Posted on 03/04/2012 6:55:17 PM PST by U-238
Recent satellite images show that China is setting up launch units for its newest road-mobile Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) in central China. Several launchers of the new DF-31/31A appeared at two sites in the eastern part of the Qinghai province in June 2011. This is part of China’s slow modernization of its small (compared with Russia and the United States) nuclear arsenal. An image taken on June 27, 2011 , shows two DF-31/31A launchers on the launch pads of a small launch unit near Haiyan (36°49’37.12″N, 101° 6’22.97″E). One is positioned in a circular pad with support vehicles surrounding it. The circular pad was added to the facility sometime between 2005 and 2010. The other launcher is on a pad to the north, located next to an x-shaped launch pad and a missile garage. The layout of the Haiyan launch site is similar, yet not identical, to the DF-31 launch unit of the 813 Brigade at Nanyang.
(Excerpt) Read more at fas.org ...
With an estimated range of 7,200-plus kilometers (4,470 miles), the DF-31 cannot target the continental United States from Central China. But the modification known as DF-31A can with its estimated range of 11,200-plus kilometers (6,960 miles), reach most of the continental United States from Central China. The DF-31/31A missiles can target all of Russia and India from Central China.
why did the US never build its nuclear deterrent around mobile missiles? Is it because of the sub force?
There was design work done on rail train based missiles in the 50s. Some of this was negotiated away under SALT, but I think the cruise missile program made it obsolete.
Command and control of sub launched missiles is tricky because our ballistic missile subs spend most of its time underwater. Best survivable strike force is airborne bombers with stand off weapons like cruise or SRAM.
Does this mean we get to bring back the MX missile?
The USAF developed the Midgetman whcih was supposed to be a mobile missile system.It can travel up to 55 mph on the highway, and it can also travel off the road.They had also missiles that could travel by train.The USAF also developed the “ missile train track method” would they would move missiles around from silo to silo. I guess it was cheaper to keep the missiles in their fixed silos.The Midgetman was cancelled in 1992.It would of worked. The sub force would overwhelm any Russian resistance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXoZyCVFIPA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4rquFY8soE
The last I heard, was we no longer have those weapons on subs or ships. They’ve all been nuetred.
It exists to some extent under the Minotaur program
Just plug the coordinates into maps.google.com, and you can check them out pretty easily; looks like each pad is supported by 7+ vehicles.
Can you find the entrance to the “secret” submarine base on the southern tip of Hainan island (where the PLAN didn’t want our EP-3 all those years back) ?
On the right side of the bay you’ll see two very long piers (those are for aircraft carriers), and then three shorter piers (for cruisers and subs) —you’re going in the right direction. Keep going around the bottom tip of that peninsula, and you’ll see a large concrete “notch” —that’s the submarine entrance.
They have plans for that place to accommodate over 10 nuclear subs in there.
Why bother. Subs bring the missiles closer and therefore can reach time critical targets but our land based missiles can be launched long before anything reaches them first.
Hainan —> southern tip —> Yalong bay —> east peninsula arm, note the piers I described above:
See the southernmost of the 3 shorter piers? OK that’s our reference point:
Go 1 km southeast along that peninsula, and you’ll see the concrete notch —that’s the underwater submarine entrance.
Wrong- We got them WND delivery packages underwater since 1960`s but it ain`t saltwater, no sir.
You may be thinking of the conversion of some of the Ohio-class missile boats to conventional-warhead cruise missiles. Only four of eighteen were so modified, last I heard. We still have lots of seaborne nuclear deterrent.
” - - - the U.S. intelligence community estimates that China currently has “fewer than 50” missiles that can target the continental United States, suggesting that less that 25 DF-31As are currently deployed. (The number is a little more uncertain now after the Pentagon in 2011 started supporting Chinese nuclear secrecy by no longer providing a breakdown of Chinese missile forces in its annual report on Chinese military power).”
Okay, lemme see now - - - . Our spy people count the Chinese missiles, and our Generals “promise not to tell.”
Guess everybody has to Cave In and play nuclear tag-team football, so Sheriff of Nottingham Timmy Gee can keep on selling those “Support the Obamanation” Bonds to China.
BTW, wasn’t the news, back in the day, that THE COLD WAR was over? I probably dis-remember that now that we are rapidly - - - ? Just what are our fearless leaders doing?
The intelligence are never correct about the number. They are just going on estimates.The intelligence community were wrong about the “missile and bomber gaps” of the 1950s and 1960s.Sometimes, these weapons can be held in some bunker or hollowed out mountain.The best way is to is:
A)A high level defector who gives an accurate count.
B)That there are people(HUMINT)on the ground. The Israelis are always correct because they have actual people on the ground getting information.
That’s comforting to hear, guys, thanks! I’m quite gald to be wrong!
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