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Here's the 2020 @DeptofDefense report to Congress on China's "military and security developments." https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2332126/dod-releases-2020-report-on-military-and-security-developments-involving-the-pe/
DOD's 2020 China military power report contains some new missile and nuclear tidbits. Here's a discussion of a shift to rotational alerts for mobile missiles and launch-on-warning for silo-based missiles (p. 88, h/t @NarangVipin):
An article I wrote in 2015, which appeared in @TheNonproReview, forecast these developments and discussed their implications for strategic stability. https://tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10736700.2015.1119422
The DF-26 IRBM comes up repeatedly, too, as @wslafoy was quick to note. On p. 56, it's called a "multi-role" missile "designed to rapidly swap conventional and nuclear warheads."
. @wslafoy and I wrote about this characteristic of the DF-26 back in May: https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1209405/chinas-df-26-a-hot-swappable-missile/
But p. 73 of the DOD also refers to an anti-ship "variant" of the DF-26, perhaps implying that there is a dedicated ASBM type, one that doesn't do warhead swaps.
This might explain why @SCMPNews recently described a DF-26B as included in recent missile tests targeting a point or points at sea: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3099157/why-china-brought-out-aircraft-carrier-killer-flex-its-military
It's nice to get some validation of these judgments! But it's also not so nice. On balance, neither launch-on-warning nor multirole missiles help us to avoid nuclear war. Each makes miscalculations more dangerous. (end)
