China Set to Deploy Nuke-Equipped Ballistic Missile Capable of Reaching US

• China Set to Deploy Nuke-Equipped Ballistic Missile Capable of Reaching US
  by http://sputniknews.com/  
  As Chinese President Xi Jinping meets counterparts in Washington DC for the Nuclear Security Summit, military experts suggest that Beijing could soon be in possession of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental United States.
  –
  US military experts have raised concerns over China’s DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile.
  –
  “Given the number of real reported tests, it is reasonable to speculate the DF-41 will be deployed to PLA Strategic Rocket Force bases in 2016,” said Richard Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, according to the Financial Times.
  –
  The missile has an estimated range of 9,000 miles and is the first in Beijing’s arsenal to be capable of delivering multiple warheads to any part of the US from any location on the Chinese mainland. Unlike previous Chinese missiles, the DF-41 is not limited to a silo, and can be deployed with a mobile launcher.
  –
  Until 2008, China was believed to have only 20 nuclear warheads. According to Fisher, that number has now ballooned to between 200 and 400. This is still a far cry from the arsenal of the United States, which is believed to comprise some 4,760 nuclear warheads.
  –
  “We will see a period of rapid increases in the numbers of China’s nuclear warheads that can reach the United States,” Fisher said. 
  –
  The Chinese military has made a number of advancements in recent years. The DF-21D “carrier-killer” has already made US Navy vessels vulnerable in the Pacific. The newer DF-26 model is also capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.
  –
  “That ‘change the warhead, not the missile’ feature provides a rapid switch between nuclear and conventional,” Andrew Erickson wrote for the China Youth Daily newspaper last December.
  –
  read more.

end