China Flight Tests New Multi-Warhead ICBM

(CCTV screenshot)

 

Tenth DF-41 launch shows Beijing’s most lethal nuclear missile nears deployment

China moved closer to deploying its newest and most lethal strategic weapon by conducting the 10th flight test of the DF-41 intercontinental-range missile last week.

Defense officials said the flight test of the multi-warhead DF-41 took place May 27 at the Taiyuan Space Launch Center in northern China and flew overland several thousand miles to an impact zone in the western Gobi Desert.

“We are aware of recent flight tests and we continue to monitor weapons development in China but we cannot provide information on specific tests,” Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Lt. Col. Christopher Logan told the Washington Free Beacon.

China deploys ICBMs on Russian border since Trump inauguration

Russian and Chinese news media reported Tuesday that China has deployed its topline Dongfeng-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles in the northeastern Heilongjiang province on Russia’s Far Eastern border – it is thought in response to US President Donald Trump’s “provocative” remarks. Media close to the Beijing government said that China intentionally revealed the Dongfeng shortly after his inauguration on Jan. 20, claiming, “A military clash with the US is the last thing China wants, but China’s nuclear arsenal must be able to deter the US.”

Latest NATO security threat: Russia’s nuclear force modernization

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s use of Russian conventional forces to destabilize Ukraine and prop up Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime certainly got the attention of Western analysts and policy makers.

But now, Russia’s nuclear forces are undergoing dramatic modernization.

Russia Doubling Nuclear Warheads

New multiple-warhead missiles to break arms treaty limit

Russia is doubling the number of its strategic nuclear warheads on new missiles by deploying multiple reentry vehicles that have put Moscow over the limit set by the New START arms treaty, according to Pentagon officials.

A recent intelligence assessment of the Russian strategic warhead buildup shows that the increase is the result of the addition of multiple, independently targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs, on recently deployed road-mobile SS-27 and submarine-launched SS-N-32 missiles, said officials familiar with reports of the buildup.

“The Russians are doubling their warhead output,” said one official. “They will be exceeding the New START [arms treaty] levels because of MIRVing these new systems.”

The Chinese Plans to Nuke America

A recent publication details the fallout from a strike on the United States.

When one reads enough Chinese naval literature, diagrams of multi-axial cruise missile saturation attacks against aircraft carrier groups may begin to seem normal. However, one particular graphic from the October 2015 issue (p. 32) of the naval journal Naval & Merchant Ships [舰船知识] stands out as both unusual and singularly disturbing. It purports to map the impact of a Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strike by twenty nuclear-armed rockets against the United States.

China developing new DF-31 for multiple warheads: US official

China appears to be developing a new variant of the solid-fuel, road-mobile DF-31 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying multiple warheads.

Inside the Ring: Russia to test new missile

Russia will test launch a controversial missile over the next several weeks that U.S. officials say is raising new concerns about Moscow’s growing strategic nuclear arsenal and Russia’s potential violations of arms treaties.

The RS-26 missile is expected to be deployed with multiple supersonic, maneuvering warheads designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses in Europe, U.S. officials told Inside the Ring.

…

“The Russians are advertising this as a system capable of defeating U.S. missile defenses in Europe,” the aide said. “At the same time, the State Department is accepting Russia’s claim that this is an ICBM and doesn’t violate INF. It can’t be both.”

Missile Mania

China last week carried out a second flight test of a new long-range mobile missile that is capable of hitting United States cities with a nuclear warhead. The test took place days before North Korea is set to fire its long-range missile, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

U.S. intelligence airborne and space sensors detected the flight test Friday of the road-mobile DF-31A missile as it lifted off from the Wuzhai Space and Missile Test Center. The missile flew west to an impact range in western China.