China’s ‘aircraft-carrier killer’ missiles successfully hit target ship in South China Sea, PLA insider reveals
- DF-26B and DF-21D missiles launched in August struck moving vessel close to Paracel Islands, former senior colonel Wang Xiangsui says
- ‘This is a warning to the US, asking it not to take any military risk,’ he says
This is the first time the Chinese side has revealed details of the missile launches, which were first reported by the South China Morning Post in August. The news was later confirmed by the US military.
One of the missiles, a DF-26B, was launched from the northwestern province of Qinghai, while the other, a DF-21D, lifted off from Zhejiang province in China’s east.
Why China brought out the ‘aircraft-carrier killer’ to flex its military muscle
“So several days later [after the aircraft carrier manoeuvres], we launched the DF-21 and DF-26, and the missiles hit a vessel sailing south of the Paracel Islands,” Wang said at a closed-door meeting in Zhejiang last month. The details of his speech were published for the first time on Wednesday.
“Shortly after that, an American military attaché in Geneva complained [to us] and said it would lead to severe consequences if the missiles hit an American aircraft carrier. They see this as a show of force. But we are doing this because of their provocation,” Wang said.
His remarks were made during the four-day Moganshan forum to discuss domestic and international issues and China’s new five-year plan.
“This is a warning to the US, asking it not to take any military risks,” Wang said. “Such actions mark the bottom line of Sino-US confrontation.”
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The missile launches came at a time of high tensions between Beijing and Washington over the disputed South China Sea.
The US Navy said on July 4 it had deployed two aircraft carrier groups, led by the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, to conduct tactical air defence exercises in the disputed waters “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific”.
Song Zhongping, a former instructor with the People’s Liberation Army’s Second Artillery Corps, said the mission was evidence that China could carry out long-range precision strikes against medium to large surface vessels.
“To hit a moving object is not an easy task, especially for ballistic missiles, which normally hit a stationary target,” he said. “The mission shows Chinese missiles are a real deterrent against US warships.”
Michael Raska, an assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said China was developing advanced combat systems capable of negating the United States’ traditional military superiority.
Explainer | South China Sea: the dispute that could start a military conflict
“The key problem for the US is to sustain its long-term deterrence, particularly in contested areas, while simultaneously mitigating risks,” he said.
The PLA has more than 1,250 ground-launched ballistic missiles and ground-launched cruise missiles with ranges of up to 5,500km (3,400 miles). The US has a single type of conventional ground-launched ballistic missile, with a range of 70km to 300km, the report said.