The People's Liberation Army's DF-26 missile, as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), is unmatched in the world, the Beijing-based Sina Military Network claimed in a report.
By international standards, guided missiles are categorized to be IRBMs if they have a range of more than 3,000 kilometers. However, to the PLA, a missile is only considered to be an IRBM if it has a range of more than 4,000 km.
China produced its first-generation IRBM, the DF-4, with breakthroughs in weapons technology that included multi-stage rockets, high-altitude ignition engines, warhead heat resistance, and inertial navigation, the report said.
The DF-4 provided the foundations for the country's satellite-launching and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology and from DF-4 technology, the Long March 1 carrier rocket was developed, which launched China's first satellite in 1970.
According to the report, the DF-4, a main weapon of the PLA's Second Artillery Corps that entered service in the 1980s, has a range of 4,000 km and later improved to 4,750 km. It can carry a hydrogen bomb with an explosion equivalent to 3 million tons of TNT.
The report, however, said that the DF-4 was believed to be replaced by the new DF-26, which may have entered service around 2010.
The DF-26, a two-stage solid-fuel rocket IRBM, measures 14 meters long with a diameter of 1.4 m and a launch weight of 20 tons. It can carry a nuclear or conventional warhead that weighs 1,200-1,800 kilograms and has an estimated maximum range of more than 5,000 km, which means it can strike U.S. military bases in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean or Guam in the Asia-Pacific.
Recent leaked photos of the DF-26 show the missile has a mobile launch capacity, as it can be transported by a six-axis missile delivery vehicle.
Sina Military claimed that the DF-26 tops above other missile as the most advanced IRBM in the world. Due to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union were unable to develop missiles similar to the DF-26. The treaty included the elimination of nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges between 500 and 5,500 km.
Only India's Agni-V was reportedly the only missile comparable to the DF-26. India's missile has a range of about 5,000 km, but has been categorized as an ICBM due to claims that its range can reach up to 8,000 km.
The Sina Military, however, said that the DF-26 is vastly superior to the Agni-V because it can carry heavier warheads and can be fired with greater precision.