment, reports from websites within China indicate the test most likely involved a second missile: an "interceptor" with a restricted flight range. These sites speculate that there were launches from two locations, one an interceptor missile instructed to take out the first, long-range test missile shot from from Taiyuan.


Chinese Embassy spokesman Wang Baodong told the Times that he was not aware of the test, but stated that if it took place, China's military "poses no threat to any other countries, and serves for peace and stability in the region and in the world at large."


One Chinese military personnel says the recent missile test is just one of China's annual regular exercises.



The theory of "threat of Chinese missiles" is spreading


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China's DF-21 ballistic missile


A number of reports analyze the Dong Feng would rank as the world's first mobile, land-based missile capable of hitting a moving aircraft carrier from nearly 2,000 miles away. And forecasters point out DF-21D is a game changing weapon being developed by China.


From News Week


The DF-21D, a ground-launched ballistic missile with a 1,500-kilometer range—is being redesigned by China to dive from space, traveling at about two kilometers per second, to cripple an aircraft carrier. As of today, the U.S. has no reliable countermeasures. With the DF-21D likely to be ready for a flight test in two years or less, the West is suddenly regarding China’s anti-ship capabilities as “pretty daunting,” says Eric McVadon, a former U.S. Navy rear admiral and defense attaché to Beijing.


China’s new missile technology comes at a time when tensions between Washington and Beijing are decidedly strained, and when the U.S. Navy has never been so threatened by weapons systems since the end of the Cold War.


But China’s missile program could backfire by driving rattled neighbors like Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to request closer naval cooperation with the U.S., says Ramli Nik, a former Malaysian defense attaché to the United Nations. By talking tough while developing formidable anti-ship weapons, China is undercutting its own goal of keeping America out of its region, says Paul Giarra, a former Asia expert in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Much, however, depends on the American response, the experts say. To maintain its credibility as a reliable shield in the Asia-Pacific, the U.S. Navy needs an answer to China’s new generation of anti-ship missiles.



From Japan Today


Nothing projects U.S. global air and sea power more vividly than supercarriers. Bristling with fighter jets that can reach deep into even landlocked trouble zones, America’s virtually invincible carrier fleet has long enforced its dominance of the high seas.China may soon put an end to that.


U.S. naval planners are scrambling to deal with what analysts say is a game-changing weapon being developed by China _ an unprecedented carrier-killing missile called the Dong Feng 21D that could be launched from land with enough accuracy to penetrate the defenses of even the most advanced moving aircraft carrier at a distance of more than 1,500 kilometers (900 miles).


“China can reach out and hit the U.S. well before the U.S. can get close enough to the mainland to hit back,” said Toshi Yoshihara, an associate professor at the U.S. Naval War College.


Carrier-killing missiles “could have an enduring psychological effect on U.S. policymakers,” he e-mailed to The AP. “It underscores more broadly that the U.S. Navy no longer rules the waves as it has since the end of World War II. The stark reality is that sea control cannot be taken for granted anymore.”



Missiles are a short cut for weak nations to enhance strength


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PLA's Dong Feng missiles


An analysis report from US Lexington institute points out the worry about DF-21D is alarmist.


The analysis says China hasn't conducted a special test launch of anti-ship ballistic missiles yet. Besides, China lacks effective ways to track and target a moving aircraft carrier, especially when a carrier drives hostile troops out.


It says an aircraft carrier is a small dot in the west Pacific. Even though it moves in the South China Sea, it can hide itself easily. However, PLA doesn't own capability of obtaining constant information from US aircraft carrier despite its satellites, over-the-Horizon radar (OTH radar), submarines and surveillance aircraft.


A  Chinese missile expert points out there is still a gap between the level of Chinese missiles and that of US and Russia. But the gap is rapidly shrinking.


He also says DF-21-D is very powerful but it should not be seen as a weapon to target US. The development of Chinese weapons doesn't aim at any nation. China needs to develop weapons to safeguard its national ocean rights and interests. The weapon itself is not political and it's just a necessary prerequisite to maintain national security.



Is China's missile capability being demonized by the west?