A 2015 photo of a Dong Feng-26 missile after a parade in Beijing. ICEUNSHATTERED VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
As “great power competition” becomes the lingua franca of American strategy, U.S. policymakers and analysts must build a greater familiarity with the Chinese strategic systems that increasingly worry combatant commanders and which would play an essential role in any Indo-Pacific crisis.
Since 2017, the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, the service responsible for China’s conventional and nuclear missiles, has added 10 brigades — more than a one-third increase — and deployed an array of formidable new weapons. These new systems include the intermediate-range DF-26 ballistic missile, DF-31AG and DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles, CJ-100 cruise missile, and DF-17 hypersonic glide vehicle. A new nuclear-armed DF-21 variant, speculatively referred to as the DF-21E, may have also been deployed but has not yet been officially unveiled.
We know the most about the DF-26, which is thought to be able to strike ground and naval targets out to about 4,000 kilometers. Publicly revealed in 2015, this IRBM has quickly become one of the PLARF’s most widely deployed systems, equipping at least five brigades so far. These brigades are widely geographically dispersed, with one each in northwest, northeast, and central China, and two more in the southeast, indicating the centrality of the DF-26 to a wide variety of theaters and missions. The DoD has reported both that the PLARF already possesses around 200 DF-26 launchers – a shockingly high figure – and that China continues to manufacture new ones. Hence, it is likely that the number of DF-26 brigades is set to grow still further.
A fair amount is also known about the DF-31AG, an improved variant of the DF-31 ICBM. First shown in 2017, it has a range of over 11,000 kilometers. The missile is fielded with at least three brigades deployed in central China, and perhaps a fourth. Both the DF-31AG and its predecessor are mainstays of the PLARF’s strategic deterrence role, as outlined in China’s 2019 Defense White Paper.
Navy Vet
Article URL : https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021/03/what-do-we-know-about-chinas-newest-missiles/172782/