Chinese Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) Development

Drivers, Trajectories, and Strategic Implications

Andrew S. Erickson

• Publisher: The Jamestown Foundation
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780985504588
• Topic: Política y relaciones internacionales
• Subtopic: Seguridad nacional

China’s anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), the DF-21D, has reached the equivalent of Initial Operational Capability. Although it probably has been deployed in small numbers, additional challenges and tests remain. This study examines the ASBM’s capability and history, showing how the DF-21D meets multiple priorities in Chinese defense modernization and in the national security bureaucracy, as well its implications for the United States. The ASBM’s physical threat to U.S. Navy ships will be determined by the development of associated systems and organizations, which currently limit data fusion and coordination in the complex task of identifying a U.S. aircraft carrier in the open ocean. Still, the ASBM poses a direct threat to the foundations of U.S. power project in Asia and will undermine the U.S. position, unless efforts to counter its political-military effects are taken.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• List of Acronyms
• I. Executive Summary
• II. Key Judgments
• III. Current Status of the DF-21D ASBM
• IV. Background and Motivations for the ASBM Program
• V. Discussions of ASBMs in the Chinese Literature
• VI. Constructing a System of Systems
• VII. Conclusion
• VIII. Appendix A: Knowledge Gaps and Key Questions
• IX. Appendix B: Post-1996 ASBM Publication Boom
• X. Appendix C: Chinese Analysis of the Pershing II
• About the Author
• Acknowledgements