China Flight Tests New ICBM: Reports

China’s military has reportedly conducted the first flight test of a new variant of one of its road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The test of a new DF-31B missile was conducted Sept. 25 from a missile test range in central China, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

A Pentagon spokeswoman declined to provide details of the test.

“We continue to monitor China’s military modernization, including its missile tests,” Cynthia O. Smith, the spokeswoman, told the newspaper.

According to the report, the test was believed to have been carried out from China’s Wuzhai test facility.

The new DF-31B is the latest addition to China’s rapidly growing nuclear missile arsenal that includes older silo-based missiles and five other road-mobile missiles. They include the long-range DF-31, DF-31A and DF-41 ICBMs, intermediate-range DF-26Cs, and medium-range DF-21s—a missile the Chinese have developed into a dual, nuclear-conventional weapon that includes an anti-ship variant. A DF-21 variant also is believed to be used as China’s anti-satellite missile system.