Business Insider – China has moved to speed up the development of its most advanced submarine-launched nuclear missile, a weapon capable of striking the US mainland, military sources have said. Two independent sources told the South China Morning Post that the Chinese navy had tested the JL-3, or Julang (or “Big Wave”) missile — which it ultimately intends to pair with its next-generation nuclear submarines.
It was launched from Bohai Bay in the Yellow Sea late last month, with the warhead landing in the northwest Gobi Desert in Xinjiang. Unlike the previous three tests, which used a conventional Type 032 submarine, the latest launch was conducted using the Type 094 nuclear submarine,
according to one source. But the military ultimately plans to arm the Type 096 submarine with the missiles, a process that could take years to complete. The JL-3 test was first reported by The Washington Times on Christmas Eve in an article that cited Pentagon sources who said the launch had been conducted on December 22 and monitored by US satellites and other intelligence platforms. READ MORE
