Conventional Medium-Range Ballistic Missile
Last updated: 2 May 2008
The PLA Second Artillery Corps began to deploy a new type conventionally-armed, solid-propellant, mobile-launch medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) in 2004~05. Carried and launched from a wheeled 10X10 transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) vehicle, the missile is believed to be capable of delivering a single and multiple conventional warheads weighting 2,000kg and have a maximum range of 1,700km.
An sketchy image of the new MRBM was first published anonymously on the Chinese Internet in November 2006, followed by a high-resolution photo showing two missiles with different warhead configurations published anonymously in July 2007. The PLA Daily website has also published a photo showing PLA Second Artillery Corps soldiers loading a missile onto a TEL vehicle exactly identical to that shown in previous photos, indicating that the missile system was already in operational use.
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| Two new MRBM systems with different warhead configurations (Chinese Internet) |
The exact designation of the missile is unknown. Some reports suggested that the missile might be the DF-25, a conventionally-armed MRBM developed in the late 1980s for export. With no further information on the missile emerging, Western intelligence concluded that the development was cancelled in 1996. However, the project may have been secretly kept alive and the missile was later adopted by the PLA for conventional roles. It is worth noting that this theory was not supported by the latest Pentagon report to the U.S. Congress on the PRC military power published in March 2008, with no mentioning of DF-25’s existence in the report.
A second theory is that the missile was an improved conventional version of the nuclear-armed DF-21 MRAM, possibly with a designation DF-21C. The two missiles share a similar range (~1,700km), but the DF-21 only has a payload of 600kg, compared to the 2,000kg payload of the DF-25. The two systems bear no resemblance in appearance. Finally, some suggested that the missile was a totally new design derived by removing the third-stage from the three-stage DF-31 ICBM and substituting a modified second stage.
Although the idea of using conventionally-armed ballistic missiles for tactical and strategic roles had been raised since the 1970s, the PRC had no conventional ballistic missile capability until the Second Artillery Corps added conventional strikes to its missions in the early 1990s. At the time of 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, the PLA Second Artillery Corps had only deployed 30~50 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM), but this number had increased to nearly 800 by 2007. The PRC Government outlined in its white paper China’s National Defence in 2006 that “the Second Artillery Force is striving to build a streamlined and effective strategic force with both nuclear and conventional capabilities”.
The 1980s conflicts with Vietnam over the sovereign of the disputed Nansha (Spratly) Islands in the South China Sea made PRC military planners realise that the PLA was incapable of operating far from the country’s coasts due to its lack of long-range strike aircraft, aerial tanker, and aircraft carrier. However, this deficiency could be partially offset by short- to medium-range ballistic missiles, which could provide an ability to deliver conventional firepower quickly over extended distances.
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Transported by railway (Chinese Internet) |
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| Loading missile onto the TEL vehicle (PLA Daily) |
Design
The new MRBM was the second solid-propellant MRBM deployed by the PLA, after the DF-21 that entered service in the late 1980s. The missile is mounted on a WS2500 wheeled 10X10 TEL vehicle, with a maximum load capacity of 28 tonnes. Reportedly developed under the assistance of Belarus and resembling the Russian MAZ543 missile TEL vehicle, the WS2500 shows strong off-road travelling ability.
The missile is placed inside a cylinder-shape container/launcher, with its nose extending outside of the launcher. The missile container/launcher is in horizontal position when in travelling and vertical position during launch. At the bottom of the container/launcher there are four large hydraulically operated stabilisers, which are lowered in preparation for the missile launch.
It is now known that type of warheads the new MRBM is carrying, but it can be assumed that the possible options for the warhead may include high-explosive (HE), anti-armour submunitions, fuel air explosive (FAE), and electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Like the DF-11 and DF-15 SRBMs, the new MRBM is likely to be equipped with a combined inertial/GPS guidance system, possibly coupled with terminal guidance for increased accuracy.
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| The TEL vehicle spotted on the road (Chinese Internet) |
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