Army of China test-fired new Dongfeng 41 DF-41 ICBM InterContinental Ballistic Missile 2012133

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Defence & Security News - China

 
 
Friday, December 20, 2013 09:30 AM
 
Army of China test-fired new Dongfeng 41 DF-41 ICBM InterContinental Ballistic Missile.
Last week Chinese army carried out its second test-launch of its new InterContinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Dongfeng 41 (DF-41), which could have the ability to fire multiple warheads. The missile was fired Friday, December 13, 2013, from the Wuzhai rocket-firing complex in Shanxi province.
     
Last week Chinese army carried out its second test-launch of its new InterContinenatl Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Dongfeng 41 (DF-41), which could have the ability to fire multiple warheads. The missile was fired Friday, December 13, 2013, from the Wuzhai rocket-firing complex in Shanxi province.
The three-stage solid-fuel DF-41 ICBM is believed to be larger than the DF-31 missile, and has a range of up to 12,000 kilometers.

     

The Dongfeng 41 long-range missile is thought to have a top flight distance of between roughly 10,900 km and 12,000 km, and to be designed to carry multiple independently targetable nuclear warheads.

A recent annual report to U.S. Congress on China's military capabilities did not include mention of the road-mobile ICBM, though previous versions of the study detailed at some length the status of the weapon's development.

The Dongfeng-4 is a Chinese-made nuclear solid-fueled road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile.

The DF-41 ICBM is the latest in a long line of Dongfeng missiles. According to military analysts, it's been in development since the 1980s and has a top speed of up to Mach 25. Directed by an Inertial guidance system, it can be launched from a range of platforms, it's around 15 metres long and weighs an estimated 30,000 kg.

This would make the DF-41 the world's longest ranged missile, surpassing the range of the US LGM-30 Minuteman which has a reported range of 13,000 km.

The DF-41 was reported to have had its first flight test on July 24, 2012.