China has apparently been successful in the first test of a missile carrying MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) warheads

The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) called Dong Feng-41 (DF-41) is China's longest-range ICBM. U.S. defense analysts, however, said China stole from the U.S. in the 1990s the key technologies that made the MIRV possible.

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The Dec. 13 flight test saw the use of an unknown number of inert maneuvering warheads. The Chinese did not admit to making the flight test, however.

Previous tests of the DF-41 were carried out at the Wuzhai Missile and Space Testing facility 250 miles southwest of Beijing.

The National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), the intelligence community's primary missile spy center, believes the DF-41 can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads and could be deployed as early as 2015.

China currently has 240 nuclear warheads. That number is expected to increase as the Chinese deploy the new MIRVs. In contrast, the U.S. has 1,642 nuclear warheads.

The DF-41 has a maximum range of 7,456 miles, allowing it to target the entire continental United States.

A classified NASIC report in 1996 said China developed a "smart dispenser" for launching multiple satellites using technology developed under a contract with Motorola to launch Iridium communications satellites. The technology transfer was approved by the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Rick Fisher, a Chinese military analyst, said the introduction of China's MIRV capability could end U.S. efforts to reduce the number of its nuclear warheads.

"The Chinese have not and likely will not disclose their nuclear warhead buildup plans, Russia is modernizing its nuclear forces across the board and violating the INF treaty with new classes of missiles, so it would be suicidal for the Washington to pursue a new round of nuclear reductions as is this administration's preference," Fisher said.

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