To think that all this would've gone under the radar if some amateur didn't happen to see it while pouring over satellite image... Yikes.
China Ballistic Missiles and Nuclear Arms Thread
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To think that all this would've gone under the radar if some amateur didn't happen to see it while pouring over satellite image... Yikes.
You mean CASIC just phoned some teenager one day and said, "hey kid, wanna make an easy 1000 bucks off the CIA?"
No. It's no secret that the US has a lot of satellite imagery of China.
They'll have picked up on it, and decided that this development should be leaked to the public.
There's no point in the US keeping this news a secret.
The US has ZERO interest in nuking anybody. As for "what they're doing to Russia", Putin attacked another country. Should we have sent him flowers?
escobar
Brigadier
He’s also saying the H-6N bomber with the nuclear ALBM "is entering its second year of operational service.” And he new seems to indicate that the new JL-3 SLBM is already on the 6 Jin-class SSBNs: Enhancing the survivability of its sea-based deterrent, the third generationL JL-3 submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) allows the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s(PLAN) now six JIN-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) to target CONUS from a Protected bastion within the South China Sea.
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You misunderstood my post. My point was the defense establishment did not know that these installations even existed until a university student found those while pouring over satellite images for fun.
I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to field the DF-31A in the missile silos.
If China were to deploy DF-41s, theoretically that could be 3000 warheads which is excessive.
The US Minutemen missiles only have 1 warhead each, despite having the capacity to carry 3 warheads.
So the smaller (and cheaper) DF-31A could be used with just 1 warhead instead. That should give it the additional range to reach all of the USA. But some of the DF-31A could be fitted with more warheads at the expense of some range.
Which boggles the mind when you think about it. Makes you wonder how they missed it. More than a few heads should have rolled over this.
No, DF-31A is useless. DF-41 with 10x warheads is likely a maximum payload with an energy minimizing trajectory. If you want any other trajectory you need to lighten the load and with silos you definitely need to have flexible trajectories for rapid response.
DF-41 also benefits from economies of scale. Keeping 2 production lines open isn't worth the small extra marginal cost and even that goes down with increased volume.
I wouldn't be surprised if they deploy DF-41s with just 3-5x warheads each in the silos. No need to max out.
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