Taiwan-based Want China Times has published suggestive evidence that China has tested its Dong Feng 21D anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), also known as the “Carrier Killer” to fans.
This missile will keep the “dog” out of China’s “backyard.”
According to the January 23 article, “PLA ‘sinks’ US carrier in DF-21D missile test in Gobi,” the “People’s Liberation Army has successfully sunk a US aircraft carrier, according to a satellite photo provided by Google Earth, reports our sister paper Want Daily — though the strike was a war game, the carrier a mock-up platform and the ‘sinking’ occurred on dry land in a remote part of western China.”
“A satellite image reveals two large craters on a 200-meter-long white platform in the Gobi desert used to simulate the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. The photo was first posted on SAORBATS, an internet forum based in Argentina. Military analysts believed the craters would have been created by China’s DF-21D anti-ship missile.”
“While claiming that the missile has the capability to hit aircraft carriers 2,000 kilometers away, the nationalistic Chinese tabloid Global Times stated that the weapon was only designed for self-defense; the DF-21D will never pose a serious threat to US national security because it is not even able to reach Hawaii, the newspaper said, though fully aware of the US naval deployment in the Western Pacific.”
“Underlining this point, Global Times took a common line from China’s national defense doctrine before the country acquired an aircraft carrier of its own — namely that carriers are an offensive weapon while anti-ship missiles are defensive. ‘It can be used like a stick to hit the dog intruding on our backyard, but it can never be used to attack the house where the dog comes from,’ the paper’s commentary said.”
Charley A
Has China also invented a moving piece of desert? How about water vapor? Not much in the desert.
@uss_fallujah
This is proof positive that China is able to hit a stationary target that requires no tracking, realtime targeting info or mid-course/terminal guidance. Wait, so how is this news?
Colin
And they still have to figure out how to defeat ECM and SM-3 missiles.
Ian E.
From the perspective of those serving with the Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific it may come as cold comfort that this was only a test shot (or two) under what appear to be less than realistic combat conditions. There are volumes of PLA-sponsored technical studies that suggest that the Chinese may already have the capability to penetrate a carrier strike group’s layered missile defenses and account for ship mobility. Published PLA Second Artillery research initially used advanced computer simulation programs to model the use of maneuvering reentry vehicles with sub-munitions to achieve “mission-kill” effects. This latest imagery would indicate a greater sense of confidence that it they may actually be able to sink a carrier with unitary deck penetrating warheads. My personal view is that we make bold assumptions about our ability to defend against Chinese ASBMs at our peril. This is a serious threat and should be considered in a serious manner.
JoJo
Yes, this is a serious threat. It’s gotten plenty of coverage in the open press over the past few years. The DF-21D is billed as The Carrier Killer. The DF-21D will force American carrier battle groups out of range of China. The DF-21D is said to have changed the balance of power in the Pacific. I find it curious that if this DF-21D is everything it is said to be, why haven’t all of the other Pacific powers acquired a version of this wonder weapon themselves? At the very least, one would think that if this thang can hit a moving carrier in the open ocean, it could also hit a land-based mobile missile launcher… How would one defend against this marvelous missile? By blinding and fouling the sensors used to cue it to its target and/or its onboard sensor? By a kinetic intercept? By simply hoping not to be at its intended aimpoint when it impacts? By counting on hitting the archer instead of the arrow before the rest of the arrows are launched (with what? Again, why doesn’t everyone else have a DF-21D?) By upping the ante with a nuclear counterstrike (what would be hit? A major military base? Haerbin? Shenyang? Guangzhao? Any thoughts on the reprecussions? Do you really want to go nuclear over the loss of a carrier?) Maybe this DF-21D isn’t really the wonderful idea the PLA 2nd artillery corps thinks it is… Dr. Strangelove must be cackling in his grave.
taiwanlink
Why doesn’t anyone besides China have such a weapon system?
First, the United States and Russia are bound by terms of the 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty. This restricts deployment of land based ballistic and land attack cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5500 kilometers. Japan restrains itself from developing extended range strike systems. South Korea focuses North Korea. Successive US administrations have coerced Taiwan into halting missile programs with ranges exceeding limits of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
In the meantime, there is little political cost imposed on the PLA for its missile-centric strategic. No effort to bring China into a global INF Treaty, and little attention paid to skirting MTCR restrictions when providing technical assistance to Iran, Pakistan, North Korea.
alowl
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just use a nuke and take out the entire carrier battle group?
This sounds like a sales pitch for more Star Wars weapons.