China Ballistic Missiles and Nuclear Arms Thread

[antiterror13]

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U-235 ->52 kg
Pu-239 -> 10kg

This a spherical, normal density sphere, composed of 100% pure material,without netutron reflectors.

In the warhead the chemical high explosives compress the pit, increasing its density, and dramaticaly decrease the critical mass.
Additionaly they using neutron reflectors as well.

So, in the warhead a few kg ( I think 3 kg) pu239 required, but the ratio of pu239 to u235 will be the same.

And if the mass of the pit bigger,then you need more explosive, bigger reflector and casing, so it scaling up the size of the primary stage dramaticaly.

Thank you.

So, really we are talking about 12 kg extra of using U-235 than PU-239 per warhead. I don't think it is a big deal, now I understand why it seems China is no longer producing PU-239 .. just go with pure U-235 .. almost impossible to detect U-235 producing by China

But it may be over simplistic view of me who knows very little of that matter .... sorry

 

[Anlsvrthng]

Thank you.

So, really we are talking about 12 kg extra of using U-235 than PU-239 per warhead. I don't think it is a big deal, now I understand why it seems China is no longer producing PU-239 .. just go with pure U-235 .. almost impossible to detect U-235 producing by China

But it may be over simplistic view of me who knows very little of that matter .... sorry

The W88 is 360kg.
The increase of pit from 3 kg to 15 kg means that the required ammount of HE will increase as well ,and the casing has to be more heavy.

Without knowing anything beyond the basic of the nucelar weapon design ( logicaly, othrwise I would face prison : D ) the primary weight will increase by 40-80kg.
It will increase the holarium as well.

So, I think the warhead mass will increase by 10-40%, means the number of delivery vehicles will increase by the same amount to ship the required number of warheads to the adress.

 

[antiterror13]

The W88 is 360kg.
The increase of pit from 3 kg to 15 kg means that the required ammount of HE will increase as well ,and the casing has to be more heavy.

Without knowing anything beyond the basic of the nucelar weapon design ( logicaly, othrwise I would face prison : D ) the primary weight will increase by 40-80kg.
It will increase the holarium as well.

So, I think the warhead mass will increase by 10-40%, means the number of delivery vehicles will increase by the same amount to ship the required number of warheads to the adress.

yeahhh, perhaps instead of 10 warhead, now only able to carry 8 .. still better in my view .. without PU-39

I think you know nuclear weapon design more than most people .. so prepare for the jail time .. sorry just a joke

 

[Hendrik_2000]

CAS State Key Laboratory of High Temperature Gas Dynamics is developing a new wind tunnel which can simulate the flight speed from Mach 10 to 25.

 

[nicky]

Ex-chief of strategic missile force named China’s defence minister

Straits Times

March 18, 2018

BEIJING - China has named its former strategic missile force chief as defence minister, completing a shake-up of its top military brass that began in October last year.

General Wei Fenghe’s appointment on Monday (March 19) underscored the firm grip that President Xi Jinping now has over the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), said analysts.

 

[timepass]

China Acknowledges Sale Of Advanced Missile Technology To Pakistan...

Pakistan test fires its new Ababeel surface-to-surface ballistic missile in Pakistan on Jan. 24, 2017. Ababeel has a maximum range of 1,350 miles and is capable of delivering multiple warheads using multiple independent re-entry vehicle technology, according to Pakistani sources.

Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

"China has sold Pakistan an advanced tracking system that could boost Islamabad's efforts to improve ballistic missiles capable of delivering multiple warheads, according to The South China Morning Post.

The website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the deal with Pakistan, and Zheng Mengwei, a researcher with the CAS Institute of Optics and Electronics, confirmed to the Post that the purchase was of a "highly sophisticated large-scale optical tracking and measurement system."

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[Hendrik_2000]

China’s most advanced nuclear missile DF-16 spotted based at an abandoned airfield

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26 March, 2018

Unveiled in 2015, DF-16 is designed to evade world-class interception systems; user drills were conducted in May last year.

New Delhi: China’s advanced medium-range nuclear-capable missile — the DF-16 — has been spotted in what appears to be an abandoned airfield in the southern province of Guangzhou, latest satellite images reveal. The solid-fuel missile with a range of 1,000 km is designed to evade the most advanced air defence systems in the world.

Nuclear exercise
Chinese strategic forces, also known as People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force or PLARF, have made tremendous progress since its raising on 1 July 1966. From a small force manning the DongFeng (Eastern Winds) missiles, known as the Second Artillery Corps (SAC), they have transformed into an automated modern force capable of taking out targets with precision across most of the world.



The PLARF recently made upgrades to its inventory and has been conducting training exercises to ensure the mobility of its weaponry and enhance its soldiers’ ability to operate the missiles under various conditions of light, environment, weather and geography.

One such exercise was conducted at the end of May 2017, with 18 transporter erector launchers. This exercise has been caught in the latest satellite imagery that ThePrint has analysed. The drills were carried out close to Shaoguan, Guangzhou, in southern China.

