The Ministry of National Defense’s latest report to the Legislative Yuan warned that China’s DF-1000 medium-range supersonic cruise missile poses a severe threat to Taiwan’s national security.
Defense officials made the remarks in the ministry’s budget report at the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, highlighting China’s strength in rocket artillery systems, hypersonic ballistic missiles and long-range supersonic cruise missiles.
These weapons are expected to be utilized to provide fire support for the People’s Liberation Army’s conducting of ambitious landing or air assault operations directed against Taiwan, they said.
Photo: AP
China’s medium-range supersonic cruise missile DF-1000 is one such weapon that Beijing might use to deny Taiwan’s surrounding seas to the fleets of the latter’s allies, the officials said, describing the missiles as a serious threat.
This weapon was a development of the older CJ-10 cruise missiles and was unveiled to the public during a military parade in Beijing in 2019, according to open sources.
The DF-1000 makes use of a ramjet engine that supposedly allows the missile to achieve a maximum speed of Mach 4 and a top altitude of 30km while the guidance system is capable of a myriad of guidance modes, including infrared imagery, satellite navigation or inertia, they said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The range of this missile was unknown but it should at least be superior to the CJ-10, which had a range of 2,000km, and some experts speculate that its range exceeds 3,000km.
According to a 2020 report by the US Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute, DF-1000 missiles have been deployed with the PLA Rocket Force’s 656th Brigade, a unit garrisoned in China’s Shandong Province.
Assuming an effective range of 2,000km, this deployment puts Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the northern regions of the Philippines under threat, it said, adding that the DF-1000 should reach full operating capacity sometime later this year.
The PAC-3 Patriot missiles Taiwan has procured, as well as South Korea’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which is being deployed in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, are believed to have the performance parameters to intercept the DF-1000.
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