As per reports, China has fired two missiles, including one dubbed an "aircraft-carrier
killer", into the South China Sea.
This is being seen as a warning to the United States as tensions in the disputed sea lane
rise.
The Chinese military is thought to have fired one intermediate-range ballistic missile,
DF-26B, from Qinghai province and another medium-range anti-ship ballistic missile,
DF-21D, from Zhejiang province.
The DF-21D is China's answer to the American supercarriers and is proclaimed to be a potent
asymmetric threat.
But there is more to this than what meets the eyes in the first instance.
DF-21D is not a silver bullet to counter American supercarriers.
Time and again China has resorted to propaganda about its weapons to intimidate its rivals
but in most cases, these have many critical cracks.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes why Chinese DF-21D may not be able to target American
Supercarriers?
Let's get into the details.
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The Dong-Feng 21 is a two-stage, solid-fuel rocket, single-warhead medium-range ballistic
missile (MRBM) in the Dong Feng series developed by China Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics
Technology Academy.
The missile is designed to be fired from land-based mobile launchers.
The U.S. Department of Defense in 2008 estimated that China had 60-80 missiles and 60 launchers
and approximately 10-11 missiles can be built annually.
Originally developed as a strategic weapon, the DF-21's later variants were designed for
both nuclear and conventional missions.
It is thought to be able to carry a high explosive and submunition warheads, as well as a nuclear
warhead of 300 kt.
The DF-21D is said to be the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM).
It is thought to employ a maneuverable reentry vehicle (MaRV) with a terminal guidance system.
This gives it the ability to hit a moving aircraft carrier strike group from long-range.
Reports indicate that it has a speed of around 10 Mach
According to the U.S. National Air and Space Intelligence Center, the missile has a maximum
range of around 1,450 km or 900 mi.
The US Department of Defense stated in 2010 that China reached initial operating capability
(IOC) of the missile.
American carriers have defense weapons like RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, RIM-116 Rolling Airframe
Missiles, and Phalanx Close-in Weapon System but these weapons are suitable for defending
against cruise missiles, not against DF-21D which follows a ballistic trajectory.
United States Naval Institute in 2009 stated that the warhead of DF-21D would be large
enough to destroy an aircraft carrier in one hit and that there was "currently ... no defense
against it" if it worked as theorized.
But things have changed for the last few years the U.S has 3 ways to counter the missile.
Let's check them one by one.
Over-the-horizon radars cannot pinpoint a carrier's exact location and would have to
be used in conjunction with Chinese recon satellites.
U.S could target the Chinese military’s space assets in a preemptive strike with Anti-satellite
weapons (ASAT).
This would potentially handicap the DF-21D.
Though recon aircraft and submarines could also be used by the Chinese to look for the
American supercarriers, they are vulnerable to the carrier battle group's defenses
The carrier strike group has aircraft that can be used to knock out these.
F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-35C could decimate enemy aircraft and warships using precision
strike weapons.
American supercarriers do not operate alone but are deployed as part of a "carrier strike
group”.
The carrier strike group consists of multiple Ticonderoga-class cruiser and Arleigh Burke-class
destroyers as well Virginia class submarines.
These are more than capable of neutralizing Chinese assets which can help DF-21D home
in on the target.
Nimitz & Ford-class carriers are some of the biggest warships to roam the oceans.
But that doesn’t mean they are slow & lumbering, powered by their nuclear reactors they can
move at 35 miles or 56 km per hour.
Though these supercarriers are so big, in an open ocean a carrier is not easy to detect
or track.
In 30 minutes after a sighting by an opponent, the area within which a carrier might be operating
will expand to 900 square miles and this will increase to around 4,000 square miles after
60 minutes.
At its maximum range of 1,450 km or 900 mi, DF-21D will take around 7 min to hit the target
and the supercarrier could under defense maneuvers including the last moment once to evade the
missile.
So, it's not an easy proposition since each aspect of the complex kill chain of the missile
will need to work precisely and could get subverted at different stages.
It is to be noted that unlike a cruise missile, the reentry vehicle will have limited ability
of course correction during the final plunge on the target.
Importantly the missile has not been tested against a ship target moving at-sea with speed
similar to American supercarriers, let alone ones using clutter and advance electronic
countermeasures to hinder the working of the missile’s terminal guidance phase.
Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer
are Aegis enabled.
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is designed by the United States Department
of Defense, Missile Defense Agency to protect against short and intermediate-range ballistic
missiles.
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense is devised to intercept ballistic missiles post-boost
phase and prior to reentry.
It enables these warships to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles by expanding the Aegis
Combat System with the addition of the AN/SPY-1 radar and Standard missiles
Aegis BMD-equipped vessels can transmit their target detection information to other systems
and, if needed, engage potential threats using SM2, SM3, or SM6 missile
The heart of the AEGIS systems onboard these warships is the AN/SPY-1D RADAR.
It is an advanced, automatic detect and track, multifunctional phased-array radar.
This high-powered (4 MW) radar is able to perform a search, track, and missile guidance
functions simultaneously with a capability of over 100 targets.
The RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), or Standard Missile 6 (SM-6)
have been deployed by the US Navy to counter different kinds of threats.
It was designed for extended range anti-air warfare (ER-AAW) purposes providing capability
against fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-ship cruise missiles
in flight, both over sea and land and terminal ballistic missile defense.
It can also be used as a high-speed anti-ship missile.
The missile uses the airframe of the earlier SM-2ER Block IV (RIM-156A) missile and some
targeting elements from AIM-120C AMRAAM.
It can discriminate targets using its dual-mode seeker, with the semi-active seeker relying
on a ship-based illuminator to highlight the target, and the active seeker having the missile
itself sending out an electromagnetic signal.
SM 6 has a max speed of Mach 3.5 and has a 140 lb (64 kg) blast fragmentation warhead.
The initial operating capability of the missile was planned for 2013 and was achieved on November
27, 2013.
On 30 September 2016, Raytheon announced the SM-6 had achieved the longest surface-to-air
intercept in naval history, breaking its previous long-range intercept record made in January
2016.
The missile’s capability enables it to shoot down a ballistic missile like DF 21D in its
terminal phase.