Beijing has test-fired its Dong-Feng 26 (DF-26) so-called “Guam killer” missile which can reportedly reach targets up to 3,500 miles away. While no specific threat has been made against Guam, experts cited by Chinese state media say the missiles can reach the Micronesian US island territory which houses several US military bases.
Footage broadcast on state television showed the DF-26 missiles being launched into the air, while their experts claimed that the missiles were capable of hitting moving aircraft carriers according to ABC.
They told the paper that the missile’s “double-cone structure”, as well as the “information network connected to the warhead” — which could include a variety of radar and satellite systems — would allow the moving target’s location to be constantly updated.
China’s Ministry of National Defence has previously said the DF-26 missiles were capable of carrying conventional nuclear warheads.
The missiles are believed to be able to strike targets up to 4,500 kilometres away, putting the Pacific island of Guam in range. The US territory hosts Air Force and Navy bases. –ABC
The DF-26 missiles were first rolled out during a 2015 PLA parade.
The DF-26 is deployed on a transporter-erector-launcher and the US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center estimates that as of June 2017, more than 16 launchers were operationally deployed along a number of coastal provinces from Zhejiang and Fujian all the way to Guangdong.
There have also been rumors that the DF-26 may also have been installed on the Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal, also known as Huangyan Island, in the eastern portion of the South China Sea.
Information on the DF-26 since its media debut at a 2015 military parade show that the versatile missiles can look for and lock onto moving targets onshore and offshore, such as an aircraft carrier, while cruising at a top speed of up to 18 times the speed of sound after re-entry into the atmosphere. –Asia Times
Between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatening to hit Guam with “an enveloping fire” and China’s new “Guam killers,” residents of the tiny island nation have got to be at least a little nervous.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2TmUeZI Tyler Durden