PLA in the 'Peace Mission 2007' Joint Exercise (4): Entering Russia

PLA in the 'Peace Mission 2007' Joint Exercise (3): On the Road

PLA in the 'Peace Mission 2007' Joint Exercise (2): Departure

PLA in the 'Peace Mission 2007' Joint Exercise (1): PLA Preparing for the Exercise

PLA's New Ballistic Missiles Revealed

Two new types of ballistic missiles of the PLA was revealed on Saturday, when a photo showing the missiles was published on Internet anonymously.

These missiles bear no resemblance to any existing missile systems deployed by the PLA. They are carried inside a cylinder-shape storage container, which is mounted on a 10X10 TEL vehicle. The missile container has a unique conical-shape nose at its top. The two missile systems in the photo are slightly different in the shape of their noses, one is round while the other much sharper.

The 10X10 TEL vehicle is apparently developed from the Wanshan WS2400, which is also used by many other Chinese-designed ballistic missile and artillery rocket systems.

The designations and purposes of these missiles are unknown. One could only make an educated guess based on very limited information available. My money would be on one of the following four possibilities:

(1) The DF-31A ICBM
(2) An improved model of the DF-21 MRBM
(3) A ballistic missile designed to attack the aircraft carrier battle group, again possibly based on the DF-21 MRBM
(4) The so-called "DF-25" IRBM, which has been reported before but with no supporting evidence