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China steps up number of missile tests in drive to boost reliability
- New weapons previously had to be tested eight times, a requirement that has now risen to 15
- The number of tests carried out each year is secret, but a US State Department spokesman recently said there have been at least 250 ballistic tests this year
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China has increased the number of test flights its missiles must undergo before they enter mass production in an effort to improve reliability, according to a new study.
New air-to-air missiles previously had to take eight tests where they hit a moving target to prove their worth, a requirement that has now risen to 15.
When other tests – for example, checking its resilience against electromagnetic pulse attacks – are factored in, the new missile will have to undertake around 20 tests.
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In recent years China has increased the frequency and scale of military exercises using live, cutting-edge weapons.
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“Some problems such as unsatisfactory equipment delivery and unstable quality have surfaced,” military researcher Li Gencheng and colleagues with the China Airborne Missile Academy in Luoyang wrote in a paper published in the domestic journal Aero Weaponry in August.
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