On Thursday, China conducted a land-based, midcourse missile interception test, which is the fifth land-based, anti-ballistic missile test the country has publicly announced.
Anti-ballistic missiles are a highly difficult technology to master. Intercepting a ballistic missile in flight is like shooting a bullet to hit another bullet. Even the United States, with the most powerful military technologies of the world, has failed many times in the past.
Midcourse interception is the most common interception technology because the midcourse accounts for 80 to 90 percent of a missile's flight time, and its trajectory is most predictable during the midcourse.
Anti-ballistic missile technology is of significance to the balance of power among countries possessing nuclear weapons. The country that makes major progress in interception technology will have an advantage, which is why countries are investing heavily in interception research.
China's security will be better ensured with stronger ballistic missile interception capabilities. It is like a shield that can protect Chinese territory from invasion by missiles.
Land-based, midcourse missile interception is the most advanced of all modern interception technologies. It is a complex system composed of many sub-systems, each of which relies heavily upon the others. To build such a system is a big test of a nation's comprehensive technological abilities.
The systems include long-distance monitoring radar, early warning satellites, high-accuracy distance measurement, false object identifying, as well as battlefield management systems, among other things. Only when all these systems work well with each other will missile interception be possible, and the failure of one part of the system means failure of the system as a whole. Only a few countries such as the United States, Japan and China have conducted such tests.
The success of the test means China has made major progress in the relevant technologies. This will promote the modernization of other weapon systems and China's national defense capabilities will all be enhanced.
You cannot get peace by begging for it, only by defending it.
