BEIJING – China has activated new intermediate and long-range missilescapable of precision strikes on medium and large warships, official mediareported.

The domestically developed missiles–recently used by a missile brigade ofthe People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) rocket force–are capable of nuclearcounterattacks and it marks a further development of Chinese artillery’scombat capabilities, state-run China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

They are capable of precision strikes on medium and large targets on land,and on similar sized warships at sea, official tabloid Global Times quotedthe CCTV report as saying.

“This breakthrough means that the missile’s reaction time is quicker, andits station-keeping ability is more precise,” Zhang Junshe, a seniorresearch fellow at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, wasquoted by Global Times as saying.

The PLA Rocket Force, which was created as part of the reforms initiated byPresident Xi Jinping, has been focusing on improving its nuclear counterattack capabilities and medium-to-long range precision strikes.

It is more “combat ready, and launches on time and causes serious damage,”the report said.