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发帖数: 10330 | 1 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/01/10/2003
MND confirms Chinese missile tests
EVIDENCE?Chinese state media have reported that a fisherman in Shandong had
accidentally retrieved wreckage from what may have been a missile booster
By J. Michael Cole / Staff Reporter
The Ministry of National Defense confirmed yesterday that China had test-
fired Julang-2 (JL-2) -submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) before
the New Year.
Chinese military bulletin boards recently lit up with reports that the
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy might have test fired as many as six JL
-2 SLBMs near Dalian in -Liaoning Province, China.
At least two submarines in China’s Northern Fleet are known to operate out
of Xiaopingdao -Submarine Base close to Dalian.
China plans to introduce up to five Type 094, or Jin-class, -second-
generation nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) armed with JL-
2 missiles. Each Type 094 submarine can carry as many as 12 missiles.
The JL-2, designed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp’s 4th
Academy, is a solid-propellant derivative of the Dong Feng 31 (DF-31)
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The JL-2, one of China’s three long-range strategic -missiles, has a
maximum range estimated at 8,000km and can carry a -thermonuclear warhead
with a yield ranging from 25 kilotons to 1,000 kilotons, or about 80 times
the force of the nuclear device dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Ministry of National Defense spokesman
Colonel David Lo (羅紹和) said the military was aware that China had tested
the JL-2 and would pay close attention to further development of the missile.
Lo’s comments were the first official confirmation by Taiwan’s military
that the PLA Navy had carried out the missile test, less than three weeks
before Taiwanese head for the polls on Saturday.
So far official Chinese media and the Chinese military have not confirmed
rumors of the exercise. Missile tests carried out by the PLA in March 1996
to pressure Taiwanese as they headed into their first direct presidential
election in the nation’s history are generally believed to have backfired
on China and boosted support for then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
However, the state-owned Chinese-language Global Times -reported yesterday
that a Chinese fisherman in Shandong Province had retrieved cylindrical
wreckage from what appeared to be a missile booster, which could provide
confirmation of the SLBM test.
Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy
Center in Washington, told the Washington Times last week that the tests
would clearly demonstrate that after several years of development and delays
, the PLA Navy is now able to launch submarine-based ballistic missiles “at
a near wartime frequency.”
“If these reports are true, then the [Type] 094 submarine is ready for the
PLA version of deterrence patrols, which could commence this year,” he said.
“This number of successful tests would also indicate that the PLA has, at
long last, resolved whatever issues were preventing this missile from
achieving ‘operational’ status,” the paper quoted him as saying.
The US Department of Defense’s annual report on the PLA stated that once it
is deployed, the Type 094/JL-2 combination would constitute China’s first
real sea-based deterrent, a capability that could give Beijing the means to
discourage the US from intervening on behalf of Taiwan.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang |
