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China to unveil new secret missiles at Oct. 1 parade

China will unveil a range of unknown missiles during its Oct. 1 National Day parade, including intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles, state media said yesterday.

The new hardware on display will include conventional cruise missiles and short and medium-range missiles, the Global Times newspaper reported, citing an unnamed source in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

“These missiles are domestically designed and manufactured and have never been officially reported before,” the source, who is with the PLA’s strategic missile defense unit, was quoted as saying.

The weapons have already been distributed to the military and are ready for operation, the source said.

China’s missile program is causing concern overseas, particularly in the US, amid projections that it could soon tip the security balance in the Taiwan Strait.

A report last month by the Rand Corporation, a US think tank, said China was increasing both the quantity and quality of its short-range ballistic missiles, which could challenge the US’ ability to protect Taiwan from possible attack.

China issued a military policy white paper earlier this year, saying its missile program was aimed mainly at “deterrence.”

However, it said that it was also capable of “conducting nuclear counter-attacks and precision strikes with conventional missiles.”

China will stage a huge military parade and pageant in Beijing on Oct. 1 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of communist China.

The expert quoted by Global Times did not reveal the model names or numbers of the missiles. However, missiles believed to have been developed by China include the Dong Feng 41, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with an estimated range of up to 12,000km.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Tuesday that China was redoubling efforts to build a fifth-generation fighter plane equivalent to the US’ F-22 and F-35. During the 60th anniversary of the PLA Navy in April, the commander of the PLA Navy mentioned a requirement for a fighter capable of “supersonic cruise,” which refers to an aircraft’s ability to fly supersonically for extended periods without using fuel-hungry afterburners.

China’s development of fifth-generation aircraft date back to the early 1990s, the WSJ said, and will start with two heavy fighters from the country’s two main military aircraft companies.

A Chinese source told the WSJ in early 2005 that the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, which developed the fourth-generation J-10 fighter, was considering the development of a medium-weight fifth-generation aircraft comparable to the F-35. Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, meanwhile, said in 2006 it was working on a single-engine forward-swept-wing fighter that would be highly maneuverable and potentially stealthy, the WSJ said.

Advances in electronics and engines in China’s earlier-generation aircraft will make these fighters, as well as fifth-generation fighters, more threatening to current and future US air forces, and make obsolete the fourth-generation fighter aircraft used by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the WSJ said.
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