Introduction

On 11 January 2007, a kinetic kill vehicle launched by a Chinese missile destroyed a Chinese weather satellite orbiting 500 miles above the earth. Exactly three years later, the Chinese government announced its first ballistic missile defense test: “China conducted a test on ground-based midcourse missile interception technology within its territory.” The same day the following year, while the US Secretary of Defense was visiting Beijing, the prototype J-20 stealth fighter made its first test flight. Since 2007, the US DOD has warned that the PLA is developing medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) that could target “naval ships operating far from China's shores.” ¹