Anushka Saxena
China’s decision to test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean on 25 September 25 was unusual—but not very unusual, because the country has similarly tested shorter-range ballistic missiles over a variety of geographies.
Still, the event calls for explanation, since it was the first ICBM test into the Pacific since 1980, and an operational weapon of that class would be capable of delivering a strategic nuclear warhead. The test was not quite ‘routine’, as the armed forces called it.
Some possible explanations are geopolitical; another is simply that the armed services needed to demonstrate operational readiness.
The weapon deployed a dummy warhead that landed near French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean.
Images from the test, first shared on the official WeChat account of the People’s Liberation Army, suggest there was no fixed launch pad on which the launch vehicle was placed. China’s newest ballistic missiles are carried in vehicles that transport them, erect them for firing and launch them (and are therefore called TELs).
No comments:
Post a Comment