Abandoned airfield


The location appears to be an isolated and abandoned airfield, which was earlier a base for J-7E combat aircraft of the 9th Fighter Division. It was abandoned somewhere around the year 2000. The isolated location provides the perfect environment for training exercises of the PLARF with a support base barely 15 km northwest of the military township of Lishizhen.

The location has access to major road, rail, speed rail and obviously air. The airstrip was probably repaired in 2012 to bring it back to shape. Between 2012 and 2013, a separate fenced area has been constructed with administrative and living buildings.

There is a special platform prepared possibly for communication vehicles supporting the deployed unit. The size and shape of the antenna suggests it is high-frequency communication. A weather monitoring station also exists at the airbase.

DF-16
Satellite imagery available is not of high enough resolution, making it difficult to accurately identify the missile type. However, the size and shape of transporter erector launchers or TELs suggests that it is most likely to be a DF-16 system.



The DF-16 is the latest of DongFeng series of medium-range ballistic missiles or MRBMs in PLARF inventory. It made its debut on 3 September 2015 parade at Beijing. It was also paraded during the 90th Anniversary of People’s Liberation Army or PLA.

It is a solid fuelled missile and comes with a range of 1,000 km. This version of DF-16 is believed to rise higher before re-entry to evade MIM-104 Patriot PAC-3 surface-to-air missile systems.

DF-16 is considered the most efficient among the world’s medium-range ballistic missiles due to its ability to penetrate, anti-jamming capability and accuracy.

This has a TEL very similar to DF-21, making it difficult for most experts to identify it with accuracy.

Deployment
Satellite imagery dated 28 May, 2017 shows 18 TELs and a few support vehicles. The TELs of DF-16 are seen adopting a possible convoy formation ready for march. Seven TELs are lined up and other TELs are parked as if in a garrison parking area.

Three small vehicles are observed ahead of the convoy and two are seen on the side of the convoy. These are probably used for military police escort that are seen with PLARF convoys. There are 19 temporary shelters observed near the ATC complex of the airport. These 18 m x 6 m shelters have camouflage pattern to evade detection. These are possibly used for parking of the TELs and specifically designed for field deployment and camouflage of the TELs.



The DF-16 deployment at this isolated airbase provides an excellent opportunity for training without much support elements. The abandoned airport seems to have been made usable as a field deployment location for testing/training/deployment of PLARF forces.

Implications
The location of DF-16 deployment area falls under the 827th Brigade of 52nd Base of the PLARF. The brigade was earlier known to have DF-21Cs.

This identification indicates that either 827th Brigade’s assets have been changed or an additional brigade has been allotted to the 52nd Base.

 

[Hendrik_2000]

From Henri K blog
An institutional document confirms that the DF-17 is a Boost-Glide hypersonic glider gun with a maximum speed of Mach 10, which made its first full-range test in 2014. It is either the one carried out in January, in August or in December.
3 years has gone by since the succesfully test at Mach 10 now they should be ready for IOC.The program started in 2009 So almost 10 years by now.They did 9 test with 1 failure sofar

 

[Hendrik_2000]

The same news from Oedo
同公示のほかの人の資料による、中国初の実戦向け極超音速ブースト滑空式機動飛行ミサイルシステム(最大速度マッハ10)が2009年に開発着手、2014年に全行程飛行試験に成功した。

ENGLISH
Hypersonic boost gliding type mobile flight missile system (maximum speed Mach 10) for China's first real warfare was launched in 2009, according to data from other people in the same public notice, succeeded in the full flight test in 2014.

 

[SinoSoldier]

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China is developing a nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile, likely based off the DF-21.

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April 10, 2018

China is developing and has been flight-testing a nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) along with a new long-range strategic bomber to deliver it, The Diplomat has learned.

According to U.S. government sources with knowledge of the latest intelligence assessments on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, China has conducted five flight tests of the unnamed missile. The U.S. intelligence community is calling the new missile the CH-AS-X-13.

The missile was first tested in December 2016 and was most recently tested in the last week of January 2018, according to one source. In recent years, the directors of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) have made reference to this nuclear-capable ALBM in their two most recent on-record worldwide threat assessments.

The two most recent tests of the system involved aerial launches off a modified H-6K strategic bomber capable of being refueled while in the air.

The new bomber, dubbed the H6X1/H-6N by the U.S. intelligence community, has been modified from standard variant H-6s for the ALBM delivery mission. The modifications have been made by Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation, the manufacturer of all H-6 bomber variants since the late-1950s. The H6X1/H-6N may have been the subject of speculation in August 2017,

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appeared on Chinese social media.

The CH-AS-X-13, meanwhile, is a two-stage, solid-fuel ballistic missile with a 3,000 kilometer range; it is likely a variant of the DF-21 medium-range ballistic missile. The missile may use lighter weight composite materials in its airframe to reduce the necessary carry weight for the bomber.

The H6X1/H-6N is assessed to have a combat radius of nearly 6,000 kilometers — a significant improvement from older H-6 variants. As a system for nuclear delivery, the CH-AS-X-13 on the H6X1/H-6N, assuming a launch from the edge of the bomber’s combat radius, will be capable of threatening targets in the contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Alaska.

