China Has 'Workable' Anti-Ship Missile Design, Pentagon Says - Bloomberg
China has developed a "workable design" of the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile, potentially capable of hitting and disabling a U.S. aircraft carrier, according to Pentagon officials.
China also has satellites in place "that could provide some targeting data on large surface ships in the region, and this expanding infrastructure is augmented by non-space-based sensors and surveillance assets," said Navy Commander Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Pentagon spokeswoman on China, in an e-mail.
"Over the next few years, we expect China will work to refine and integrate many emerging systems, including the DF- 21D" missile, she said.
The Pentagon statement, issued today in response to questions posed by Bloomberg News, provides details on the DF- 21D not included in the Defense Department's annual assessment of China's military power released yesterday.
Chinese advances in military technology are drawing administration and congressional scrutiny. The Pentagon is concerned that China may threaten the dominance of U.S. naval forces in the Pacific region.
In addition to the anti-ship missile, the Pentagon report said China has "continued work on its aircraft carrier and finalized the prototype of its first stealth aircraft."
China also has advanced, "Sizzler" sea-skimming, anti- ship cruise missiles. Ballistic missiles like the DF-21D descend from space at supersonic speeds and therefore are harder to defend against.
Growing Capability
Today's statement also builds upon remarks in December by Admiral Robert Willard, the head of U.S. Pacific Command, to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun that China had acquired an "initial operational capability" for the missile.
Neither the Pentagon statement nor Willard speculated on when China might have an effective system. China at this time "has provided no indication of whether they consider this an operational system," Hull-Ryde said. She declined to say if the Pentagon believes the missile currently poses a threat to U.S. carriers.
Taiwan, which relies on the U.S. military presence, says in its new 2011 National Defense Report that China already has "produced and fielded" the missile "in small numbers," said a translation provided by Andrew Erikson, an associate professor in the Naval War College's Strategic Research Department.
As many as five of the U.S. Navy's 11 carriers operate in the Pacific and sail freely in international waters near China. Their mission includes defending Taiwan should China seek to exercise by force its claim to the island democracy, which it considers a breakaway province.
Maneuverable Warhead
Yesterday's Pentagon report said the DF-21D, has a range exceeding 1,500 kilometers and a maneuverable warhead designed to provide "the capability to attack large ships, including aircraft carriers, in the western Pacific."
The missiles are intended for launch to a general location, where their guidance systems take over and spot carriers for attack with warheads intended to destroy the aircraft on decks, airplane-launching gear and control towers.
Before launch, the missile may also receive target coordinates from aircraft, drones, fishing boats and over-the- horizon radar, the Navy told Bloomberg News last year.
Unlike conventional radar, which bounces radio waves off objects straight ahead, over-the-horizon radar banks signals off the ionosphere, the uppermost layer of the atmosphere, to pick up objects at greater distances.
The number of China's warships with anti-ship weapons tripled to 36 from 12 since 2000, said Scott Bray, the Office of Naval Intelligence's senior officer for intelligence on China, in an e-mail to Bloomberg last year.
China last year conducted a "record" 15 space launches that expanded its space-based intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, navigation and communications constellations, yesterday's Pentagon report said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
26 Aug, 2011--
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