- A US-based civilian researcher has uncovered a massive
new Chinese missile base using commercial satellite images available over
the Internet.
-
- The missile base is located in Delingha in central China.
Analysis of the GoogleEarth images show that the Chinese army Second Artillery
Corps 812 Brigade has deployed nuclear tipped DF-4 and DF-21 missiles
at the base.
-
- "The region has long been rumored to house nuclear
missiles and some details have emerged in recent years, but the new analysis
reveals a significantly larger deployment area than previously known to
the public, different types of launch pads, command and control facilities,
and missile deployment equipment at a large facility in downtown Delingha,"
stated Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists.
-
- The missiles and the widely scattered 58 launch sites
indicate that the main target of the nuclear force at Delingha is either
Russia or China. The DF-4 and DF-21 missiles deployed at the base do not
have the range to attack American targets in the pacific, Japan, or Taiwan.
-
- The Chinese have set up missile launching sites along
a 200 mile stretch of highway. The launching sites are to be used by the
mobile DF-21 missiles. The DF-21 is a solid fuel, two stage missile based
on the Chinese navy JL-1. The DF-21 has a range of 1,200 miles and carries
a one megaton nuclear warhead.
-
- Much like the SCUD missiles of the former Iraq, the DF-21
is a mobile system that is hard to track. The 15-ton, 35-foot-long DF-21s
are delivered to each launch site on wheeled carriers called TELs - transporter-erector-
launcher.
-
- U.S. officials are concerned that the new launch sites
could also be used by China to shoot down American satellites. China demonstrated
its capability to shoot down satellites in 2007, destroying a former weather
satellite using modified DF-21 missiles.
-
- Indian officials expressed concern but noted that they
have been monitoring the construction at the missile base for a number
of years.
-
- News of the new missile base comes only days after the
discovery of a second Chinese underground sub base near Sanya, on Hainan
Island off its southern coast. In December 2007 the Chinese navy moved
its first Type 094 second-generation nuclear ballistic missile submarine
(SSBN) to Sanya.
-
- The new underground submarine base and the positioning
of China's most advanced sub at Sanya shows that China intends to control
the South China Sea and the strategically vital straits in the area. Most
of the oil for Taiwan, Japan and South Korea pass through the waters near
the new base.
-
- The Chinese military has also added a new capability
to its missile forces, this time thanks to the U.S. government. A U.S.
supercomputer like those used at research facilities such as Los Alamos
National Laboratory will be used by the Chinese to operate a new generation
of weather satellites.
-
- There are military implications, however, for China's
use of this powerful Silicon Graphics Inc. computing capability. The advanced
weather satellite system will be used heavily by the People's Liberation
Army (PLA). In particular, the Chinese missile force run by the Second
Artillery will use the weather information to assist in firing their nuclear
tipped weapons.
-
- The new Chinese supercomputer is powered by 1,280 Intel
Itanium 2 processor cores with 4 terabytes of shared memory. The U.S.
made supercomputer ranks as the largest shared-memory computer in China
and the fourth fastest in the country. The computing complex is based
at the Chinese National Satellite Meteorological Center (NSMC) in Beijing.
-
- The supercomputer, combined with the latest Chinese weather
satellite, the Fengyun-3, will provide the Chinese military with accurate
data to launch missiles. The lack of accurate weather data, in particular,
predictions of high-altitude winds, has plagued the Chinese military missile
forces for decades, forcing delays and in some cases, major failures due
to wind sheers encountered by missile tests.
-
- "China continues a systematic effort to obtain .
. . through legal transactions dual-use and military technologies,"
states the Pentagon's 2008 report on China's military power.
-
- "Many dual-use technologies such as software, integrated
circuits, computers, electronics and [security-related] information systems
are vital for the PLA's transformation into an information-based network-centric
force," noted the Pentagon report.
-
- "The inherent dual-use nature of space technologies
means that China's improving space capabilities could be used against
the U.S. military," noted another 2008 report filed by the U.S. Army
on Chinese space technology.
|
