Could the US Navy Destroy Attacking Chinese “Carrier-Killer” DF-26 Anti-Ship Missiles?

Video Above: Maj. Gen. Pringle Manned-Unmanned Teaming

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

China’s well known and much discussed “carrier-killer” missiles have been making headlines for many years now, as major weapons threats capable of keeping US Navy carriers from operating close enough to the Chinese coastline for sea-launched aircraft to attack.

DF-26 Missile

There have been numerous Chinese test firings and ominous warnings that these weapons could, in effect, “back off” US carriers by virtue of demonstrating an ability to destroy them. The DF-26 is China’s most powerful anti-ship missile. It’s 46 feet tall and weighs 44,000 pounds. “

The DF-26 comes with a ‘modular design,’ meaning that the launch vehicle can accommodate two types of nuclear warheads and several types of conventional warheads,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. stated.

With a range of up to 2,500 miles and 4,000-pound payload, with satellite targeting the DF-26 in theory could strike U.S. Navy warships across the western Pacific Ocean. “Even when launched from deeper inland areas of China, the DF-26 has a range far-reaching enough to cover the South China Sea,” an unnamed military expert told Global Times in a report several years ago.

However, upon closer examination and careful reading of public comments from senior Navy officials, there certainly seems to be room for debate on this question. While certainly nobody questions the seriousness of a threat of this kind, and clearly the Chinese weapons are taken seriously, yet some of the threat language might accurately be assessed as “hype” given the steady stream of ongoing advances in layered Carrier and Carrier Strike Group defenses.