This Video of China's Lethal Aircraft Carrier Missile Should Scare U.S. Navy

Harry J. Kazianis

Security, Asia

While all eyes were on North Korea's launch, another in China could be just as significant.

While the world ponders the latest North Korean long-range rocket launch, another recent missile firing in Asia, this time by China just days ago, seems to have flown under the radar. It could, however, be just as significant.

First reported by the Web site Alert 5 and then picked up by the good folks over at Arms Control Wonk, CCTV seems to have released the first launch footage of the much discussed DF-21D, or “carrier-killer” missile, on Wednesday, February 3.

In an interesting post where the comment section also features an in-depth discussion of the video footage that is just as important as the analysis itself, Catherine Dill, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, breaks down the launch in great detail:

“The video begins at a base the night before a launch exercise. . .

“An alarm sounds, the troops prepare the convoy, and then they deploy to a remote area for the launch. The convoy shows several shots of the TEL. It appears to be a DF-31A. . .

“After the launch, it is time for the celebrations–complete with jiaozi–in a tent. During the celebrations the soldiers watch prerecorded videos from their families. Although probably somewhat staged, this scene does illustrate some of the hardships of the young launch brigader in being deployed far from home in remote areas for long periods of time. . .”

So where is the missile being fired from? Dill gives us some ideas: