The first Long March 6 rocket was successfully launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre late last month with a multipayload of 20 small satellites, according to state broadcaster CCTV and the People's Liberation Army's mouthpiece, the PLA Daily.About a week later, on September 29, the official Science and Technology Daily reported that a Second Artillery Corps battalion had launched a midnight full-flight test of a strategic missile. The test proved that the strategic missile force could now operate the entire chain of the C4ISR – computerised command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance - systems that the US military uses.
"The launch of the Long March 6 will definitely help President Xi Jinping increase his bargaining power on security issues when dealing with US President Barack Obama," said defence policy specialist He Qisong of the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.
"The launch will send a message to the US that the PLA now is capable of breaking its ballistic missile defence system in Asia, because the multipayload technology can also be used on the DF-41 [long-range nuclear missile]."
Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said the Long March 6 technology could also be used on the JL-3, China's third-generation nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missile.
The DF-41, which the Pentagon has described as China's most powerful weapon, has an estimated 12,000km range and can carry up to 10 warheads. The DF-41 and JL-3 combined could carry up to 20 warheads, hitting as many different targets.
MIRV warheads do complicate Missile defense. Looks like a job for laser defense. China would have to understand that the USA has vast experience with MIRVs and that China would be on the receiving end of our Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missiles in an exchange.