China Ballistic Missiles and Nuclear Arms Thread

[Richard Santos]

One consideration with solid/liquid fuel ICBMs is as penetration aid and maneuverable warheads makes terminal missile defense more difficult, I suspect more attention will inevitably turn to boost phase interception. One way to make boost phase interception more difficult is to give the missile booster very high initial acceleration, so the burn can be short, giving boost phase weapons less time to target the missile.

I suspect a solid fuel booster can attain much higher acceleration than a liquid fuel booster.

 

[bajingan]

At this time, US already had a reliable and survivable nuclear deterrent SSBN fleet, so having empty silo was a resonate strategy. CN need an assured second strike. I expect them to gradually filled all these silo and build a third silo site.

I think China already have survivable nuke force, i would imagine the great wall of underground tunnel to be as survivable as SSBN, but correct me if im wrong

 

[bustead]

One consideration with solid/liquid fuel ICBMs is as penetration aid and maneuverable warheads makes terminal missile defense more difficult, I suspect more attention will inevitably turn to boost phase interception. One way to make boost phase interception more difficult is to give the missile booster very high initial acceleration, so the burn can be short, giving boost phase weapons less time to target the missile.

I suspect a solid fuel booster can attain much higher acceleration than a liquid fuel booster.

Liquid fuel boosters can be turned on and off to confuse the enemy interceptors. They can be throttled to control the trajectory as well.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

One consideration with solid/liquid fuel ICBMs is as penetration aid and maneuverable warheads makes terminal missile defense more difficult, I suspect more attention will inevitably turn to boost phase interception. One way to make boost phase interception more difficult is to give the missile booster very high initial acceleration, so the burn can be short, giving boost phase weapons less time to target the missile.

I suspect a solid fuel booster can attain much higher acceleration than a liquid fuel booster.

boost phase intercept only work if you can catch the missile in boost phase. who is close enough to the middle of the desert in Xinjiang to attempt that?

 

[AssassinsMace]

There will be no boost phase interceptions. China's likely locations of its silos will be too far away for any boost phase intercept. And that's if everything goes right. The US cancelled its ABM in Alaska because it didn't work. Where's all that talk we use to hear about F-35s and X-47Bs hitting China's nukes? They would have to launched from a carrier and how long will it take to get to those silos before Chinese ICBMs exit boost phase to get there for them to have a chance? It's called too late. And lets not forget China's ASBMs to hit those carriers to which was demonstrated recently to the US launching two missiles... one near China's coast and the other deep inside China to hit a target in the South China Sea. China's ASBM has a longer range than the F-35s and X-47B hence why US carriers will have be further out at sea to avoid them which means even more further away from any silos. It's not like you can place an interceptor anywhere. It has to be in between where the ICBM is launched and its target. Any where else there's no chance at interception. So where can the US place interceptors to catch Chinese ICBMs? Oh, Alaska where the ABM has already been cancelled because it doesn't work.

 

[escobar]

Good to have confirmation from US state Dept on those LoW exercises. First EW sat was launched in Jan 2017. Now there are 3 EW sats in orbit and more to come.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1420702605588697091

 

[Richard Santos]

A generally effective boost phase interception system will have to be based in orbit.

 

[PiSigma]

They should just go ahead build them, and think of these silos as key national infrastructure projects. The missiles can be built gradually over time and the early warning system is currently under development. Right now, China has huge infrastructure building capacity and they can be deployed and put in good use. It will not always be so, as the population starts aging and labor will become expensive. In the '90s, China built the Underground Great Wall project. Time to start the In-the-ground Great Wall project now.

The underground great wall started in the 70s....

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

A generally effective boost phase interception system will have to be based in orbit.

And is currently nonexistent and not being developed. For good reason: you need to hit an extremely fast target with tiny radar cross section when you have no onboard sensors due to the reentry plasma sheath, and IR doesn't work due to heat of reentry exceeding any possible target signal

 

[Richard Santos]

boost phase interception depends on the large IR signature of a booster, not its radar cross section on any plasma sheath around an object in reentry.