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Introducing the DF-17: China's Newly Tested Ballistic Missile Armed With a Hypersonic Glide Vehicle

The DF-17 is the first hypersonic glide vehicle-equipped missile intended for operational deployment ever tested.

China carried out the first flight-tests of a new kind of ballistic missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) in November, The Diplomat has learned.

According to a U.S. government source who described recent intelligence assessments on the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) on the condition of anonymity, China recently conducted two tests of a new missile known as the DF-17.

The first test took place on November 1 and the second test took place on November 15. The November 1 test was the first Chinese ballistic missile test to take place after the conclusion of the first plenum of the Communist Party of China’s 19th Party Congress in October.

During the November 1 test flight, which took place from the Jiuquan Space Launcher Center in Inner Mongolia, the missile’s payload flew to a range of approximately 1,400 kilometers with the HGV flying at a depressed altitude of around 60 kilometers following the completion of the DF-17’s ballistic and reentry phases.

HGVs begin powered flight after separating from their ballistic missile boosters, which follow a standard ballistic trajectory to give the payload vehicle sufficient altitude.

Parts of the U.S. intelligence community assess that the DF-17 is a medium-range system, with a range capability between 1,800 and 2,500 kilometers. The missile is expected to be capable of delivering both nuclear and conventional payloads and may be capable of being configured to deliver a maneuverable reentry vehicle instead of an HGV.

Most of the missile’s flight time during the November 1 flight test was powered by the HGV during the glide phase, the source said. The missile successfully made impact at a site in Xinjiang Province, outside Qiemo, “within meters” of the intended target, the source added. The duration of the HGV’s powered flight was nearly 11 minutes during that test.

The HGV payload that China tested in November was specifically designed for the DF-17, the source told The Diplomat, while noting that parts of the U.S. intelligence community assess that the DF-17 is heavily based on the PLARF’s DF-16B short-range ballistic missile, which is already deployed.

“The missile is explicitly designed for operational HGV implementation and not as a test bed,” the source said, describing U.S. intelligence assessments of the DF-17. This was “the first HGV test in the world using a system intended to be fielded operationally,” the source added.

The DF-17, per current U.S. intelligence assessments, is expected to reach initial operating capability around 2020.

ORIGINAL: Dysta

Scenario opportunity:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/chinese-ships ... 20180.html

ORIGINAL: TheOttoman

I had seen that and thought the same. Are the sensors for the satellite platforms modeled in a way that it can identify a specific ship - meaning in game, can it distinguish a specific cargo container from a pool of a dozen cargo containers?

ORIGINAL: Dysta

ORIGINAL: TheOttoman

I had seen that and thought the same. Are the sensors for the satellite platforms modeled in a way that it can identify a specific ship - meaning in game, can it distinguish a specific cargo container from a pool of a dozen cargo containers?

Yes, even for a plane as well, some commercial imaging satellites in 2010s has that capability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ-9zITGlr0

There's a downside however, normal visible spectrum imaging cannot penetrate cloud or smog, while SAR imaging is still classified for only governmental use.

ORIGINAL: TheOttoman

I'm specifically talking about in-game

ORIGINAL: Dysta

Scenario opportunity:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/chinese-ships ... 20180.html

ORIGINAL: Dysta

ORIGINAL: TheOttoman

I'm specifically talking about in-game

Yes.

ORIGINAL: Dysta

ORIGINAL: Dysta

Scenario opportunity:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/chinese-ships ... 20180.html

Quoted myself. Another scenario opportunity:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/exclusive-rus ... 44546.html

The latest images of an AVIC scale model (December 2017) suggested that Sharp Sword to go into production has undergone some modifications including a shielded engine exaust, a chin-mounted IRST, conformal (phased array/EW?) antennas embedded in the leading edges of flying wing, two optimized internal bomb bays for GPS/Beidou guided glide bombs of different weights (100kg & 500kg). The UCAV may be powered by a new engine as well.

ORIGINAL: Dysta

ORIGINAL: Dysta

ORIGINAL: Dysta

Scenario opportunity:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/chinese-ships ... 20180.html

Quoted myself. Another scenario opportunity:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/exclusive-rus ... 44546.html

The plot chickens, oil smuggling is getting more desperate. Is Panama a victim or a deceiver?

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/north-korea-s ... 06880.html