China has 'sharply' increased number of nuclear warheads..WHY?

China has sharply increased the number of strategic nuclear warheads for its new DF-31 and JL-2 missiles, according to the Kanwa Asian Defense Review.

The newsletter reported April 11 that "China's stockpile of nuclear warheads has increased sharply, giving it preliminary capability to engage in three-dimensional nuclear strikes upon opponent targets."

DF-31

The newest generation of Chinese strategic missile, including the Dong Feng-31, will narrow the gap between current Chinese, US and Russian ballistic missile designs. This system is a solid-fueled, three-stage mobile missile with a range of 8000 km carrying a 700 kg, one-megaton warhead. The DF-31 limited-range ICBM will give China a major strike capability that will be difficult to counterattack at any stage of its operation, from pre-flight mobile operations through terminal flight phases. As with the JL-1/DF-21 combination, the DF-31 and JL-2 are land-based and sea-based variants of the same missile. The cancelled DF-25 conventionally armed IRBM was to have been based on the first two stages of the DF-31, and the DF-41 long-range ICBM will use these two stages with a large-diameter third stage. Development of these missiles was accelerated following the successful test of their common 2m-diameter solid rocket motor in late 1983. The missile is apparently comparable in size and performance to the American TRIDENT C-4 long-range multiple-warhead three-stage solid fuel missile missile that is launched from submerged submarines.

JL-2

The new JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is the sea-based variant of the DF-31 land-mobile long-range missile. Development of these missiles was accelerated following the successful test of their common 2m-diameter solid rocket motor in late 1983. The missile is apparently roughly comparable in size and performance to the American TRIDENT C-4 long-range multiple-warhead three-stage solid fuel missile missile that is launched from submerged submarines.

The missile will reportedly carry either 3 or 4 MIRV (90kT each) or a single warhead with a yield of 250-1000 kT. Other reports suggest that each missile might be loaded with as many as six warheads. Most reports agree that the JL-2 will ahve a range of about 8,000 km, while some reports suggest that the missile will have an estimated range at least 9,000 kilometers.

Some sources suggest that China tested the JL-2 in 1999, but as of December 2000, construction of the first Type 094 had apparently been delayed, and the PLAN had yet to test-launch the JL-2.

China's nuclear build-up accelerated around 1995 as a result of new tensions over Taiwan, the report said.

Fearing U.S. intervention in a Taiwan conflict, China's Second Artillery Corps, the strategic nuclear forces service, "started to put forward such slogans as 'Using the Second Artillery Force to launch the first strike for decisive victory.'"

The change led to a new doctrine that called for moving away from balancing nuclear and conventional force capabilities to focusing more on nuclear capabilities.

"In terms of technologies, the [Second Artillery Corps] sped up the development of carrier vehicles for long-range strategic missiles including mainly DF-31 and JL-2," the report said.

The Chinese also conducted a life extension program for its DF-3 and D-4 missiles and produced more DF-5A ICBMs.

The report said that China has an estimated 300 to 400 warheads and will increase them to between 600 and 900 in the next five to eight years.

"With the above nuclear warhead expansion programs, China will have more nuclear warheads than the United Kingdom and France combined around 2015, or very likely close to the scale of Russia's nuclear warhead stockpile," the report said.