China's DF-41 ICBM Launch
New Anti-Ship Carrier Killer?
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26 September 2024 (Thursday)
China's DF-41 ICBM Launch
New Anti-Ship Carrier Killer?
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI - We all know that China’s DF-26 anti-ship “carrier killer” was designed to do what no other country has been capable of achieving in the past - sink an aircraft carrier with a ballistic missile.
But why launch a DF-41 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) normally designed for nuclear warheads into the Pacific. Obviously, it can hit Hawaii, but why send the message at all, we all knew the DF-41 could hit INDOPACOM in Hawaii.
Unless China plans to nuke aircraft carrier groups coming to Taiwan’s rescue.
That has been debated in the halls of Washington and INDOPACOM in the past. China has not denied the idea. And it does make sense from a strategic point of view.
Is it possible the DF-41’s payload will not be a nuke, but a high-explosive warhead.
The DF-26 carrier killer only has a range of 5,000 km (3,100 miles). The DF-41 would push the U.S. Navy further from Taiwan during a crisis with a range of 12,000–15,000 km (7,500–9,300 miles).
Both have an accuracy rate of 100 meters (CEP).
The projection of force China could demonstrate in this manner would nullify the U.S. Navy’s control of the Eastern Pacific, leaving Japan, Korea, Philippines, and, of course, Taiwan, open to military hegemony.
Consider these books for further reading:
Chinese C4I/EW (Vol. 1) (2022) Volume 1.
Chinese C4I/EW (Vol. 2) (2022) Volume 2.
Chinese People's Liberation Army: Analysis of a Cold War Classic (2015)
Chinese Rocket Systems: Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (2016)
