Several DF-27 hypersonic missile launchers were seen being transported in a convoy through an urban area in China, according to images shared on Chinese social media.
According to Defence Blog, the images were captured by bystanders along a public road and show large military vehicles moving in formation through a street in an unspecified Chinese city, visible alongside regular civilian traffic and standard urban infrastructure, including traffic signs and road barriers.
Open-source analysts identified the vehicles as likely transporter-erector launchers associated with the DF-27 anti-ship ballistic missile system, equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle. This new Chinese launcher had already been highlighted by the Pentagon in a 2025 annual report.
According to the report, China’s hypersonic launcher would be a conventional intercontinental ballistic missile with an estimated range of 5,000 to 8,000 kilometers and anti-ship capabilities. This range places it at the lower end of the ICBM class, making it the first operational, conventionally armed ICBM fielded by any nation.
The DF-27 combines range and maneuverability through a hypersonic glide vehicle. Using solid propellant, it can carry conventional, nuclear, or hypersonic warheads while maintaining in-flight maneuverability, and it has variants designed for land-attack and anti-ship missions.
Unlike a traditional ballistic missile reentry vehicle, a hypersonic glide vehicle does not follow a predictable trajectory. After separating from its booster at high altitude, it glides at speeds exceeding Mach 5 while maneuvering, making it much harder to intercept with missile defense systems.
Above all, the sighting of launchers consistent with this system moving through a populated Chinese city underscores that the DF-27 is not merely a development program, but deployed hardware actively moving within operational forces.
Additionally, the DF-27 marks the fourth anti-ship ballistic missile in China’s inventory, joining the intermediate-range ballistic missile DF-26, the hypersonic glide missile YJ-17, and the medium-range ballistic missile DF-21D.
Photo: Reproduction / Social media. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team
