Question regarding these missile base !!
In the even of a US first strike, would all the base housing ICBM be taken out ?
How to deal with this ?
China ICBM/SLBM, nuclear arms thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
Question regarding these missile base !!
In the even of a US first strike, would all the base housing ICBM be taken out ?
How to deal with this ?
China stores its ICBMs below the mountains. There is a large network of underground storages and tunnels which Americans unimaginatively nicknamed the underground great wall.
antiterror13
Brigadier
8 per week, 400 ICBM per year ?
If that the case and hopefully true, it means there is no shortage of the warheads
You do understand that it is an engine factory not an ICBM assembly plant. Each ICBM needs three or four engines and 8 per week could just be a lucky week.
It looks that there indeed exists a 130 ton class 20 x20 hybrid-powered TEL.
For those wondering where the source is from .
The first chapter mainly said how they developed HTF5680, the TEL for DF-26 in 2004 and the "100t class eight-axle series chassis", obviously for DF-41 and DF-31AG.
The second chapter is much more interesting, on the prospect of their future development plan. It says that they developed a 130 ton class 20 x20 hybrid-powered TEL, and have been applied to an unspecified equipment.
For those wondering where the source is from .
The first chapter mainly said how they developed HTF5680, the TEL for DF-26 in 2004 and the "100t class eight-axle series chassis", obviously for DF-41 and DF-31AG.
The second chapter is much more interesting, on the prospect of their future development plan. It says that they developed a 130 ton class 20 x20 hybrid-powered TEL, and have been applied to an unspecified equipment.
This is very interesting. We might cautiously infer from this that the DF-45 will not be an exclusively silo-based missile, but might have a road-mobile option as well. One wouldn't go to the trouble of building a new 130 ton hybrid TEL simply to haul the missile to a silo.
Actually I don't really think this 130 ton TEL has to do with the rumored "DF-45".
Because iirc the 130 ton actually means that the total weight of TEL and ICBM combined, not the ICBM itself. The weight usually divided into half for example DF-41 is 52 ton ICBM and the 16 x 16 TEL is classified as 100 ton TEL. It would be quite reasonable, at least from my view that this 130 ton vehicle is intended for an ICBM around 65 ton weight.
Consequently this vehicle is probably from an ICBM in Trident D5 class instead of a monster like Peacekeeper. AFAIK it doesn't exist such thing in current inventory or rumors but we shall see how it unfolds.
The DF-41 is 60 tons and the HTF5980A is 40 tons. If the 60:40 split holds for this new TEL, then it's intended for a missile around 78 tons, which coincidentally fits exactly with what I heard from a very reliable source about the DF-45 (a 78 ton, 2.2m diameter missile).
However, this doesn't fit with the silos' diameter. Their diameter has been estimated at around 4.3m, and going by the two-thirds rule (missile diameter to silo diameter), they can hold missiles of diameter around 2.8m. This would be a much larger missile than this new TEL could support.
It could be that we're looking at two new missiles, a 2.2m diameter successor to the DF-41 and a 2.8m silo-based missile.
those are administrative 'bases' not physical ones. just like the US 5th fleet isn't an actual fleet, for instance, just the administrative designation for naval units that fall under the command station at Bahrain.