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China’s cutting-edge Dongfeng 41 ICBM. (taken from the website Global Security)

The hypersonic ballistic missile that China reportedly test-launched last year is intended to counter the US, Japan and India, Chinese experts contend. One possibility is that the THAAD battery deployed in South Korea might be a primary target of the weapon during a clash between China and the US.

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, said China’s hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) “could be used with various kinds of ballistic missiles,” the South China Morning Post reported on Jan. 2. Song was responding to a recent report in The Diplomatic, a foreign affairs website, about China’s test launch of a Dongfeng 17 (DF-17) ballistic missile carrying an HGV.

While the DF-17 is a mid-range missile (1,800-2,500km), Song’s remarks indicate that an HGV can also be loaded on an ICBM with a range of over 5,500km. Delivered by a Dongfeng 41 (DF-41), which has a range of at least 12,000km and can carry a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV), an HGV could strike any location in the US within an hour, Song said.

Hypersonic glide technology has been in the spotlight because it enables a missile to fly faster than conventional missile launch systems while maintaining a low altitude, making it difficult to intercept. For this reason, the technology is also regarded as a challenge to the US missile defense network.

On Dec. 29, the Diplomat quoted an American source as saying that the Chinese military had successfully carried out two test launches of a DF-17 carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province in Nov. 2017 and that the weapon would likely be ready to deploy by 2020.

“The US, Japan and India should be worried about China’s developments in HGV technology because it can reach targets quicker and more accurately, with military bases in Japan and even nuclear reactors in India being targeted,” said military analyst Zhou Chenming.

Some analysts believe that the Chinese military could use missiles carrying these hypersonic glide vehicles against the THAAD battery deployed with American troops in South Korea. “China’s HGVs… could destroy the THAAD radar system if there is war between the two countries. Once the THAAD radars fail to function in the first stage, it could reduce the window to raise the alarm about the PLA’s [ICBMs]... leaving the US without enough time to intercept,” said Antony Wong Dong, a military analyst in Macao.

By Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent

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