Is it true!?
Hell! 14000km!
Can you link me source?
rhino123's excellent post above contains the detailed technical information that you seek. The following is what I have previously written.
Estimated range of 14,000 km for the JL-2 is at the upper range of estimates, but it is still close to the 12,000 km range for the Trident II. The extra 2,000 km may be explained by a slightly bigger JL-2 missile or arming the missile with a smaller warhead to reduce the weight.
A third possible explanation is that, since the JL-2 was built 16 years after the Trident II, the JL-2 may have been designed with improved lightweight (e.g. composite) materials and/or been lavished with a lot more supercomputer time on its design.
A fourth possible explanation is that the JL-2 has only two stages, instead of the three stages for the Trident II. "Such design simplifies the structure of the missile and largely reduces missile's overall weight by reducing one stage." (See newslink below)
I selected Wikipedia as a source because I wanted to quote that two Type 094 submarines have been "confirmed to be launched" and the "United States government has expressed concern over these submarines, saying that the Chinese government has not been transparent enough about the program." Feel free to adjust the JL-2 range downward to "11000-12000 km" to match the Trident II's range.
"In late 1980s and 1990s, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering named Wang Zhenhua (王振华) proposed a new theory typically for the JL-2 SLBM, called "
(Free) Relaxation into Trajectory" (自由入轨).
Based on this theory, JL-2 only needs two stages to achieve its intercontinental status instead of three. Conventionally, any type of ICBMs has three phases to finish its flight: (i) the boost phase, (ii) the mid-course phase, and (iii) the terminal phase.
Wang's idea is to combine the first and the second phases into one, the passive-boost phase (助推段). Plus the final atmospheric reentry phase, therefore, in total the JL-2's trajectory only has two phases and two stages.
The first phase is based on the first solid-fueled rocket engine (first stage). The first stage passively launches the missile out of the atmosphere, and accelerates it into a speed in between the first (7.9 km/s) and second (11.2 km/s) escape velocities.
When the missile is in this transition state, the first stage booster sheds off, and the missile automatically adapts its "free" trajectory and further reaches its maximium altitude (without a constant velocity); the dominating force here is just the earth's gravity. The second stage engine (liquid-fueled) then starts working.
Normally, SLBM has three stages.
Such design simplifies the structure of the missile and largely reduces missile's overall weight by reducing one stage. Additionally, it
increases the atmospheric reentry velocity, which
leads to more difficult interception, such as, by the NMD."
I wrote the following in December of last year.
"Another launch of Russia’s Bulava missile ended with a failure." "Russia has held ten test launches of the Bulava rocket since 2003: five of them proved to be unsuccessful." "Experts say that several consecutive unsuccessful launches of the missile endanger the whole project." See
American publications believe the Julang 2 is comparable to the American Trident SLBM.
"The JL-2 is comparable in size and performance to the American Trident C-4 long-range multiple-warhead three-stage solid-fuel missile." See
or
"According to American experts, the JL-2, like China's intercontinental surface-to-surface Dongfeng-31 (DF-31), tested successfully this summer, is equipped with technology adapted from the Trident D-5." See
"
The Trident D-5 has a maximum range of 12,000 km (7,456 miles), similar to that of silo-based systems, and has a payload as large as 2,800 kg. Its payload carries a Post-Boost Vehicle (PBV) which can carry 8 to 12 Reentry Vehicles (RVs), though the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) limits the number to eight. These RVs can either be the Mk 4 with a W76 100 kT yield warhead or the Mk 5, which has a W88 475 kT yield warhead. The missile is almost certainly equipped with countermeasures. The system uses an inertial navigation system combined with a stellar reference system that provides an extremely high accuracy of 90 m CEP. The missile has a length of 13.42 m, a width of 2.11 m, and a launch weight of 59,090 kg. It uses a three-stage solid propellant engine."
"
China Prepares To Test New ICBM
Beijing (AFP) December 7,
1999 - China will imminently test the Julang 2, an intercontinental sea-to-surface ballistic missile with an
estimated range at least 9,000 kilometres (5580 miles) that will boost its nuclear deterent capability, foreign military experts in Beijing said Tuesday.
"The test is imminent," said an expert who asked to not be named, but added the missile, capable of hitting any city in the United States and Europe, could be equipped with a small nuclear warhead.
According to Monday's Washington Times newspaper, the transit of Chinese Golf class submarines from southern areas to the north of the country, carried out last month, signals the approach of the JL-2 test.
The newspaper also put the range of the Jl-2 at nearly 12,000 kilometres.
China's Foreign Ministry downplayed the report Tuesday, and said China was entitled to develop military programs for its own defence, dismissing talk of a "China threat"."
