China Ballistic Missiles and Nuclear Arms Thread

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Lucas234

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Andrew Tate, London - Jane's Defence Weekly

18 February 2020


China is testing an intercontinental-range hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), according to written testimony submitted to the US Senate Armed Services Committee on 13 February 2020 by US Air Force General Terrence J O’Shaughnessy, commander of US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

Although Gen O’Shaughnessy did not identify any specific weapon programme – saying only that the weapon “is designed to fly at high speeds and low altitudes, thus “complicating” the US ability to provide “precise warning” – he was likely referring to a weapon different from the DF-17 HGV-carrying ballistic missile that was exhibited at China’s National Day Parade on 1st October 2019 in Beijing.
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"In the meantime, China is also investing heavily to improve the survivability and penetrability of its nuclear forces in an effort to guarantee its ability to retaliate following a strategic first strike. Among the novel weapon systems China is testing is an intercontinental-range hypersonic glide vehicle—similar to the Russian Avangard—which is designed to fly at high speeds and low altitudes, complicating our ability to provide precise warning."

According to Chinese unofficial sources, this new missile is called DF-27, it combines the first stage of the DF-26 IRBM with the DF-ZF hypersonic gliding vehicle (the same as in the DF-17), and its range could reach 7000 km.
 

Lucas234

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I don't think it's very convincing to say that the "DF-ZF" is the same as the HGV on DF-17. DF-ZFs were boosted by CZ-2C to a much higher altitude with faster shutdown velocity.

Well, several Chinese sources identify the HGV at DF-17 and DF-27 explicitly as the "DF-ZF" (i.e. the same known as WU-14 in American code system). We probably have to wait until an official info would be released, if ever...
 

AndrewS

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According to Chinese unofficial sources, this new missile is called DF-27, it combines the first stage of the DF-26 IRBM with the DF-ZF hypersonic gliding vehicle (the same as in the DF-17), and its range could reach 7000 km.

CBSA have an estimate of $21M-$23M for a Boost-Glide Missile with a range of 5500KM. Source below.
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If we assume a DF-27 has a range of 7000KM and costs say $30M, it would mean the following additional locations could be reached by hypersonic missiles launched from mainland China.

Darwin (Australia)
Perth Naval Base (Australia)
Brisbane (Australia)
Adelaide (Australia)
Wake Island
Pearl Harbour (Hawaii)
Elmendorf Air Force Base (Alaska)
The Seattle Naval Bases (Washington State)

Western Europe
The Mediterranean Sea
The Suez Canal
The Persian Gulf
Diego Garcia
 

by78

General
Some high-resolution images of DF-31.

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49698834336_2bb188e0b9_k.jpg

49698834481_cc9df886b2_k.jpg
 
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