China conducts mock intercontinental ballistic missile strike exercise

The Rocket Force was set up by the PLA three years ago as President Xi Jinping stepped up efforts to modernise the 2 million-strong Chinese military, the world's largest force.

China’s Rocket Force, the strategic and tactical missile operator of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), has conducted a simulated intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strike mission from an underground bunker against an imaginary enemy, official media here reported.

China Central Television (CCTV), which carried the news, however, did not disclose the details about the location and time of the exercise.

The Rocket Force was set up by the PLA three years ago as President Xi Jinping stepped up efforts to modernise the 2 million-strong Chinese military, the world’s largest force.

The Rocket Force was carved out from the second artillery corps and it functioned in coordination with the Strategic Support Force which focussed on navigation and cyber technology support.

China’s land-based ICBM has a flight range of 12,000 km and could potentially hit targets in the US, state-run Global Times reported.

Revealing the ICBM test, the CCTV report said long-term survival training in closed environments has become routine for the troops to ensure counterattack capability in case a war breaks out, the report said.