In the flight test of the DF-5C missile conducted in January, the rocket was fired from the Taiyuan Space Launch Center in central China and to an impact range in the western Taklamakan desert, reports the Washington Free Beacon’s senior editor, Bill Gertz, citing US defense sources.
The missile was carrying a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) bus containing ten inert warheads. Earlier versions of the DF-5 have either a single warhead or from six to eight MIRVs, according to estimates.
Gertz says the development may indicate a shift in China’s nuclear deterrence policy to modify older rockets with new MIRV busses, which could mean China intends to increase the number of warheads it possesses. It is currently estimated to have about 250. This would, in turn, force the US to review its own deterrence strategy in order to find a balance between China’s growing capacity and Washington’s nuclear limitation commitment to Russia.
Another theory is that the test was part of the development of a MIRVed payload that will eventually be used on the more advanced DF-41 missiles.
