Highlights
- People's Liberation Army has released a video of recent exercise.
- The exercise was conducted by China's newly-formed Rocket Force.
- The exercise included advanced DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile.
- Two types of DF-16 appeared in the exercise.
China's newly-formed Rocket Force has held an
exercise with advanced DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile with a range of
over 1,000km that could threaten number countries including India, Japan and
the US.
Significantly the People's Liberation Army (PLA),
which is secretive about its weapons systems, has released a video of the
recent exercise of its troops employing the advanced DF-16 medium-range
ballistic missile.
China's Rocket Force is a special contingent to
handle range of missiles in its military's arsenal.
Several launch vehicles carrying the ballistic
missiles were seen in the footage released to show the training of Rocket Force
missile brigade soldiers around the Spring Festival holiday.
The participating units handled a number of
scenarios, including chemical/biological contamination, countering satellite
reconnaissance and electronic jamming, state-run China Daily reported on Monday.
The crews practiced in multiple manoeuvres, such
as rapid loading, redeployment and launch sequence, though the video showed no
missile actually being launched.
Two types of DF-16 appeared in the exercise. The
video represents the third time the DF-16 has been shown to the public.
The missile made its debut at a military parade in
Beijing in September 2015.
In July, a television news programme showed
General Fan Changlong, a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission,
inspecting a DF-16 unit of the Southern Theatre Command.
Though the PLA has never disclosed its ballistic
missiles' specifications, experts said the DF-16 poses a challenge to foreign
military installations along the first island chain, which is what the Chinese
military calls the series of islands that stretch from Japan in the north to
Taiwan and the Philippines to the south, the Daily report said.
Since the election of Donald Trump as US
President+ , China has been striking aggressive postures against Taiwan after
he spoke to Taiwanese President Tsai-Ing-wen.
While criticising his moves, China has sent its
first aircraft carrier to Taiwan straits+ , as well as the first island chain
in the Pacific and stepped up naval drills in the disputed South China Sea.
Washington Free Beacon, a news website in the
United States that specializes in military affairs, reported on January 31 that
China conducted the first flight of the DF-5C intercontinental ballistic
missile in January.
China has also deployed its long range missile
close to the Russian border which the Russian media said is aimed at US.
Reports in the official media said China is
stepping up preparedness for a possible military conflict with the US+ as Trump
signalled to follow more hardline policy to counter China's claims on the
disputed South China Sea, official media reports here said.
A commentary in the official website of People's
Liberation Army's (PLA) said on January 20 the day Trump assumed presidency
that the chances of war have become "more real" amid a more complex
security situation in Asia Pacific.
Xu Guangyu, a retired major general and now a
strategy researcher, said that DF-16 has a strike range of more than 1,000 kms,
filling the gap that previously existed with the absence of a medium-range
ballistic missile in the PLA's arsenal.
He said the missile also is able to reach Okinawa,
a Japanese island about 400km from China's Diaoyu Islands.
Shi Hong, executive editor of Shipborne Weapons,
said the DF-16 has a strike accuracy as good as that of a cruise missile, Shi
said.
It is also able to manoeuvre in its final stage to
penetrate enemy defensive firepower, he said.
Other PLA Rocket Force brigades also mobilized
their DF-11, DF-15 and DF-21C ballistic missiles during training around Spring
Festival, according to PLA media outlets.
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