China tests shield-busting missile, report

Trucks transport a version of the Dongfeng-5 missile. The DF-5A is China's only ICBM capable of hitting the U.S.

HONG KONG, China -- In a sign that Beijing is actively seeking ways to penetrate a future United State's missile defense shield, China is reported to have tested a ballistic missile capable of delivering multiple warheads.

Citing diplomatic sources, the report in the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbin newspaper, said the test conducted last month failed when the Dongfeng-31 (DF-31) rocket, with a range of 8,000 km (5,000 miles), exploded in mid-flight.

The missile was equipped with multiple independent re-entry vehicle (MIRV) capacity, the report said.

MIRVs enable a single rocket to launch several warheads in space simultaneously directed to different targets.

Such technology would boost the striking power of China's intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched missiles, the paper added.

The test -- which has not been independently confirmed by CNN -- follows Washington's decision in December to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and build a so-called National Missile Defense network.

MIRV capability would potentially enable Chinese missiles to overwhelm the proposed U.S. missile shield, which at present is only designed to knock out a very small number of incoming warheads.

Single warheads

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China's present ICBM arsenal is capable of hitting the United States but consists entirely of single warhead missiles.

A December 2001 U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report, said that China had 20 operational silos with CSS-4 (DF-5A) missiles. The CSS-4 has a range of 15,000 km.

It said that China planned to boost its arsenal of ICBM several fold to 75 to 100 by 2015.

China has had three new mobile strategic missiles in development since the mid-1980s, including the road-mobile DF-31, a DF-31 follow-on, and a submarine launched equivalent, the JL-2, the CIA report said.

All of these could be in service in the next decade, the report added.

'Baseless'

Dismissed by Beijing as "merely baseless speculation," the CIA report stated that China was committed to expanding its ballistic missile program.

"China's leaders calculate that conventionally armed ballistic missiles add a potent new dimension to Chinese military capabilities, and they are committed to continue fielding them at a rapid pace," the CIA report said.

Analysts say Beijing will see an expanded ICBM force as key to overcoming any U.S. missile shield and maintaining effective deterrence.

U.S. military planners insist any defense shield is designed to defeat small-scale strikes by "rogue states" identified by Washington to include Iran and North Korea.

But observers say it might also be sufficient to down all 20 of China's current ICBM fleet.

However, if Beijing added MIRV-carrying missiles to its nuclear arsenal, analysts say that such a shield would be largely ineffective in the event of a nuclear strike launched by China.