China’s new “hypersonic” ballistic missiles will not only challenge thedefences of the US but also be able to more accurately hit military targetsin Japan and India, a media report said today, PTI has reported.
The report in the South China Morning Post comes after Tokyo-based TheDiplomat magazine reported that China’s rocket forces conducted two testslate last year of a new “hypersonic glide vehicle” or HGV, known as theDF-17.Citing US intelligence sources, The Diplomat last month reported that thePeople’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force carried out the first test onNovember 1 and the second one two weeks later.
Both tests were successful and the DF-17 could be operational by around2020, the US intelligence sources were quoted as saying.
Asked about the two tests, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuangtoday declined to react saying the Defence Ministry should be approachedfor information on this. Both tests were successful and the DF-17 could beoperational by around 2020, the US intelligence sources were quoted assaying.
HGVs are unmanned, rocket-launched, manoeuvrable aircraft that glide and“skip” through the earth’s atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds.
Compared to conventional ballistic systems, HGV warheads can travel at muchhigher speeds, lower altitudes and less- trackable trajectories. Theapproach leaves defence systems less time to intercept the warhead beforeit drops its payload.
The DF-17 test missiles were launched from the Jiuquan launch centre inInner Mongolia and flew about 1,400 km during the trial, The Diplomatreported.
Chinese state media first reported on the country’s HGV technology inOctober, with footage of the system in a hypersonic wind tunnel in variousarrays.
Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming said HGV technology has becomepart of the nuclear strategy between the world’s three big nuclear powers:China, the US and Russia.
“Compared to conventional ballistic missiles, HGVs are more complex anddifficult to intercept,” Zhou told the South China Morning Post.
“The US, Japan and India should be worried about China’s developments inHGV technology because it can reach targets quicker and more accurately,with military bases in Japan and even nuclear reactors in India beingtargeted,” he was quoted as saying by the daily.
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Chinese military specialists said the DF-17 was one of several iterationsof glider systems developed by the PLA, including the DF-ZF which has beenthrough at least seven tests.
Song Zhongping, a former member of the PLA’s Second Artillery Corps, therocket wing’s predecessor, said the DF-17 was the weaponised model of theDF-ZF prototype.
Song, a military commentator for Hong Kong’s Phoenix Television told thePost that the HGV system could be used with various kinds of ballisticmissiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range of atleast 5,500 km.
He also said multiple HGV warheads could be used with the DF-41, which hasa range of at least 12,000 km and can hit anywhere in the US in less thanan hour.
Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said HGVs could also be usedto target and destroy a US anti-missile system known as THAAD, or TerminalHigh Altitude Area Defence, which are currently deployed in South Korea towar doff—- attacks from North Korea.
“China’s HGVs … could destroy the THAAD radar system if there is warbetween the two countries,” Wong said.
“Once the THAAD radars fail to function in the first stage, it could reducethe window to raise the alarm about the PLA’s [ICBMs] … leaving the USwithout enough time to intercept,” he said.