Article Posted on : - Jan 01, 2016

The DF-41 missile. A file photo

BEIJING (PTI): China on Thursday said it has conducted scientific tests of a rail car-based long-range missile capable of hitting targets across the US.

"Scientific tests in the Chinese territory (have been) conducted according to the plan," Defence Ministry spokesperson Col. Yang Yujun told a monthly press briefing.

He was responding to a question in the US media about China conducting a test of rail car-based long-range missile DF-41 capable of hitting targets throughout the US.

The canister ejection test of a DF-41 missile from a rail-mobile launcher was detected on December 5 in western China, US website Free Beacon had reported.

This month marks a significant milestone for Chinese strategic weapons developers and demonstrates that Beijing is moving ahead with building and deploying the DF-41 on difficult-to-locate rail cars, in addition to previously-known road-mobile launchers, the website reported quoting US officials.

The DF-41, with a range of more than 7,500 miles, is China's most potent ICBM and was flight tested a day before the rail car ejection test with two multiple-independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs), the report had said.

China and the US recently engaged in tensions over an American guided-missile destroyer sailing through artificial islands in the South China Sea (SCS) built by Beijing.

China had raised vociferous protests and warned the US against sending naval vessels and military jet to the area.