The Chinese military released a video of a recent exercise, which involved troops operating the advanced DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile, China’s People’s Daily reported Monday.
The DF-16 fills a gap in the country’s arsenal, Xu Guangyu, a retired major general and now a strategy researcher, told the paper.
He said that the DF-16 missile has a strike range of more than 1,000 kilometres.
The paper also reported a weapons expert as saying that the missile can carry a warhead of at least 500kg and maneuver in its final stage to penetrate enemy defensive firepower.
Two types of DF-16 appeared in the video, including the bullet-shaped missile that is considered the original DF-16 and a new variant that features a maneuverable warhead and several extra fins.
The video shows launch vehicles carrying ballistic missiles and the Rocket Force missile brigade soldiers participating in a training session around the Chinese New Year holiday.
The participating units could be seen tackling a number of scenarios as part of the drill, including the possibility of chemical/biological contamination, countering satellite reconnaissance and electronic jamming.
Soldiers could also be seen practicing multiple maneuvers, such as rapid loading, redeployment and launch sequences.
The video, however, does not show any missiles being actually launched.
