China Tests Sub-Launched Nuclear Missile That Can Hit USA From Thousands Of Miles
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Sat, 12/22/2018
China conducted the first known flight-test of its JL-3 solid-fuel, submarine-launched ballistic missile last month, according to The Diplomat, citing US government sources with knowledge of the test. The test took place in the Bohai Sea from a modified conventional submarine, according to the Washington Free Beacon, which first reported the test this week.
The JL-3 will include advanced precision guidance technology as well as anti-jamming capabilities, utilizing a “photonic-crystal optic-fiber gyroscope” as well as other guidance systems described as “terminal boost, stellar guidance and scene matching guidance.” According to the Beacon, the JL-3 will include missile-defense penetrating features such as variable trajectory, a stealth warhead which evades radar, and motors which burn quickly and early in order to reduce the heat signature detected by US warning satellites. Furthermore, the JL-3 will feature “water-exit” technology that will optimize underwater ejections from launch tubes.
To launch the new missiles, Beijing is developing a “Type 096” nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) which is expected to begin sea trials in 2021 – 2022.
The test on November 24 did not see the JL-3 fly to its full range. The first flight test likely verified the system’s proper cold ejection from the submarine-based launch tube. The missile’s full range is likely to be in excess of 9,000 kilometers, according to U.S. intelligence estimates.
The JL-3, along with the Type 096, will mark the modernization of China’s sea-based nuclear deterrent, which became operational only recently. Currently, Beijing is known to operate at least four, but possibly as many as six, Type 094 SSBNs armed with the JL-2 SLBM—an SLBM based off the land-based DF-31 solid-fuel intercontinental-range ballistic missile.
The JL-3 is expected to offer a considerable range extension over the JL-2, which has been estimated by U.S. military intelligence to possess a range of just over 7,000 kilometers. That means the SSBNs carrying these missiles would be out of range of continental United States-based targets.
The range of the JL-3, meanwhile, would allow Chinese submarines to strike at continental U.S. targets from further away, increasing their survivability by reducing the need to navigate into contested waters in the Western Pacific in a conflict, for example. -The Diplomat
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