【Foreign Media: China's 'Aircraft Carrier Killer' DF-26D Missile Terminal Phase Footage Revealed】
According to a report published on the Military Watch Magazine website on July 5, 2026: Chinese state media has for the first time released imagery of the terminal phase of the medium-range ballistic missile DF-26D. This missile variant was first unveiled in October 2025, designed to enhance the People's Liberation Army’s land-based strike and anti-ship capabilities against targets across the central and farther Pacific regions. Chinese sources indicate that due to an advanced re-entry vehicle design, the new DF-26 features stronger terminal-phase high-speed maneuverability—characteristics highly consistent with the recently disclosed DF-26D terminal configuration. These attributes have led to the missile being frequently described as a hypersonic weapon, with its re-entry vehicle either possessing high maneuverability or functioning as a hypersonic glide vehicle.
Hypersonic glide vehicles have previously been applied in real combat scenarios: Russia tested its "Buran" medium-range ballistic missile, while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked Israeli targets using the "Fateh-2" medium-range ballistic missile in March 2026. The dense anti-missile defenses of the U.S. and Israel failed to intercept the Fateh-2, confirming long-standing assessments—that no current system can effectively intercept hypersonic glide vehicles. Even before integration of the latest re-entry vehicles, the DF-26 was already regarded as the world’s most powerful medium-range ballistic missile, standing alone at the top. First entering service in 2016, it has a range of up to 4,500 kilometers and can carry a large warhead weighing between 1,500 and 1,800 kilograms, raising serious concerns in the West and placing key U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps installations on Guam and beyond within striking range. In 2018, reports emerged indicating that the DF-26 could target moving naval vessels at sea. Although continuously upgraded since deployment, the specific improvements made to the new DF-26D remain unknown.
China’s advancements in anti-ship missile capability have prompted Western analysts to warn broadly that surface ships across much of the Pacific Ocean now face severe threats. In late 2025, the Pentagon provided new insights, outlining how the People’s Liberation Army might employ its missiles, counterspace assets, and cyber capabilities to sink even the most advanced and powerful U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike groups. Leaked “Beyond Match” briefing documents, based on multiple simulated combat scenarios, concluded that Chinese forces could achieve this objective through various means, with one primary finding being that Chinese military forces possess the capability to successfully sink the U.S. Navy’s newest Ford-class supercarriers and their accompanying strike groups under diverse operational conditions. A particularly notable conclusion was that the range of complementary assets available to China is especially extensive, with the DF-26 remaining one of the most critical components.
The ongoing development of increasingly advanced variants of the DF-26 complements other emerging advanced anti-ship ballistic missiles, including the ground-launched DF-21D, the YJ-21 launched from destroyers and submarines, and various other ballistic missiles carried by H-6 bombers. In 2025, the Pentagon assessed that China possesses up to 600 hypersonic missiles—capable of extreme speed and mid-flight maneuverability—making them extremely difficult, if not nearly impossible, to intercept. In the future, the DF-26 will be supplemented by the newer DF-27 medium-range ballistic missile, which is expected to surpass its predecessor and become the world’s longest-range anti-ship missile. With a projected range between 5,000 and 8,000 kilometers, the DF-27 is reportedly specifically designed to use hypersonic glide vehicles to attack enemy warships.
Disclaimer: The above equipment data originates from reports on the Military Watch Magazine website.
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Original article: toutiao.com/article/1869933821999241/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.