While the intelligence community seemed to think that China's new hypersonic missile, the DF17, would not reach qualification status until 2020, it appears that the Chinese military wanted to pull off a surprise by presenting this new vector as operational in the ballistic arsenal of the People's Liberation Army during the military parade for the 70th anniversary of the creation of the People's Republic of China, October 1, 2019 in Beijing. With this entry into service, China therefore joins Russia in the very exclusive club of countries with maneuvering hypersonic missiles, and therefore capable of thwarting Western anti-missile systems such as the THAAD, the SM3 and the Patriot.
The new DF17 ballistic missile is characterized by its ability to support a hypersonic flight maneuvering during the intermediate and final flight phases thanks to a hypersonic atmospheric re-entry glider, making it very difficult to intercept by existing anti-missile systems. Although the missile has the possibility of carrying a nuclear charge, it is presented by the PLA as a short to medium range conventional ballistic missile, that is to say having a maximum range between 300 and 3.500 km, depending on the classification. international, and carrying only a conventional explosive charge, and not a nuclear one, as a military charge.
This missile, capable of great precision according to APL test reports, is therefore a weapon with a tactical vocation, whose primary function would be to eliminate the adversary's command posts, communication posts and logistical nodes, without going beyond the nuclear threshold. In this respect, it is very close to the Russian Kinzhal missile, one of whose functions is precisely to “decapitate” the military, or even political, authorities of the adversary, so as to disorganize its defenses. Thanks to its ability to bypass anti-missile defenses, the DF17 could also be used to eliminate the launch and guidance bases of the adversary's anti-missile systems, so as to leave the field open to medium-sized ballistic missiles. DF21 scope, less efficient, but available in large numbers within the APL.
Regardless, with the DF17 in service, the PLA further strengthens its operational intervention capabilities over a large part of the Asian continent, and significantly increases its military potential to challenge the United States. When it has a sufficient number of these new weapon systems, such as the DF17, the GJ11 and WZ8 drones, the new generation J20 and HH20 fighters and bombers, and other Type 055 cruisers and Type 002 aircraft carriers, it will definitely be beyond the reach of Western intervention in the region, and will therefore be able to impose its own agenda.