China has acknowledged the existence of a new inter-continental ballistic missile said to be capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads as far as the United States, state-run media reported on Friday.
A government environmental monitoring centre in Shaanxi said on its website that a military facility in the province was developing Dongfeng-41 (DF-41) missiles, the Global Times reported.
The DF-41 is designed to have a range of 12,000 kilometres, according to a report by Jane’s Strategic Weapon Systems, putting it among the world’s longest-range missiles.
It is ‘possibly capable of carrying multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles’, the US Defence Department said in a report in June, referring to a payload of several nuclear warheads.
China’s military is highly secretive, and the Global Times said it had not previously acknowledged the existence of the DF-41.
The original government web post appeared to have been deleted on Friday, but the newspaper posted a screengrab. It also quoted a Chinese military analyst as saying: ‘As the US continues to strengthen its missile defence system, developing third generation nuclear weapons capable of carrying multiple warheads is the trend.’
A government environmental monitoring centre in Shaanxi said on its website that a military facility in the province was developing Dongfeng-41 (DF-41) missiles, the Global Times reported.
The DF-41 is designed to have a range of 12,000 kilometres, according to a report by Jane’s Strategic Weapon Systems, putting it among the world’s longest-range missiles.
It is ‘possibly capable of carrying multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles’, the US Defence Department said in a report in June, referring to a payload of several nuclear warheads.
China’s military is highly secretive, and the Global Times said it had not previously acknowledged the existence of the DF-41.
The original government web post appeared to have been deleted on Friday, but the newspaper posted a screengrab. It also quoted a Chinese military analyst as saying: ‘As the US continues to strengthen its missile defence system, developing third generation nuclear weapons capable of carrying multiple warheads is the trend.’