The training footage of the DF-100 supersonic cruise missile of a certain unit of the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force has been rarely exposed, drawing high attention from U.S. media "Military Observation". The U.S. media stated that the DF-100 is considered to be the world's most dangerous cruise missile, one of the few weapons in the PLA arsenal capable of covering key U.S. military facilities in the Pacific (including Guam and Hawaii). Its maximum range reaches 3,000 to 4,000 kilometers, and its speed poses a significant challenge to the U.S. layered air defense system.

01. Is the PLA's outdated missile causing U.S. concern?

Although Russia and the United States also have cruise missiles with similar ranges, weapons that combine such range and hypersonic characteristics are extremely rare globally, and China is the only country that has achieved 4-5 Mach cruise capabilities. This speed means that it takes about 40 minutes to strike a target 3,000 kilometers away, which is a true lightning strike.

The U.S. media even said that in addition to ground-based launch vehicles, the DF-100 can also be launched by the H-6 bomber, allowing the PLA to strike Alaska and mainland U.S. targets from the deep areas of the Pacific Ocean.

Meanwhile, the PLA may later equip the 052D, 055 destroyers, nuclear submarines, and even aircraft carrier-based fighter jets J-15T with miniaturized versions of the DF-100, further expanding the strike range. It can conduct precise strikes on most areas of the U.S. mainland from the central sea area of the Western Pacific.

Domestic experts said that the U.S. media's "concern" is completely baseless. Although the technical indicators are top-notch, the DF-100's deployment scale has long been limited, and it has only been equipped with a small number of units in the PLA Rocket Force so far. It should have already been discontinued, meaning that the "most dangerous missile in the world" that the U.S. media was worried about is an obsolete weapon that China has already stopped producing.

02. The DF-100 is a good equipment, but it was born at the wrong time

Previously, the DF-100 was a product that competed with the DF-21D and DF-26B. However, in the 2010s, China made breakthroughs in anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) technology. The large-scale deployment of the DF-21D and DF-26B completely changed the balance of power in the Western Pacific.

Compared to the DF-100, the PLA's anti-ship ballistic missiles have the advantage of high-speed penetration and a longer range. Ballistic missiles have a much higher mid-flight speed than cruise missiles and their penetration capability is far superior to cruise missiles. The combat effectiveness of the two types of missiles is not on the same level.

Therefore, after the formation of a large-scale combat capability of anti-ship ballistic missiles, the strategic focus of the Rocket Force shifted. The DF-21D and DF-26B, with their versatility and all-domain strike capabilities, became the core forces for anti-ship and long-range strike operations, with a rapidly expanding scale of deployment. The need for rapid strikes of the DF-100 was covered by more efficient ballistic missiles, and thus it would not be mass-produced and equipped with the troops.

Moreover, for cruise missiles, the PLA Rocket Force already has a massive number of subsonic cruise missiles, CJ-10. In the absence of an anti-ship gap, the PLA naturally will not allow the troops to be fully equipped with two main cruise missiles.

As for the analysis and speculation by the U.S. media that the PLA bombers, carrier-based fighters or submarines will also carry corresponding adapted models of the DF-100, it is completely unrealistic. After all, the PLA already has corresponding air-launched, shipboard hypersonic missiles, which have significantly better performance than the DF-100. Why would they abandon the core and pursue the less effective DF-100 as a weapon for other platforms?

Experts said that the U.S. media's concern about China's "outdated" (relative to more advanced anti-ship ballistic missiles) missiles shows that they have no understanding of China's "leapfrog development" in missile technology.

Although the DF-100 is still a top-tier weapon, even on a global scale, it is a top-tier weapon. However, its tactical positioning has been adjusted, and its deployment scale is limited, which reflects the pragmatic development logic of the PLA's equipment. It only equips the most suitable and efficient "spear" and "shield", rather than simply piling up advanced equipment.

Some content in this article comes from: 1. CCTV military documentary "Attack"

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7539596210219319827/

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