China's new DF-27 hypersonic missile poses a significant threat, capable of striking US West Coast targets with conventional payloads from thousands of miles away.
By Kris Osborn
The Chinese arsenal of land-fired ballistic missiles is quite extensive and well positioned to blanket Taiwan, Japan or the Philippines with large numbers of incoming projectiles. Many of them operate with mobile launchers and are able to reposition as needed to avoid air-attacks and become less detectable to overhead satellites, drones and other sensors. The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force has a large number of short, intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles, and several of its anti-ship missiles such as the DF-26 are being configured for dual use options, meaning they can carry both a conventional or nuclear payload. These weapons can easily hold areas at risk up to and slightly beyond the first island chain, as they can reach ranges of 2,000 miles and beyond.
Chinese Ballistic Missiles
China’s short range ballistic missiles, such as the DF-15 and DF-16 can travel up to 1,000km, its medium range weapons such as the DF-26 can travel 2,000 miles and hold Guam and US Navy carriers at risk at great distances from the Chinese mainland. The PLA also operates long-range ICBMs capable of targeting the continental US from China, such as DF-31, DF-41 and DF-4 capable of traveling from 7,000 up to 15,000km, weapons which can clearly hold the US homeland at risk of nuclear attack. The DF-41, for example, can operate with Multiple Re-Entry Vehicles, weapons able to strike numerous targets from a single host missile.
These Chinese ICBMs are well known, yet the PLA is now adding a “conventional” missile able to travel the same distances as an ICBM, meaning non-nuclear weapons could travel across the Pacific between continents to target the US homeland. China’s new hypersonic DF-27, for instance, is said to be capable of reaching distances up to 8,000km. This not only introduces the risk of attacking at hypersonic speed, but introduces a new threat variable as it appears capable of threatening Hawaii and the West Coast of the US with conventional weapons from mainland China. The other element of this relates to US Navy carriers, as a weapon of that range could hold carriers and warships at risk from thousands more miles beyond the first island chain in the Pacific.
Chinese Hypersonics
The DF-27 gives the PLA conventional attack reach in an unprecedented fashion and also expands its ability to attack with hypersonic weapons. China’s existing hypersonic DF-17 is cited as being capable of traveling as far as 2,000-miles at Mach 10, yet the hypersonic DF-27 can reach at least twice this distance and hit targets at hypersonic speeds out to ranges of 8,000km.
Both the DF-27 and DF-17 fire hypersonic glide vehicles, high-speed maneuvering projectiles which do not follow the traditional parabola-like trajectory of most ballistic missiles. Hypersonic Glide Vehicles IHGVs) are boosted up to the boundary of the earth’s atmosphere and then use the pure speed of descent to close in upon a target. HGVs maneuver extensively and can be pre-programmed with software to make specific maneuvers. This makes them very difficult to track or defend against, as the projectiles travel too quickly from one radar aperture or field of view to another, something which complicates any effort to establish a continuous track. The US Navy also operates HGVs and will deploy hypersonic Conventional Prompt Strike weapons from its warships and submarines over the next few years.
Nuclear vs Conventional
There is yet another element of complexity associated with this kind of weapon, as a long-range conventional ICBM would easily or quickly be mistaken for a nuclear attack and inspire or prompt a nuclear response. Some argue that this kind of ambiguity or “dual-use” phenomenon could “lower the threshold” to nuclear war and potentially introduce new levels of danger to global security. At very least, the arrival of the DF-27 appears to give the PRC an ability to stroke the U.S. with conventional weapons in an entirely new fashion from its mainland.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University