BEIJING (AP) — China said it has carried out a successful in-flight missile neutralization ground test in an apparent sign of progress in its ability to shoot down weapons from space.
The Ministry of Defense explained that the operation was carried out on Friday night in Chinese territory and that it achieved “the desired objective of the test.”
The test was “defensive in nature and was not directed against any country,” the ministry added, without giving further details such as whether it actually hit an object, how many interceptors were fired and where they landed.
Consisting of ground-based interceptor missiles and a host of radar and fire-control systems, the devices aim to shoot down ballistic missiles, including nuclear-tipped and other ICBMs, mid-flight through space toward their targets. goals.
These systems, which the United States calls airborne ground defenses or GMDs, are highly complex and expensive to build, test and maintain, and Chinese capabilities in this field are not well known.
The Ministry of Defense previously released an almost identical statement announcing a test of this type on February 4, 2021, which it explained had also achieved its objective. China reportedly conducted another trial in 2018.
These “kinetic-kill” interceptors can also be used as anti-satellite weapons, and China received considerable criticism for using one of these missiles to destroy one of its inactive weather-observing satellites in early 2007. Beijing did not announce the operation, and the operation left a huge debris field that continues to affect objects in orbit, including its own space station, Tiangong.
China’s military-run space program and missile development efforts are closely linked and satellite launch centers are believed to have been used for missile tests.
China already has one of the world’s largest arsenals of all types of missiles and is believed to be rapidly expanding it. A Pentagon report published last year claimed that Beijing currently has about 400 nuclear warheads, which could reach 1,500 by 2035.
