China's making carrier-killer missile to conquer the world ?
Washington, Dec 29 (IANS) The Chinese military is working on an anti-ship ballistic missile programme capable of sinking aircraft carriers, a US naval official said.
The Washington Times quoted US Admiral Robert F. Willard, commander of the US Pacific Command, as saying that the new anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) is now in the early stages of deployment after having undergone extensive testing.
'An analogy using a Western term would be 'initial operational capability (IOC),' whereby I think China would perceive that it has an operational capability now, but they continue to develop it,' Willard said.
'I would gauge it as about the equivalent of a US system that has achieved IOC.'
The new weapon, the 'D' version of China's DF-21 medium-range missile, involves firing the mobile missile into space, returning it into the atmosphere and then manoeuvring it to its target. Military officials consider using ballistic missiles against ships at sea to be a difficult task that requires a variety of air, sea and space sensors, navigation systems and precision guidance technology - capabilities not typical of other Chinese missiles, the Times report said.
The admiral said that while the US thinks 'that the component parts of the anti-ship ballistic missile have been developed and tested', China's testing has not gone as far as a live-fire test attack on an actual ship.
'We have not seen an over-water test of the entire system,' he said.
Military specialists have said the DF-21D deployment is a potent new threat because it will force US aircraft carrier strike groups to operate farther from hot spots in the western Pacific.
Currently, US military strategy calls for the Pentagon to send several strike groups to waters near Taiwan in the event China follows through on threats to use force to retake the island, the report said.
The lone US aircraft carrier strike group based permanently in the region is USS George Washington, whose home port is in Yokosuka, Japan. A second carrier is planned for Hawaii or Guam.
Admiral Willard did not discuss what countermeasures the US Navy has taken against the new anti-ship missile. US naval task forces include ships equipped with the Aegis system designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.
December 29 2010 at 10:42am
China is stepping up testing on a space missile that could sink American aircraft carriers in the Pacific, a US naval commander warned on Tuesday.
The news increased tensions between Washington and Beijing as concerns grow that China is boosting its military might.
The anti-ship missile, which is fired into space before hitting its target, could alter the balance of power in the Pacific.
The land-based ballistic warhead was specifically designed to threaten the US fleet. It can track down and target aircraft carriers hundreds of miles away.
Admiral Robert Willard, the top US commander in the Pacific, warned that as part of China’s aim to become a global sea power, the missile had already reached “initial operational capability”.
He said: “The anti-ship ballistic missile system in China has undergone extensive testing.”
But he added that full deployment could take several years.
Massive growth in China’s spending on its armed forces and a drive for military modernisation is causing alarm at the Pentagon.
Defence experts say the Dongfeng 21 D missile is a “game changer”. It would be the world’s first land missile system capable of hitting a moving aircraft carrier.
Using satellites, unmanned aerial drones and over-the-horizon radar, the Chinese would launch the warhead into space before manoeuvring it towards a target. - Daily Mail
China's Anti-Aircraft Carrier Missile 'Closer to Completion'
China is getting closer to building a ballistic missile designed to sink aircraft carriers, the chief of the U.S. Pacific Command claimed Monday.
Adm. Robert Willard told the Asahi Shimbun he believes that the Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile program has reached "initial operational capability." This means that "a workable design" has been settled on and is being developed further.
The missile, dubbed Dong Feng 21D, is expected to be a ship-to-carrier ballistic missile capable of carrying six 450 kg warheads and have a range of 1,300-2,000 km. It has been described as an "aircraft carrier killer" because it can sink a carrier with a single stroke by penetrating the hull and then exploding inside. A prototype was first shown during a parade marking the 60th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army in April 2009.
/Courtesy of Military.China.com
China apparently plans to deploy the missile warfare ready in 2012. Military experts say it poses a threat to the U.S. ambitions to control the Pacific. If it is deployed, U.S. aircraft carrier fleets will have to stay out of range in waters more than 2,000 km from the Chinese coast.
In a report in August 2009, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence said China's development of the missile would create a "no-access zone" for the U.S. military.
But Willard raised doubts about the capability of the Dong Feng 21D, saying it will not pose a more serious threat to the U.S. and its allies than China's submarines.
Beijing has neither denied nor confirmed the development, but the official Chinese media on Aug. 13 said the PLA "will test-fire a weapon under an important state weapons project."
China 'stepping up anti-carrier missile tests'
TOKYO — China is stepping up efforts to deploy a "carrier-killer" missile system, the commander of the US Pacific Command has said in an interview with a Japanese newspaper published on Tuesday.
"The anti-ship ballistic missile system in China has undergone extensive testing," Admiral Robert Willard told the Asahi Shimbun in Honolulu, according to a transcript of the interview on its website.
Willard said China appeared to have achieved "initial operational capability" but it would take "several more years" before fully deploying the system.
US military analysts have warned China is developing a new version of its Dongfeng 21 missile that could pierce the defences of even the most sturdy US naval vessels and has a range far beyond Chinese waters.
Washington has expressed rising concern over China's military intentions following a string of double-digit increases in Chinese military spending and the rapid modernisation of its armed forces.
In the interview, Willard also said China aims to become a global military power by extending its influence beyond its regional waters.
"They are focused presently on what they term their near seas -- the Bohai, Yellow Sea, South China Sea, East China Sea," Willard said.
"I think they have an interest in being able to influence beyond that point, and they have aspirations to eventually become a global military," he said. "In the capabilities that we're seeing develop, that is fairly obvious."
Referring to tensions on the Korean peninsula, Willard warned that North Korea is ready to take another provocative step and called on China, Pyongyang's sole major ally, to play its role in defusing the situation.
"I think, for now, we're past this particular crisis, but we have no doubt, given North Korea's history, that a next provocation is readied," Willard told the daily.
"It's a matter of assessing how it might be deterred or how the North Koreans might be dissuaded from exercising the next provocation," he said.
"We think the US-Republic of Korea (South Korea) alliance is part of that deterrence effort," he said. "We think the international community and China in particular are another part of it."
Tensions have been high following the North's shelling of a South Korean border island, which killed four people, including two civilians. The South's forces are on alert for any fresh attacks.
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