China Advances Missile Program

[Ryan Ruck]

China Advances Missile Program

By Bill Gertz
The Washington Times
June 22, 2005

China has successfully flight-tested a submarine-launched missile that U.S. officials say marks a major advance in Beijing's long-range nuclear program.

"This is a significant milestone in their effort to develop strategic weapons," said a U.S. official familiar with reports of the test.

U.S. intelligence agencies monitored the flight test of a JL-2 missile about 10 days ago, officials said.

The missile was launched from a Chinese submarine near the port of Qingdao and was tracked to a desert impact point in western China several thousand miles away, the officials said.

The Air Force's National Air Intelligence Center reported that the JL-2 "will, for the first time, allow Chinese [missile submarines] to target portions of the United States from operating areas located near the Chinese coast."

The JL-2 is estimated to have a range of up to 6,000 miles, enough to hit targets in the United States.

A defense official said the missile test was a major step forward in China's strategic nuclear missile program and shows an improved capability to produce and launch submarine-launched missiles. "It was a successful test," this official said.

The JL-2 is a submarine version of the DF-31 land-based missile.

A flight test of the JL-2 last year failed, U.S. intelligence officials said.

In December, however, China launched the first of a new class of ballistic missile submarines known as the Type 094.

It was not known whether the JL-2 missile was launched from the new submarine or from another submarine modified for missile launch tests.

China previously has used a modified Russian-design submarine for missile tests.

The Bush administration has expressed new worries about China's military buildup.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in Singapore June 4 that China has not disclosed its total military spending.

"China appears to be expanding its missile forces, allowing them to reach targets in many areas of the world, not just the Pacific region, while also expanding its missile capabilities within this region," Mr. Rumsfeld said.

"China also is improving its ability to project power, and developing advanced systems of military technology," he said. "Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder: Why this growing investment? Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases? Why these continuing robust deployments?"

The Pentagon will highlight the large-scale buildup in its annual report to Congress on the Chinese military, defense officials have said.

[Ryan Ruck]

Missile Advance

Pentagon officials tell us China's recent flight test of a new 6,000-mile-range JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile earlier this month was not the only recent troubling development in Beijing's military buildup.

About the same time as the JL-2 test, China also test-fired a new long-range air-to-air missile.

"The missile has over-the-horizon capability, something they have not had before," said one official familiar with the test.

Defense analysts believe the missile, which was not identified by type, could be one of China's new PL-12 air-to-air missiles, an indigenous missile that has beyond-visual-range radar guidance and targeting.

Air Force Gen. Paul V. Hester, commander of Pacific Air Forces, said in a recent meeting with reporters that China's fighter modernization is being watched closely and warned against underestimating Chinese military air power, as occurred with Soviet warplanes during the Cold War.

"They have great equipment. The fighters are very technologically advanced, and what we know about them gives us pause or concern against ours,"