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China to Test Mobile Ballistic Missile Capable of Striking
Western U.S.A.
by John
Vennari
Our Lady came to Fatima
specifically to bring peace to a world torn asunder by war and violence. She
warned us that, unless Her requests were granted (especially for the
Consecration of Russia), God would further chastise the world through even
greater wars and that "many nations will be annihilated." In this startling
article, Catholic Family News editor, John Vennari, shows that, despite
the "feel good" rhetoric of those who would have us believe that the Message of
Fatima is no longer relevant, nuclear war remains a constant threat to our
lives and those of our families.
The November 12, 1998
edition of the Washington Times reported that in December of this year, China
is set to conduct the first flight test of a new mobile intercontinental
ballistic missile that can reach the western United States.
 Bill Gertz,
writing in the Times said that "The new missile will use solid fuel, which
makes it capable of being launched within minutes. It also will be equipped
with a 'second-generation' thermonuclear warhead with a yield of about 500
kilotons, or 500,000 tons of TNT."
The DF-31 is the
first Chinese ICBM capable of being moved on roads. Only Russia operates
road-mobile long-range missiles, the SS-25's which are extremely effective
strategic weapons because they can be moved easily and quickly.
The article
further stated that besides the DF-31 (with a range of 5,000 miles), China is
building a missile with a range of up to 8,000 miles that is known as the
DF-41. It also is working on conventional and nuclear cruise missiles.
"In July," Gertz
reported, "China first test-fired the DF-31's rocket motor while President
Clinton was in China on an official visit. Intelligence reports about that test
were sent to Secretary of State Madeline Albright, who was traveling with the
president. The timing of the test was viewed by U.S. intelligence as a
political signal toward the United States."
A CIA report from
earlier this year said 13 of China's 18 long-range missiles were targeted on
the United States. Gertz pointed out that "the report contradicted Mr.
Clinton's often-used phrase there are no nuclear missiles aimed at the United
States."
A
report from the Air Force's National Air Intelligence Center in Ohio said that
the DF-31 "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," and that "road-mobility will greatly improve
Chinese nuclear ballistic missile survivability and will complicate the task of
defeating the Chinese threat."
China's Lasers Can Blast US Satellites
This news of the
ICBM test came swiftly on the heels of another report from the same newspaper
about an equally grave menace. The November 3 edition of the Times published
that according to a Pentagon report, "China's Peoples Liberation Army is
building lasers to destroy satellites and already has beam weapons capable of
damaging sensors on space-based reconnaissance and intelligence systems.
Consequently, China could blind U.S. intelligence and military space equipment
systems vital for deploying U.S. military forces in current and future
warfare."
The report said that the PLA has acquired a variety of technologies "that could
be used to develop an anti-satellite weapon ... the lasers also could be used
to disrupt or cripple commercial communications and navigation systems during
'information warfare'," and that "China already may possess the capability
to damage, under specific conditions, optical sensors or satellites that are
very vulnerable to lasers."
Beijing,
according to the report, maintains a keen interest in laser technology and it
is "reasonable to assume that Beijing would develop a weapon that could destroy
satellites in the future ... The laser weapons capability is among several
aspects of China's drive to develop high-technology weapons and to engage in
information warfare; attacks on computers and other electronic systems."
The report warned
that the ability to damage or destroy satellites will provide China with a
"strategic weapon against the U.S. military, which relies heavily on the use of
space-based equipment for communicating with forces and detecting foreign
military activities, from troop movements to missile launches."
The United States
has no anti-satellite weapons, or Asats, and abandoned work on an
aircraft-launched satellite killer in the 1980s.
Richard Fisher, a
defense specialist with the Heritage Foundation, said the Pentagon's disclosure
of Chinese anti-satellite efforts is "an extremely important revelation."
Fisher explained
that "the Pentagon report shows that China is preparing its forces to wage not
only a 'Desert-Storm' level of regional conflict, but a 21st Century
high-tech war'."
The report also
said China is constructing electronic jammers "which could be used against
Global Positioning Systems [GPS] receivers" — pinpoint navigational
devices used in all military operations and in the commercial sector as well.
Such jamming would create a great danger because it would "severely hamper
international transportation."
China has made
the exploitation of space, including manned space operations, a high priority.
The Pentagon report stated that China's first manned space flight is expected
before the end of next year, and that manned space flight will contribute to an
"improved military space system."
The report also
said that China has made improvements in its own satellite technology which
will enhance the accuracy of its M-9 and M-11 missiles, with ranges of 372
miles and 186 miles, respectively.
For a full report, see Catholic
Family News, Dec., 1998.
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