How China is reaching into the Indo-Pacific with hypersonic missiles

The PLA is deploying the new technology to extend its range beyond the strategic first island chain, the Pentagon says

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The DF-26 is known as China’s first conventionally-armed ballistic missile capable of reaching Guam. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:00pm, 20 Dec 2024

The Chinese military has “the world’s leading” hypersonic missile arsenal, weapons that are helping it to operate “deeper into the Indo-Pacific region”, according to the Pentagon’s latest assessment of its rival’s armed forces.

In its annual report to the US Congress on Wednesday, the Department of Defence said the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) remained focused on developing abilities to “dissuade, deter, or, if ordered, defeat third-party intervention in the Indo-Pacific region”.

“The PLA continues developing the capabilities to conduct military operations deeper into the Indo-Pacific region and globally,” the report said, adding that the PLA was deploying hypersonic glide vehicles that may be “used to strike foreign military bases and fleets in the Western Pacific”.

Those abilities were part of structural reforms and new military doctrine designed to improve joint operations and test the PLA’s ability beyond the first island chain.

The chain is a series of islands and archipelagos running from the Japanese mainland to the Philippines off the coast of continental Asia and includes the strategic flashpoints of Taiwan and the South China Sea.

The US report said improvements to Chinese air and naval systems enabled its forces to “operate further from the PRC [People’s Republic of China] for longer”.