China conducts first public test launch of intercontinental missile. China successfully fired a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. The report claimed that the intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM may have been DF-41. The ICBM carried a dummy warhead and ‘fell into expected sea areas’. Chinese officials said the test was a ‘routine arrangement in our annual training plan’.
China has typically conducted such tests in its own airspace, This is extremely unusual and likely the first time in decades that we’ve seen a test like this. (The test) likely speaks to China’s ongoing nuclear modernisation manifesting in new requirements for testing,” Ankit Panda, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said.
China has over 500 operational nuclear warheads in its arsenal. Reports suggest of these 500 nuclear warheads, 350 are ICBMs. China will probably have over 1,000 warheads by 2030: the Pentagon said. China is constructing hundreds of secret silos for land-based ICBMs US claimed.
In comparison, US has 1,770 & Russia has 1,710 operational warheads. Pentagon: by 2030, much of China’s nukes will be at higher readiness levels.
Navigational warnings and NOTAMs indicate that China tested DF-41 ICBM. ‘China appears to have launched a 3-stage intercontinental missile.’
It is estimated that the missile traveled 12,000 km, suggesting DF-41 was tested. DF-41 is a 4th-generation solid-fuelled road-mobile intercontinental missile.
It is China's latest ICBM, which first came into service in 2017. DF-41 uses 3-stage solid propellant engine and has 12,000 to 15,000 km range.
Chinese state-run media reported that DF-41 has a high degree of accuracy and can evade defenses. It uses an inertial guidance system, augmented with stellar updates, and navigation.
The Guidance system enables DF-41 to achieve circular accuracy of 100 meters