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What is the DF-41 missile and how does it fit into China’s ICBM programme?
Last month’s launch of Beijing’s deadliest intercontinental ballistic missile outside Chinese airspace puts spotlight on its fast-growing nuclear arsenal
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Almost a decade has passed since the People’s Liberation Army pulled the trigger on President Xi Jinping’s plans for a massive overhaul of the world’s biggest military. In the first of a series on Chinese weapons systems, we look at the sharp end of the country’s missile programme.
When China conducted an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test outside its airspace for the first time in 44 years last month, international attention zeroed in on advances in the country’s rocketry programme.
The missile used in the test is thought to have been a DF-31AG, a variant of a third-generation weapon that went into service about two decades ago.
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But the People’s Liberation Army has developed an even more advanced kind of ICBM, the fourth-generation DF-41, which can go further and carry more warheads.
The DF-41’s origins
The DF-41 was launched in 2017 as part of the Dongfeng missile series – a family of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
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The name Dongfeng, meaning “east wind”, comes from Mao Zedong’s speech in 1957 after the Soviet Union transferred its R-2 ballistic missile to help China develop its programme. “There are now two winds in the world: the east wind and the west wind,” Mao said.
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