China test fires new long-range missile DF-41
http://freebeacon.com/manchu-missile-launch/

BY: Bill Gertz
August 15, 2012 5:00 am

Chinas military conducted the first flight test of a new long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that U.S. officials say will be Beijings first strategic missile armed with multiple warheads.

The flight test of the DF-41 road-mobile ICBM occurred July 24 and is raising new concerns within the U.S. military and intelligence agencies over Chinas long-range missile threat, according to officials familiar with reports of the test.

The DF-41 missile is a first-strike nuclear capability, based on its mobility, estimated range, targeting precision, and multiple warheads.
In addition to shorter-range ICBMs known as the DF-31 and DF-31A, which are believed to target India and Russia, the new ICBM is said by U.S. officials to be designed to hit U.S. targets with multiple nuclear warheads.

China has claimed it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons and that its nuclear forces are designed for a counterstrike against a nuclear attack on its territory.

The DF-41 development has called into question the so-called no-first-use policy, officials said.

The test is also likely to renew debate within U.S. intelligence circles about whether China is seeking only a limited nuclear force, or is secretly building up its nuclear forces to challenge U.S. strategic power.

The new missile bolsters Chinas strategic forces, making them among the most diverse in the world, with a variety of short-, medium-, intermediate-, and intercontinental-range missiles.

China also has developed ground-launched anti-satellite missiles and a unique anti-ship ballistic missile with enough accuracy to hit U.S. aircraft carriers at sea.


Purported photos of Chinas DF-41

It is also believed that the DF-41 is part of efforts by China to develop missiles that can defeat U.S. strategic missile defenses. The Pentagon currently has a limited system capable of stopping a few North Korean ICBMs.

Former military intelligence official Larry Wortzel, a member of the congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said the DF-41s multiple warheads are expected to include special simulated warheads called penetration aids that are designed counter U.S. missile defense sensors.

The DF-41 is mobile and will be very hard to detect and counter because of that mobility, Wortzel said. The warhead array will most certainly include penetration aids.

A Pentagon spokeswoman declined to comment on the missile test.

Details of the flight test could not be learned.

However, past China flight tests of long-range missiles involved launches from the Wuzhai Space and Missile Test Center that flew west into the far western Chinese desert several thousand miles away. Analysts say such flight tests are often shortened by limiting the time the first stage fires in order to keep the missile within Chinese territory.


Purported photos of Chinas DF-41

There are credible references to a DF-41 program in the Chinese literature, said Mark Stokes, a former Pentagon official and specialist on Chinas strategic nuclear systems.

The system appears to incorporate a new, larger solid rocket motor than that used on the DF-31 series of delivery vehicles. Ground tests on the motor have been underway for a couple of years.

Stokes, executive director of the Project 2049 Institute, said the Chinese militarys Second Artillery Corps, which is in charge of both strategic and non-nuclear missiles, is working to integrate the DF-41 into its operational inventory.

Tentative indications exist that the Second Artillery force has established an operational test and evaluation unit in southern Henan Province, he said.

Stokes said it is not clear whether the current DF-41 program is similar to an earlier program in the 1990s that was believed to have been converted into the less-capable DF-31A missile, but it looks real.

U.S. intelligence analysts suspect the DF-41 is based on Russias long-range mobile missile known as the SS-27 and that Russian missile guidance technologyeither purchased or stolen by Chinese spiesis part of the system.

Phillip Karber, a Georgetown University professor who has studied Chinese nuclear programs, said the DF-41 test could signal a major boost in estimates of Chinas strategic nuclear forces.


Purported photos of Chinas DF-41

Karber said it is likely the DF-41 will carry three warheads, and if the Chinese follow Russias model of building three re-load missiles for each launcher, the number of Chinese strategic warheads could more than double from current levels.

A future DF-41 force of some 32 missiles with reloads and multiple warheads would be enough for China to target every U.S. city with a population over 50,000 people, Karber said.

If the Chinese end up developing that kind of counter-value posture against American cities, and we do not build missile defenses against it, it spells the end of extended nuclear deterrence for Asia, Karber said. The result would be a likely nuclear arms race in Asia.

Richard Fisher, a specialist on the Chinese military affairs, said the DF-41 has been under development since 1986, but the U.S. government is only now recognizing it.

Pentagon reticence to disclose information about this missile is further confused by the fact that Chinese Internet source images of the 18-wheel Transporter-Erector-Launcher (TEL) for this missile have been available since 2007, said Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. There are now four distinct images of this TEL that show it is a very large mobile ICBM, similar in size to modern Russian mobile ICBMs.

Fisher said the DF-41 test is probably the missile referenced briefly in the Pentagons 2011 annual report on the Chinese military but omitted from this years abbreviated report to Congress.

In addition to the DF-31 and DF-31A, China may also be developing a new road-mobile ICBM, possibly capable of carrying a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV), the Pentagon report said.

The website missilethreat.com reported that the DF-41 can be armed with up to 10 MIRV warheads.

The DF-41 is easily capable of striking the United States and will likely become the core of the PRCs nuclear strike force, Missilethreat.com stated in its assessment.

Its maximum range is estimated to be 8,699 miles, enough to reach targets throughout the United States from mobile launchers in eastern or northern China.

China, to date, has not been known to place multiple warheads on its missiles, but obtained technology from the United States in the 1990s for launching multiple satellites on a launcher that U.S. officials say provides a base for MIRV warheads.

China also obtained through espionage details of the U.S. W-88 small nuclear warhead in the 1990s, according to U.S. intelligence assessments. The W-88 is used on U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missiles and is considered suitable for multiple-warhead missiles.

Chinas total nuclear warhead force is unknown. U.S. intelligence agencies estimate there are between 300 and 400 warheads in the Chinese arsenal.

However, the actual number could be far higher, based on recent disclosures that China has built 3,000 miles of underground tunnels and nuclear facilities throughout the country.


Purported photos of Chinas DF-41

Fisher said he was told by a foreign military source in 2010 that the new long-range mobile missile could carry as many as 10 warheads, which means U.S. estimates of Chinese warhead stockpiles may be low.

So if you assume that a PLA Second Artillery contains 18 ICBM size missiles, th

meanwhile in america, the U.S failed and getting their new hypersonic missile to work, resulting in a temporarly setback on our long pursuit of trying to attack any target across the planet within an hour

Yay, CHina supapawa! Kiddy pee boiled eggs for everyone in container park.

This is a very serious threat to the U.S.

No need to worry about it...China has only 30 odd nukes and we have no second strike capability...nothing to worry about...

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Don't be modest. China developing a weapons system that is similar to the US Trident/MIRV systems, developed over 30 years ago, clearly spells doom for the US and the West.. China is taking over. Admit it...

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China never release details of China's nuk weapons. But according to all kinds of western researchs, China has only 20-25 nuk warheads and can be ignored. Don't worry.

Don't worry, Chinese engineering are so cheap, they will drop like flies.

Also, we have a no-first-use nuke policy. Which means we're using nukes for defensive play and therefore China make more peaceful promises than you make; China have no restraints on what we build but you should follow restraints.

No worries, China would never use nukes on their best customer.