DF-21

DF-21/CSS-5 Mod 1
DF-21A and transporter erector launcher vehicle at the Beijing Military Museum.
Type	MRBM/IRBM
Place of origin	China
Service history
In service	1991
Used by	Second Artillery Corps
Production history
Manufacturer	possibly the 4th Academy?
Unit cost	?
Specifications
Weight	14,700 kilograms (32,000 lb)
Length	10.7 metres (35 ft)
Diameter	1.4 metres (4.6 ft)
Warhead	1, or 5-6 (improved variant) 200-300-500 KT
Engine	Solid fueled
Wingspan	?
Operational range	2,150 kilometres (1,340 mi) (DF-21) 2,700 kilometres (1,700 mi) (DF-21A) 1,700 kilometres (1,100 mi) (DF-21C) 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) (DF-21D ASBM)
Flight altitude	?
Speed	500-800 Knots
Guidance system	Inertial + terminal radar guidance
Launch platform	Mobile launcher or silo

The Dong-Feng 21 (DF-21; NATO reporting name CSS-5 - Dong-Feng (simplified Chinese: 东风; traditional Chinese: 東風; pinyin: Dōngfēng; literally "East Wind")) is a two-stage, solid-propellant, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) in the Dong Feng series developed by China Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics Technology Academy. Development started in the late 1960s and was completed around 1985-86, but it was not deployed until 1991. It was developed from the submarine-launched JL-1 missile, and is China's first solid-fuel land-based missile. The U.S. Department of Defense in 2008 estimated that China had 60-80 missiles and 60 launchers.

Originally developed as a strategic weapon, the DF-21's later variants were designed for both nuclear and conventional missions. As well as a nuclear warhead of around 300kt, it is thought that high explosive, submunition and chemical warheads are available. The latest DF-21D was said to be the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM). The DF-21 has also been developed into a space-capable anti-satellite/anti-missile weapon carrier.

DF-21 (CSS-5 Mod-1)

The basic variant DF 21 has a maximum range of 1,700 km, and a payload of 600 kg. The missile can carry a single 500kT nuclear warhead, with an estimated CEP of 300~400m. This version did not enter operational service.

DF-21A (CSS-5 Mod-2)

The DF-21A was operational by 1996 and has improved accuracy with an estimated circular error probable (CEP) of 100~300m, with both GPS and a radar-based terminal guidance system in a redesigned nose. It is thought to have a lower yield, around 90kt, but longer range (up to 2700 km).

DF-21C (CSS-5 Mod-3)

Revealed in 2006, DF-21C is believed to be a mod of DF-21. Its actual designation is unknown; it may be a version of the DF-25 missile. Its maximum range is believed to be about 1,700 kilometres (1,100 mi). The accuracy of DF-21C is comparable to a cruise missile. The new GPS-based guidance system has reduced the missile’s CEP to 30~40m, enabling it for precision-strike missions.

In 2010, the DF-21C was being deployed in central Western China.

DF-21D (CSS-5 Mod-4) Anti-ship ballistic missile

Range of various Chinese missiles; DF-21 A/B range in red.

A Dongfeng 21D anti-ship ballistic missile.

China has reportedly developed and tested the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) called DF-21D, with a maximum range of around 2,700 kilometres (1,700 mi), in 2005, according to the US Department of Defense. It is estimated to have reached initial operating capability in 2007 or 2008. The guidance system is thought to be still in an evolutionary process as more UAV and satellites are added. The DF-21 anti-ship ballistic missile itself is assumed to have entered active service by 2009.

The US Department of Defense has stated that China has developed and reached initial operating capability of a conventionally-armed high hypersonic land-based anti-ship ballistic missile based on the DF-21. This would be the world's first ASBM and the world's first weapons system capable of targeting a moving aircraft carrier strike group from long-range, land-based mobile launchers. These would combine maneuverable reentry vehicles (MaRVs) with some kind of terminal guidance system. Such a missile may have been tested in 2005-6, and the launch of the Jianbing-5/YaoGan-1 and Jianbing-6/YaoGan-2 satellites would give the Chinese targeting information from SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and visual imaging respectively. The upgrades would greatly enhance China's ability to conduct sea-denial operations to prevent US carriers from intervening in the Taiwan Strait.

A professor at the U.S. Naval War College says that carrier-killing missiles underscore that the U.S. can no longer assume naval supremacy as it has since the end of World War II.

United States Naval Institute in 2009 stated that the warhead is large enough to destroy an aircraft carrier in one hit. If the ballistic missile worked as theorized, then ships currently could not defend against it. The US Navy, after concentrating for a decade on a fleet that could operate in shallow water, in response quickly seemed to change its strategy in favor of a deep sea fleet and defenses against ballistic missiles.

The United States Navy has responded by switching its focus from a close blockade force of shallow water vessels to return to building deep water ballistic defense destroyers. The United States has also assigned most of its ballistic missile defense capable ships to the Pacific, extended the BMD program to all Aegis destroyers and increased procurement of SM-3 BMD missiles. The United States also has a large network optimized for tracking ballistic missile launches which may give carrier groups sufficient warning in order to move away from the target area while the missile is in flight.

Marshall Hoyler writes that the Chinese should be able to overwhelm the American Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System simply because it is cheaper for them to add additional ASBM (and decoys) inside their own country than it is for the United States to have additional forward deployed SM-3s in Arleigh Burke class destroyers standing ready in the Western Pacific. This is especially true if as John E. Pike suggests, multiple interceptors may be required to ensure a kill on every incoming ASBM.

Admiral Gary Roughead has said that America's few land bases in the Pacific are far more vulnerable to Chinese ballistic missiles because unlike the aircraft carriers they can't evade.

Use of such missile has been said by some experts to potentially lead to nuclear exchange, regional arms races with India and Japan, and the end of the INF Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, which the Peoples Republic of China is not a party of.

Some have also suggested China could develop a "MIRVd" DF-21D with multiple independent missiles.

China has recently launched a series of satellites to support its ASBM efforts:

• Yaogan-VII electro-optical satellite - 9 December 2009
• Yaogan-VIII synthetic aperture radar satellite - 14 December 2009
• Yaogan-IX Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS) constellation (3 satellites in formation) - 5 March 2010.

China is reported to be working on an Over-the-horizon radar to locate the targets for the ASBM.

KT ABM/ASAT^{[citation needed]}

KT series anti-ballistic / anti satellite missiles is reportedly a series of highly classified and thus little known missiles based on DF-21. Designed to intercept ballistic missiles and satellites, KT series utilizes experience gained from earlier FJ ABM developed decades earlier. Four models of KT series have been developed so far, including KT-1, KT-2, KT-2A and KT-III:

• KT-1: designed to engage sub-orbital targets.
• KT-1A: upgraded KT-1
• KT-409: upgraded solid-fuelled variant
• SC-19: KT-1 variant
• KT-2: designed to engage low earth orbit (LEO) targets at altitude up to 600 km.
• KT-2A: designed to engage polar orbital targets.
• KT-III: designed to engage targets at altitude 1000 km or higher.

It is rumored that there are other versions of KT under development, but these claims have yet to be verified.

External links

• Claremont Institute description
• Global Security description
• Sinodefense description
• Encyclopedia Astronautica description

Preceded by DF-5

DF-21 1999-

Succeeded by DF-31