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China zooms ahead with Cruise missiles, says Jane's

China is making rapid progress with its new Cruise missile programmes, and a missile with a range of 2,500 km is in the pipeline, the Jane's Defence Weekly has reported.

The weekly said Tuesday, ''China's development of a nuclear- armed Cruise missile was reported in a 1995 Russian document,'' and that the use of Tomahawk cruise missiles against targets in Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Sudan may have provided China with an opportunity in ''reverse engineering.''

Over 600 Tomahawk missiles were launched in these attacks and at least six of them landed virtually intact. Some of them may have been recovered and transported to China which then acquired a wide range of advanced technologies associated with the missile, the report said.

It expressed surprise at the ''rates of progress'' of the missile development programmes adding that they ''have been faster than anticipated.''

One type of Cruise missile, the HN-2 version, entered service in 1996 with a range of 1,500 and 2,000 km. ''A further upgrade, HN-3, is now being developed with its range further increased to 2,500 km. The first versions of the HN-1/-2/-3 missiles are believed to be ground-launched from wheeled vehicles, and later versions are expected to be developed for ship-, submarine- and aircraft-launch," it said.

UNI

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