Df 26b News Today

China's People's Liberation Army Rocket Forces (PLARF) possess the DF-26B intermediate-range ballistic missile, known as the "Guam Killer," capable of reaching U.S. facilities on Guam.

The DF-26B allows China to target US Navy warships operating near regions China considers to be within its sphere of influence. This capability means that all those expensive US Navy warships—notably aircraft carriers—will be vulnerable to attack from the DF-26B. The DF-26B carries the nickname “carrier killer.” 

The United States faces a double-edged sword: it needs to have its forces deployed nearer to China so that it can reliably respond to any provocation by China. Those forces must be large enough to rollback what will be basically a full-court press (militarily speaking) by China. 

If the DF-26 missile is indeed a capable killer of US vessels, the Chinese will have a relatively cheap way to thwart expensive and difficult-to-replace US vessels.

China's DF-26B is the ultimate aircraft carrier-killer missile if it can indeed strike from 2,500 miles away. But is it all hype or reality? 

The Chinese have a mobile missile launcher that can fire a missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle that could evade American defenses. Called the DF-17, China has said it could hit a “moving target.”

Especially noteworthy about the DF-26B is that it is a dual-capable missile, a type of weapon banned by the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by the United States and the Soviet Union near the end of the Cold War.

In the late summer of 2020, China conducted test launches of both the DF-21B and DF-26B into the South China Sea.

China would need to get lucky just once to sink an aircraft carrier, but it could have 400 to 500 chances thanks to the DF-26B and other missiles. Those aren't great odds for those on a U.S. flattop.

Pentagon believes China reportedly has 300 DF-26 Intermediate-Range Ballistic missiles capable of striking Guam and U.S. warships.