China shows its muscles, after the Chinese New Year is back to work; staged a military preparatory exercise for a hypothetical conflict both on land and sea in the south of which was then released the video at work DF 16 (Dong Feng, "east wind") the latest arrival of the DF class, a range of intercontinental missiles that fill a void in the Chinese military arsenal.
In the exercise simulated a series of scenarios, the chemical / biological contamination, the contrast to the satellite recognition of enemy vectors, the prevention of electronic sabotage, this for the defense phase but the flagship of the exercise concerned as said the Dong Feng 16, produced in two different versions, of which the speed of loading was shown and explained how the trajectory of the missile can undergo changes after launch.
Here the thought went to the Taiwan missile defenses that have the Patriot (Phased Array Tracking to Intercept Of Target) the effective defense system against missile attacks that became famous during the 1991 Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein's SCUDs launched against Israel were successfully intercepted.
At that time, the purchase by Italy of these instruments for defending the air and the ground vanished due to the high cost and also because the objective threats to our country are secondary.
So the development of the Dong Feng line serves the Chinese as a means of pressure against Taiwan? It should be remembered that Donald Trump arrived on the global scene, which triggered the thaw with the Russians, perhaps removing Moscow from Beijing and was very ambiguous about the recognition of Taiwan's claims.
In the last statement following the talks with Xi Jinping, the American president would have backtracked by declaring that Washington recognizes only one China, a cold shower for the islanders in an eternal struggle for independence.
On closer inspection, the "east wind" may not be limited to a direct action towards the neighboring states of Taiwan, the range of missiles that publicly debuted during a military parade in Beijing in September 2015 under the eyes of General Fan Changlong represents a challenge for missile installations located along all national borders, including Japan; in fact, Xu Guangyu, a prominent Chinese officer now retired, pointed out that these missiles could reach Okinawa, which is 400 kilometers away from the disputed islands of Diaoyu, but the range is more than twice that distance.
Il Dong Feng 16 was developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp and can carry a warhead of at least 500 kg, the accuracy is comparable to that of a cruise and as said it can be maneuvered in flight; missiles should travel to 625 miles per hour.
Everything leads us to suppose that a psychological military war is taking place, the American bases and Washington's allies are many and very close to the Chinese borders, even if in a recent report by the magazine Diplomat it explains how the Chinese should not fear any conventional American attack on the Asian continent, nor by amphibious means or marine expeditions, nor by paratroopers.
The problem is at sea, too many American submarines cross the Pacific even if outside the 12 Chinese marine miles, the hope is that in this traffic accidents never happen, because the situation is tense as declared several times by military exponents and Americans that Russians.
But that's another story.
