Chinese Missile Test Shrouded in Secrecy

[ErnstBlofeld]

Fox News:

China remains silent following fresh tests of long-range missiles that experts say pose a growing threat.

On Wednesday, U.S. officials verified the covert flight trials, the Washington Times reported, which took place Sept. 25; in the tests, the Chinese military launched a missile from its Taiyuan missile center to Korla, a western Chinese city 1,800 miles away.

U.S. officials were made aware of the impending tests on Sept. 23, when the Chinese government issued a "notice to airmen" alerting aircraft to avoid the airspace between the two towns.

Though the Chinese government has yet to comment, reports from websites within China indicate the test most likely involved a second missile: an "interceptor" with a restricted flight range. These sites speculate that there were launches from two locations, one an interceptor missile instructed to take out the first, long-range test missile shot from from Taiyuan.

Chinese Embassy spokesman Wang Baodong told the Times that he was not aware of the test, but stated that if it took place, China's military "poses no threat to any other countries, and serves for peace and stability in the region and in the world at large."

[ErnstBlofeld]

Foreign media reports in 2006 said Beijing had tested a surface-to-air missile in the country's remote northwest with capabilities similar to the American Patriot interceptor system. This test was in the same location of the 2006 test.

[ErnstBlofeld]

The ABM that failed was SC-19 Kinetic Kill Vehicle Carrier. It is the same missle used in their January 2010 ABM test