Report: Chinese Develop Special "Kill Weapon" to Destroy U.S. Aircraft Carriers

U. S. Naval Institute ^ | 3/31/09

[Evil Slayer]

With tensions already rising due to the Chinese navy becoming more aggressive in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy seems to have yet another reason to be deeply concerned.

After years of conjecture, details have begun to emerge of a "kill weapon" developed by the Chinese to target and destroy U.S. aircraft carriers.

First posted on a Chinese blog viewed as credible by military analysts and then translated by the naval affairs blog Information Dissemination, a recent report provides a description of an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) that can strike carriers and other U.S. vessels at a range of 2000km.

The range of the modified Dong Feng 21 missile is significant in that it covers the areas that are likely hot zones for future confrontations between U.S. and Chinese surface forces.

The size of the missile enables it to carry a warhead big enough to inflict significant damage on a large vessel, providing the Chinese the capability of destroying a U.S. supercarrier in one strike.

Because the missile employs a complex guidance system, low radar signature and a maneuverability that makes its flight path unpredictable, the odds that it can evade tracking systems to reach its target are increased. It is estimated that the missile can travel at mach 10 and reach its maximum range of 2000km in less than 12 minutes.

Supporting the missile is a network of satellites, radar and unmanned aerial vehicles that can locate U.S. ships and then guide the weapon, enabling it to hit moving targets.

[snarks_when_bored]

Report: Chinese Develop Special "Kill Weapon" to Destroy U.S. Aircraft Carriers

Suppose the Chinese take out one of our carriers. Do they really think that we couldn't hit the Three Gorges Dam? Sheesh.

[theFIRMbss]

>We live in interesting times

I never believed
I'd see a skyscraper fall.
I do not believe

I will ever see
an aircraft carrier sunk.
Just won't happen. Right?!

[mkjessup]

I’ll see their ‘Dong Feng 21’ and raise them 24 Trident D-5 SLBMs.

We got their ‘dong feng’ right here.

Of course, we don’t have much in the way of a Commander-in-Chief.

Fact is, we don’t have one at all.

[agere_contra]

Answering my own question: even the superb Yakhont missile (also a Russian import) is only Mach 2.5

The Chinese can’t have got ramjet missiles working already? Steerable mach 10 hypersonic missiles, yeah one of those would be a problem.

[Evil Slayer]

No...but he WOULD send then a letter of apology for having an aircraft carrier too close to their country as well as send then a check covering the expense for the missile and warhead that they had to invest in in order to destroy our evil carrier.

[nathanbedford]

I hope Freepers who are knowledgeable will post on this subject.

It seems to me that if this account can be credited the defense of the fleet at sea necessarily requires the destruction of Chinese satellites if the missiles themselves are likely to penetrate our defenses. This means the extension of war into space. The article seems to be telling us that missile to missile defense is quite difficult against these Chinese missiles, so that leaves the destruction of the guidance systems in space.

I would also like to hear from someone knowledgeable about the implications long-term for the viability of aircraft carriers. Does it not seem likely that they could rapidly become obsolete and the Navy would have to rely on submarines and missiles? Could missiles be slowed down at will and converted, in effect, into drones with ability to loiter and with, of course, television capabilities?

[Dixie Yooper]

Wonder how much of our tecnology we gave to them to make it for us.

We didn't give them anything...The Clintons sold it to them for a fair and reasonable price in campaign contributions.

[mak5]

Mach 10 is much, much faster than the Sunburn, though the other characteristics sound similar.

[woodbutcher1963]

“Chinese Develop Special “Kill Weapon”

I had some hot & sour soup last week that could have taken out the whole Pacific Fleet.

rim shot

[NorCoGOP]

Guess these idiots, the Chinese, forgot that we have ICBM with Nukes and can hit China anyplace any time. A reminder that fire one of these advance missiles and guess what will happen. Shortest war in history.

I see an even SHORTER version...the Chinese simply hint at threatening to do this to Obama, and he capitulates instantaneously...a bloodless coup.

He has no stones, and won't dare get involved in insulting his socialist comrades.

That, and the Chinese military has more soldiers than the United States has citizens...it's quality (US) over quantity (China) but Obama doesn't play that way...or any way that makes sense of a free people.

[sam_paine]

...the Chinese, forgot that we have ICBM with Nukes and can hit China anyplace any time. A reminder that fire one of these advance missiles and guess what will happen.

Obama will send an envoy to apologize.

Don't be ridiculous.

Our nuclear deterrence is effectively off-line till at least 2012.

[valkyry1]

DongFeng 21 (CSS-5) Medium-Range Ballistic Missile

http://www.sinodefence.com/strategic/missile/df21.asp

  The DongFeng 21 (NATO code name: CSS-5) is a two-stage, solid-propellant, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missile. The missile design is based on the two-stage JuLang 1 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). The DongFeng 21 is capable of delivering a 500kT nuclear warhead over a distance of 1,800km.

[unkus]

ping

[cripplecreek]

Chinese Spying a Threat, Panel Says (2007)

The panel, which was created by Congress in 2001 and has six members appointed by Democrats and six by Republicans, has been criticized for taking a hawkish stance on China in its annual reports. In the one released yesterday, it made 42 recommendations to Congress, and several of them raised questions about whether the Defense Department has been lax in overseeing the production of sensitive military technologies and gathering intelligence on the Chinese military.

The Pentagon is increasingly buying planes, weapons and military vehicles from private contractors that outsource the manufacturing to plants in China and elsewhere in Asia, the report said. But when questioned by the commission, defense officials admitted that they do not have the ability to track where the components of military equipment are made.

"As weaponry gets more and more sophisticated . . . I think well find ourselves more vulnerable for parts that are being manufactured by an adversary. It's really something the Pentagon needs to look at seriously," said commission member William A. Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, which promotes free trade on behalf of businesses. Members said that the commission had never before delved so deeply into national security issues.

Pure genius. [/sarc]

[Reaganesque]

Meanwhile, a US defense contractor has created the first 100-kW laser weapon that runs on a ship's existing electrical system and can reliably shoot down targets as small as mortar rounds. Comparatively speaking, Mach 10 is standing still to a anti-missile laser system.

Here's a picture of the system:

But then, Mr. Obama may think that's an unfair advantage for us to have...

[JoeA]

Clinton should have been impeached for allowing US missile technology to be sold to China. That was his greatest crime, of many.

[Petronski]

It is estimated that the missile can travel at mach 10 and reach its maximum range of 2000km in less than 12 minutes.

Uh, sorry. I don't believe it.

[theFIRMbss]

>16 warheads acan ruin your whole day



What would sixteen nukes
do to China? I would bet
we wouldn't target

urban areas.
So sixteen nukes would only
wreck some factories.

[sionnsar]

Do they really think that we couldn't hit the Three Gorges Dam? Sheesh.

Yah. And I can just see Zero giving that order. Not.

[Non-Sequitur]

...provides a description of an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) that can strike carriers and other U.S. vessels at a range of 2000km

A 2000 km range means at least an hour in flight. More than enough time to react and defend.