Politics
Report: China Upgrades Hypersonic Missile, May Render THAAD Useless
Written: 2021-01-05 19:36:57 / Updated: 2021-01-05 19:37:57
China has reportedly enhanced the capability of a hypersonic ballistic missile that observers believe renders the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea useless.
According to China’s state-run Global Times on Tuesday, the Chinese military displayed a previously unknown transporter erector launcher(TEL) of a missile during the recent fifth founding anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force. Shanghai-based portal Eastday reported that the launcher, which featured a cover enclosing the missile, is part of an upgraded DF-17 missile system.
When it was displayed in public for the first time in October of 2019, the DF-17 missile had no such cover. The cover can reportedly protect missiles from weather or difficult battlefield conditions as well as hide the missile from enemy aerial or satellite detection.
Yang Chengjun, a Chinese missile expert, claimed in an interview with the Global Times that it will be difficult for the missile to be intercepted by what he called “hostile air defense systems” such as THAAD in South Korea, SM-3 in Japan or U.S. Patriot missiles.
The DF-17 is known to have a maximum range of two-thousand-500 kilometers, putting the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait and Northeast Asia within its reach.
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