Posted on 07/24/2012 9:30:33 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
Since the end of WWII, America's naval might has been undisputed and our aircraft carriers have been its crown jewels. However, the days of dominance could end with China's new DF-21D ballistic missile—the only device on Earth capable of sinking an aircraft carrier—four and a half acres of sovereign US territory—with one shot.
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi0d-eFiGN4&feature=player_embedded
The DF-21D (Dong-Feng 21 variant D) is the world's first and only anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM). It's a two stage, land-launched missile with a maximum estimated range of 2,700 to 3,000 km. Its single fuel-air explosive warhead packs 200 to 500 kilotons. It was developed by China Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics Technology Academy as part of the country's massive military modernization effort, an initiative focused primarily on developing overwhelming missile technologies for which there are no effective defenses. The Defense Department believes it entered active service around 2009.
While the Chinese obviously aren't saying much on the inner workings of the new missile system, military experts believe it will rely on China's Over the Horizon radar (OTH) to monitor a 3,000-km swath of the South China Sea, where China is now claiming dominion over. The OTH system bounces its radar signal off the ionosphere to see past the curvature of the earth. If the OTH detects a carrier battle fleet, the system instigates a set of Yaogan satellites to search the area and provide precise targeting data. Additionally, when the OTH detects an approaching fleet, the system will reportedly launch a swarm of micro-satellites into low orbit where they will help refine the targeting data further and transmit it back to the onshore command center. Meanwhile, UAVs will be launched to track the fleet. Once the missile has been launched and separated from its first stage, the warhead employs synthetic aperture radar to find the carrier. It receives real time telemetry data as it locks onto its target and initiates its terminal descent.
This capability could be used to effectively deny US carriers from intervening in, say, the Taiwan Strait. It could also be used as a very large stick in resolving local territorial disputes. Many members of the security community also worry that the FAE warheads could easily be replaced with nuclear ones. If that occurred, it would very lead to an arms race with Japan and India (neither of whom are particularly fond of the Communist PRC). Or, it could dissolve the US-Russian INF Treaty, which prevents the two countries from from deploying short and intermediate range land-based ballistic and cruise missiles. [Strategy Page - Wired - Dept of Defense - SinoDefense - Weapon and Technology - Wikipedia]
Liberals would be mildly amusing, if they couldn't vote.
It would be a pity if anything should happen to it...
/johnny
That set of Yaogan satellites would have a very short life expectancy if things heated up over there.
A missile that takes out a US carrier would be better named “The Nuclear War Initiator”.
Any administration that did not counter-strike VERY powerfully after a carrier sinking would doom their party to at least 2 generations out of power.
I was predicting the onset of this missile more than 5 years ago. Other freepers told me I was naive.
Amazing. And since they’ve been working on it since the 70’s, there’s absolutely no chance that the US would have tried to develop counter measures, like jamming their radio/radar signals, high-speed defensive missiles, or other measures that we haven’t even thought of. Wow...we just have to sit back and take it in the shorts.
Someone added some zeros somewhere.
/johnny
As of right now, a single Ohio class SSBN carries 96 nuclear warheads(W76 or W88).
That is more than enough to destroy the economic potential of China.
An attack on one of our CVNs would provoke a nuclear response.
If they ever do it I suspect life is going to change for a whole lot of us, regardless of who’s President.
You noticed this too? ;-)
I went and looked up the “Mother of All Bombs” on wikipedia. It is specified as an 11 ton explosive yield. So unless this puppy is nuclear - it isn’t going to be 200 to 500 Ktons!
China would also instantly lose access to the US market and cancel the worth of any US bonds held. India would eventually become the big economic winner after China/US trade was undone. The Chinese would really, really hate for India to be blessed this way.
Risking devastating economic and physical destruction for a chance to assert control over Taiwan seems stupid to me.
But then history is replete with examples of just such stupidity.
If china tagged a carrier, what’s the chance they’ll ever get their trillion and a half dollars paid back? Hint: name of most famous japanese wwii aircraft.
I assume that a fuel/air explosive has less energy than TNT, so the missile must carry a payload of at least 100,000 tons of fuel to mix with air. I wonder what it weighs at launch.
As I said, even a cook can see the numbers are utter bullsquat.
/johnny
It’s gotta be a big sucka!
The US has been experimenting with OTH since the 1980's, so they would know alot about that.
Also, since the 1980's, the US has been looking at Lasers to knock down missiles at distances.
What was the 1980's -- the Reagan Defense build up. Maybe we need to need to have a Manhattan type project for Lasers weapons that can take out incoming missiles of any kind.
Screw the treaties, full speed ahead...
I’m sure that Obama would send the most heartfelt note and condolences to the families of crew, he might even shed a tear and mention God.
To the Chinese he’d be quite scolding.
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