From the two videos from yesterday from Shilao/Yankee/Ayi, at least some of the range improvement with DF-31AG comes from using more energetic propellant which may not be visible from just looking at their shape.
China ICBM/SLBM, nuclear arms thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
It states that the test sparked protests from neighboring countries. Then it referred to Australia and New Zealand’s complaints. China and Australia/ New Zealand being neighbors? That’s news to me, last time I checked they were several thousand km apart.
I also find funny it says Japan complained it did not receive a warning after stating Chinese media reported the Chinese government gave relevant countries notice. That just means China didn’t consider Japan relevant lmao
antiterror13
Brigadier
Any mention of how much improvement would be ?
Well we saw the test the day before right? Just under 12,000km.
In the Qingting FM one Yankee also mentioned as far as ballistic missiles go there's been improvement in the casing material. Earlier missiles had fiberglass casing which was the most advanced composite available to China at the time which resulted in very heavy dry mass. After switching to carbon fibre filament wound casing they dry mass went down by a lot resulting in improved performance.
Note that that particular podcast was recorded before the DF-31AG photo was released, so Yankee was working from the perspective that the missile tested was DF-41. I can't recall exactly which missile he was referring to when he made the casing material improvement comment.
antiterror13
Brigadier
From the photo, it is clearly MIRV. Wondering whether it was launched from Hainan or deep inside interior China ? If it was from Hainan, why? it is very unlikely China will put ICBM in Hainan island
How did you find out 12,000 kms?
Nah, the length is basically the same. what little difference may appear to exist could be explained by the slightly different angle of the shot.
What I find curious is the fairly wide nose section. Especially compared to regular DF-31. That one obviously had room for a single warhead. But this nose fairing is, in theory, large enough to house 3 smaller warheads. It's really not much different from Minuteman III nose fairing.
Of course, that's far, far from being conclusive of anything. More warheads usually mean greater weight, which means less range.
And while the lower stage appears the same on original DF31 and later variants, the upper stage seems longer and possibly even a bit wider.
What I find curious is the fairly wide nose section. Especially compared to regular DF-31. That one obviously had room for a single warhead. But this nose fairing is, in theory, large enough to house 3 smaller warheads. It's really not much different from Minuteman III nose fairing.
Of course, that's far, far from being conclusive of anything. More warheads usually mean greater weight, which means less range.
And while the lower stage appears the same on original DF31 and later variants, the upper stage seems longer and possibly even a bit wider.
It was a launch from Hainan from a mobile TEL moved for testing purposes. This also shows the OPSEC level where a TEL was driving across China, loaded onto a transport, then driving around Hainan to an unprepared site, launched a missile, and was never detected until launch.
There may indeed be a recovery team for the ICBM test just like in 1980. Looks like the French spotted a 052D, a 054A and a resupply ship in their EEZ
Is there any operational reason they would need to do that? There isnt anywhere that a Hainan launched ICBM would be able to reach where a launch from the mainland would not.