China is developing a new long-range intercontinental ballistic missile with multiple nuclear warheads as part of a large-scale strategic and conventional forces buildup, the Pentagon confirmed Thursday in its annual report to Congress.
“China also is developing a new road-mobile ICBM known as the Dong Feng-41 (DF-41), possibly capable of carrying multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRV),” the report says.
It was the first time since 2007 that the Pentagon acknowledged the development of the road-mobile DF-41, which U.S. officials said was test launched twice since 2012, most recently in December.
The Washington Free Beacon first disclosed details of the DF-41 last year. The missile is part of China’s large-scale strategic nuclear missile buildup, that includes three other ICBMs, the DF-31, DF-31A road-mobile missiles, and the JL-2 submarine-launched missiles.
The DF-41 is assessed by U.S. intelligence agencies of being capable of carrying up to 10 MIRVs.
“We have been seeing pictures of [the DF-41] since 2007, but now we know that the Pentagon knows that [People’s Liberation Army] PLA nuclear warheads will be increasing faster with the introduction of this ICBM,” said Rick Fisher, a China military analyst with the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
“The Second Artillery continues to modernize its nuclear forces by enhancing its silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and adding more survivable mobile delivery systems,” the Pentagon report said, referring to China’s Second Artillery Corps, as the strategic nuclear missile forces service is known.
The report also said China has deployed three Jin-class ballistic missile submarines and that up to five of the submarines will be built before a newer generation missile submarine comes online.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/pentagon-confirms-new-chinese-long-range-icbm-development/
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