Rattled nerves in the Pentagon — PLA’s DF-21D missiles already in service, says US report

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PLA’s DF-21D missiles already in service, says US report

DF-21D missiles displayed during the military parade to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China in 2009. (Internet photo)

A forthcoming report from the bipartisan US-China Economic and Security Review Commission indicates that two brigades of DF-21D ballistic missiles have already entered service with the People’s Liberation Army, Bill Gertz, senior editor of Washington Free Beacon, wrote in an article on Oct. 13.

The report will be published on November to discuss China’s military expansion. Citing China’s development of two stealth fighter models, the first deployment of a naval expeditionary amphibious group to the Indian Ocean and aerial bombing exercises in Kazakhstan, the report paints an alarming picture of China’s growing aggressiveness and expanding power that the country could bring to bear against the United States and its regional allies.

Despite the strong trade and financial links between Beijing and Washington, the report said that the Communist Party government in China still views the United States as its primary adversary. China’s rapid military buildup is changing the balance of power in the Western Pacific, it said, which may bring destabilizing security competition between China and its neighbors while exacerbating regional hotspots in Taiwan, the Korean peninsula, and the East and South China seas.

The report states that China may begin the deployment of its new new ultra-high speed strategic strike vehicle, the Wu-14, by 2020. The vehicle can glide to its targets at a speed of up to nearly 8,000 miles per hour. “Hypersonic glide vehicles could render existing US missile defense systems less effective and potentially obsolete,” the report said. Meanwhile, the report also described China’s large-scale buildup of both conventional and nuclear-armed missiles as a serious threat.

China has deployed DF-21C theater-range missiles with a range of about 1,240 miles (2,000 km) against potential targets in Japan and South Korea. It is apparently developing another system called the DF-16. A more advanced intermediate-range missile set to be deployed in the next five years will be able to hit US forces in Guam, Australia’s Northern Territory, the Middle East and Indian Ocean. Two brigades of DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles have also entered service in southeastern and northeastern China.

However, the Pentagon has not release an assessment of China’s nuclear forces since 2006. Back then, the PLA was estimated to have more than 100 nuclear warheads. Current estimates made by non-government analysts estimate the number of warheads in China’s arsenal at anywhere between 250 and 3,000.

The report also said that the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile with the capability to carry up to 10 independently-targeted warheads is likely to enter service as early as next year.

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