According to a source who spoke with The Diplomat, the U.S. intelligence community assesses that the CH-AS-X-13 will be ready for deployment by 2025.

This is in line with a September 2016 announcement by People’s Liberation Army Air Force General Ma Xiaotan,

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, that China would develop a new generation of long-range strategic bombers to be deployed around the mid-2020s.

Aside from the H6X1/H-6N, China has developed the H-6 into a range of support and attack roles. The H-6K, for instance, is capable of delivering standoff range CJ-20 land-attack cruise missiles with precision guidance. These bombers have conducted missions across the so-called First Island Chain, into the western Pacific.

Additionally, the People’s Liberation Army Navy operates the H-6G, which is designed for anti-ship and maritime support missions.

In recent years, senior U.S. intelligence officials have acknowledged the development of a nuclear-capable ALBM in China.

On March 6, 2018, Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley,

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, said that “These capabilities are being augmented with two new air-launched ballistic missiles, one of which may include a nuclear payload.”

In May 2017, Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart, the former director of the DIA, for the first time, referenced “two, new air-launched ballistic missiles, one of which may include a nuclear payload.”

It’s unclear if the conventional ALBM referenced in these DIA threat assessments is an alternate warhead configuration for the nuclear-capable system. A conventional variant of the CH-AS-X-13 could perform a long-range anti-ship role.

ALBMs are carried horizontally by aircraft and dropped prior to their engines igniting. Following ignition, the missile reorients toward a regular ballistic trajectory like any other ballistic missile.

Why an Air-Launched Ballistic Missile?

Air-launched ballistic missiles are an unusual configuration for ballistic missiles. No country has inducted and deployed an ALBM as part of its strategic forces; the closest would have been the United States, which developed the GAM-87 Skybolt in the 1950s.

The Skybolt program, which also involved the participation of the United Kingdom, was ultimately cancelled in favor of the submarine-based Polaris system. U.S. President John F. Kennedy cancelled the program in the final weeks of 1962, weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The United States conducted subsequent experimentation with ALBMs,

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off a C-5A Galaxy strategic airlifter. Today, the United States uses ALBMs dropped from C-17 Globemasters as target missiles for its tests of missile defense systems.

The Soviet Union, too, is thought to have briefly experimented with modifying its Tu-160 strategic bomber to carry a nuclear-capable ALBM, but the project foundered in the early 1980s and never proceeded to flight-testing.

Until the advent of reliable submarine-launched ballistic missiles and ballistic missile submarines, ALBMs offered an attractive means to improve the survivability of land-based nuclear forces in silos.

As a crisis would escalate, countries could direct their strategic bomber fleets, equipped with ALBMs, to high alert status. Once an ALBM-equipped bomber had taken off — presumably after warning of an incoming launch or the start of an attack — national leadership could be assured of some retaliatory capability.

Given the standoff ranges available to ALBMs, bombers carrying these weapons do not necessarily need to penetrate hostile airspace to be effective.

For China, the pursuit of an ALBM capability may suggest real concern about the survivability of its existing nuclear forces. With an estimated 270 nuclear warheads, China is not a near-peer nuclear adversary of the United States and has a lean force posture built around a longstanding pledge of no first use.

Operational training for the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (formerly the Second Artillery Corps) has long simulated retaliatory launch operations after the country has already absorbed a nuclear strike — presumably against known basing sites for its intercontinental-range ballistic missiles, both in silos and on road-mobile launchers.

In this context, China’s pursuit of an ALBM capability might not be so surprising. Assuming a sufficiently distributed bomber force, the long-range H6X1/H-6N and CH-AS-X-13 could lend important retaliatory flexibility to Chinese nuclear forces.

Moreover, with Chinese concern growing about U.S. missile defenses, a long-range strategic bomber carrying an ALBM could present U.S. homeland missile defense systems with challenging or impossible intercept geometries. (China’s deployed nuclear ballistic missile submarines also have this advantage.)

Finally, in a conventional conflict with the United States, China may plan on its conventional anti-access/area denial capabilities securing air corridors for its bombers to access airspace far into the western Pacific. The ALBM, given its relatively short assessed range of 3,000 kilometers, may ultimately find more use as a theater ballistic missile.

U.S. and allied fighters in Northeast Asia and surface ships in the Pacific could deny the H6X1 the necessary access to make the ALBM useful as a weapon for strategic nuclear retaliation.

Beijing’s growing suite of anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles, hypersonic boost-glide warheads, and conventional short-to-intermediate-range systems, however, could neutralize U.S. air defenses and airfields in the East Asian theater.

Given the lack of any authoritative Chinese statements on the burgeoning ALBM program and the lack of an imminent date for deployment, it’s possible too that the program is merely experimental and serves as a technology demonstrator for now.

Whatever the rationale for developing an ALBM, China isn’t the only country bringing back this ballistic missile launch configuration. At his Federal Assembly address on March 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced the Kinzhal,

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. The nuclear-capable Kinzhal is has been shown to be capable of launch from a MiG-31.

Ankit Panda is a senior editor at The Diplomat, where he covers security, politics, and economics in the Asia-Pacific region. He is additionally an adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists. He tweets at @nktpnd.