China's central government recently released an important piece of information about the performance parameters of the Dongfeng-41 ICBM. The missile has a maximum range of 14,000 kilometers, a launch weight of more than 60 tons, can carry 10 sub-guided nuclear warheads and strike with a strike accuracy of 100 meters. This Chinese *** intercontinental missile, with a total length of 165 meters, diameter only 225 meters and weighs about 60 tons. It underwent several test launches between 2012 and 2016, officially entered service in 2017 and was first shown to the public at the 2019 National Day parade.
The first feature of the DF-41 is its high speed, which can reach Mach 25, and it can reach Japan in 4 minutes from China and the United States or Europe in 30 minutes. This high speed makes it impossible for the US missile defense system to intercept at all. In addition, the 14,000-kilometer range allows the DF-41 to be launched from Chinese mainland, covering the entire territory of the United States without any dead ends. It can also carry one nuclear warhead with a yield of 3 million tons, or 10 nuclear warheads with a single yield of 300,000 tons.
The divided warhead not only solves the problem of a small number of missiles and a large number of targets, but also hides a decoy and false warhead in it, making the enemy's missile defense system ineffective. Each sub-warhead has an independent trajectory and can also maneuver and change orbit during re-entry, making it extremely difficult to intercept. The DF-41 missile has excellent maneuverability and high security, and can be launched by road, rail or fixed silos.
Relying on China's complex terrain and developed transportation network, it can be deployed and launched at any time under harsh conditions such as plateaus, mountains, and deserts, and is an all-weather all-terrain strategic weapon. Although the U.S. Minuteman-3 ICBM has a maximum range of 12,000 kilometers and three sub-warheads, is launched in a fixed silo mode and has a strike accuracy of 200 meters, it is inferior to China's Dongfeng-41 missile in many aspects. In addition, the Minuteman 3 has been in service for more than 30 years and is facing serious aging problems.
According to the development principle of the first generation of equipment, the development generation, and the pre-research generation, the Dongfeng-41 has been in service for 6 years, CCTV has announced its parameters, and the next generation of intercontinental missiles should already be under development. According to some information circulating on the Internet, the maximum range of the next-generation Dongfeng-51 intercontinental missile may be between 16000-18000 km. This means that the DF-51 can cover any corner of the globe and deliver a nuclear strike on any country.
In contrast, the DF-51 may increase the number of sub-warheads to more than 12, equipped with a variety of guidance modes such as missile computers, astronomical navigation, fiber optic gyroscopes and strapdown inertia, and has extremely strong anti-jamming capabilities. In addition, the Dongfeng 51 is also equipped with an anti-interception radar, which can be quickly calculated by the computer and provide a reasonable raid path to evade interception, so as to achieve strikes on the most valuable targets.
It is said that the DF-51 missile may be equipped with a hypersonic warhead, has hypersonic gliding flight capabilities, has stronger maneuvering and orbit change capabilities, and may fly at a speed far exceeding Mach 25, giving the enemy a shorter reaction time. It should be pointed out that the Dongfeng-51 is not an improvement on the basis of the Dongfeng-41 missile, but a completely new design. Therefore, when the DF-51 missile enters service, China's solid-fuel ICBM level will be among the best among China, the United States and Russia.
In addition, the launch model of the Dongfeng-41 missile is the Julang 3 missile, and with the entry into service of the 096 nuclear submarine with the Julang-3 missile, China's three-in-one nuclear strike system is only 20 years away. Looking forward to the early debut of the H-20.