Chinese Theater Missile Systems

From Japan’s perspective, the DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile and the DF-21D antiship ballistic missile could pose direct threats. China has enough of these projectiles to potentially overwhelm Japan’s missile defense system with so-called “saturation attacks.” As a result, in a military standoff between Japan and China, most US forces would probably clear out of Japan temporarily.

Chinese ballistic missiles may have as many as three different designations. Missiles in service in China would have a DF [Dong Feng = East Wind] designator, while there is a separate alpha-numeric designator for missiles destined for export. The US intelligence community also assigns a CSS [China Surface to Surface] designator.

According to the Chinse principle of naming weapons, the model name of the weapon is named according to the following rules: Weapon Type - Weapon Serial Number - Weapon Development Serial Number. Dongfeng-21D, the type of weapon: Dongfeng, for the Second Artillery Weapon System, generally referred to as the East, 21 is the 21st, usually the Second Artillery 2X default for the long-range missiles, 3X for the long-range or intercontinental missiles, 4X for intercontinental missile. The last letter D said the fourth development model, D-type, that is, Ding type.

China’s Rocket Force
System	Launchers	Missiles	Estimated Range
ICBM	50-75	75-100	5,400-13,000+ km
IRBM	16-30	16-30	3,000+ km
MRBM	100-125	200-300	1,500+ km
SRBM	250-300	1,000-1,200	300-1,000 km
GLCM	40-55	200-300	1,500+ km
SOURCE : 2018 DIA "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China", pg 125

The U.S. Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) published “Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat” in July 2013. This assessment is an update to the 2009 edition of the same name. The 2013 version disclosed the finding that five new short-range ballistic missiles, including the CSS-9, CSS-11, CSS-14, CSS-X-15, and CSS-X-16 are in development in China. The fact of the existence of a sixth new system, the DF-15 (CSS-6), had been disclosed a few months earlier in Taiwan. Duncan Lennox had earlier disclosed the fact of the existence of a CSS-11 [“B-611 (CSS-11)” Jane’s Strategic Weapon Systems (Offensive Weapons) August 3, 2012], but this was evidently in confusion, as the rocket he discussed had a range of only 159 km, not the 850 km of the NASIC report.

PLA Rocket Force inventories are poorly constrained in the open source literature. The 2019 DIA "China Military Power" reported "The PLARF has about 1,200 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs).... China currently has 75 to 100 ICBMs..." The report discussed various medium and intermendiate range missile programs, but did not provide inventory estimates.

				Overview
Chinese Designations		Western Designations	Fuel	Range [km]	IOC
Short Range - up to 1000 km
		SS-1A SCUNNER
	1060	SS-1B SCUD
DF- 1	1059	SS-2 SIBLING
DF-7	M-7 / 8610	CSS-8	Solid/Liquid	150-180
DF-11, 11A	M-11	CSS-7 Mod 1	Solid	300	1995
		CSS-7 Mod 2	Solid	600
DF-12	M-20	CSS-X-15	Solid	280-400
DF-15	M-9	CSS-6 Mod 1	Solid	600	1995
		CSS-6 Mod 2	Solid	850+
		CSS-6 Mod 3	Solid	725+
DF-16		CSS-11 Mod 1	Solid	800+
		CSS-9 Mod 1	Solid	150
		CSS-9 Mod-X-2	Solid	260
		CSS-14 Mod-X-1	Solid	150
		CSS-14 Mod-X-2	Solid	280
		CSS-X-16	Solid	200
	WM-80			80-120
	B-611/P-12/BP-12	CSS-11		150-250
	SY-400/-400 mod			150-400
	Wei Shi-2/-3			200
Medium Range - 1,000-3,000 km
CH-10	DH-10			1,500	2006
CJ-20				2,000	201x ?
DF-100				1,500	2019?
DF- 2		CSS-1		1,250	1966
DF-21		CSS-5 Mod 1	Solid	1,750+	1986
		CSS-5 Mod 2	Solid	1,750+
DF-21C		CSS-5 Con	Solid	1,750+
DF-21D	WU-14	CSS-5 ASBM	Solid	1,500+
DF-25				1,700	cancelled
DF-61				1,000	cancelled
	M-18			1,000
DF-ZF	WU-14	CSS-5 ASBM	Solid	1,500+
DF-17	DF-ZF	Hypersonic BGV	Solid	2,500
Xingkong-2	Starry Sky 2		Scramjet?	?,000
Intermediate Range - 3,000-4,800 km
DF-3A		CSS-2	Liquid	3,000	1971
DF-4		CSS-3		4,750	1980
DF-26	Guam Express		solid	4,000	201?

Inventory - Missiles
		01 Jan	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Short Range			225	275	350	425	500	690	750	1035	1100	1200	1300
DF-7	M-7	CSS-8	0	0	0	25	50	-	-	-	-	-	-
DF-11	M-11	CSS-7	100	125	175	200	225	440	455	695	725	800	875
DF-15	M-9	CSS-6	125	150	175	200	225	250	295	340	375	400	425
Medium / Long Range			108	108	100	100	100	100	100	250	350	500	600
DF- 3A		CSS-2	40	40	40	40	40	16	16	16	20	20	20
DF- 4		CSS-3	20	20	12	12	12	22	22	18	18	18	18
DF-21		CSS-5	48	48	48	48	48	21	35	45	70	85	100
DH-10			-	-	-	-	-	-	some	150	250	350	450

Inventory - Launchers
		IISS	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Short Range			..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	213	..
DF-7	M-7	CSS-8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
DF-11	M-11	CSS-7	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	108	..
DF-15	M-9	CSS-6	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	81	..
DF-16		CSS-3	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	24	..
Medium / Long Range			..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	218	..
DF- 3A			..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	-	..
DF- 4		CSS-3	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	-	..
DF-21		CSS-5	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	134	..
DF-26			..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	30	..
CJ-10			..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	54	..