Key Points – China’s DF-26 and DF-26B, an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a 4,000 km range, poses a significant threat to US naval assets in the Indo-Pacific.
-Its anti-ship variant, often called the “Guam Express” or “Carrier Killer,” is specifically designed to target US aircraft carriers.
-First fielded in 2016, this road-mobile, solid-fueled missile can be armed with either a conventional or thermonuclear warhead.
-In response, the US Navy employs a multi-layered defense for its carrier strike groups, using the Aegis Combat System, SM-series interceptors, electronic warfare from EA-18G Growlers, and close-in weapons systems to counter this destabilizing threat.
DF-26 and DF-26B: A Deep Dive into China’s ‘Carrier Killer’ Missile
It seems like the U.S. military is firing a lot of missiles at everything, and a shortage is brewing.
However, China does not; the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s (CASC) DF-26 (Dong Feng-26) is a road-mobile, two-stage, solid-fueled, intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a range of 4,000 km. It is China’s first conventionally armed ballistic missile capable of striking Guam.
China has been building an anti-ship version of the DF-26 B missile, which has been in production since 2016. The country is investing heavily in missile development. The Dong Feng (East Wind) is commonly known as the “Guam Express” or the “Carrier Killer.”
US Monitors China Missile Development
Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler, the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare (OPNAV N2/N6), said, “I’m not going to get [into] much more detail of what we know and don’t know about it.
“But they’re pouring a lot of money in the ability to basically rim their coast in the South China Sea with anti-ship missile capability. It’s a destabilizing effort in the South China Sea, in the East China Sea, all those areas. When their claims of some of these contested islands – they’re militarizing those areas,” Trussler said at a virtual event hosted by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
“That’s something we’re going to watch very closely. It’s something that confuses the international order and concerns the allies in the region. It’s one reason we work to keep the global commons open and the free flow of traffic,” he added.
“But when you see that – those are troubling developments. They’re probably aimed and specifically developed towards the United States Navy. So we watch them very closely. I hope they just keep pouring money into that type of thing. That may not be how we win the next war.”
The Dong Feng DF-26B
The missile is 14 meters long and weighs 20,000 kilograms at launch. The warhead is a 1,200-1,800 kilogram thermonuclear or conventional device. China is expected to use it against Nimitz or Ford-class aircraft carriers if a war broke out.
China first unveiled the DF-26B at a military parade in Beijing. At the event, China displayed 16 missiles on road-mobile transporter-erector launchers (TELs).
Official commentary during the parade described the missile as possessing both nuclear and conventional capabilities, a claim corroborated by US Department of Defense assessments. According to the US Department of Defense, China began fielding the DF-26 in 2016.
It is believed that China was “sending a message” to Washington in 2020 while it was conducting test launches of the “carrier killers” in the South China Sea. Beijing accused Washington of sending U-2 spy planes into a “no-fly zone” during a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) live-fire naval drill in the Bohai Sea off China’s north coast.
The US Navy Is Layering Its Defenses
The Navy knows just how vulnerable US aircraft carriers are in the South China Sea. If China sent a swarm of missiles at US carriers, it would take only one to get through to turn the situation into a disaster.
To counter this threat against its carriers, the US Navy is deploying a layered defense system that includes Rolling Airframe Missiles, SM-series interceptors, and Phalanx close-in weapon systems.
Carrier strike groups’ escort ships utilize an Aegis weapon system to protect the flotilla from launched enemy aircraft and missiles. EA-18 Growlers will also be used to jam the incoming missiles or aircraft electronically. Will it be enough?
It is hard to predict because we don’t truly know the capabilities of the Chinese munitions or missiles. However, the Navy is trying to incorporate new weapons to defend the carriers.
The stealth aerial re-fueling drone called the MQ-25 Stingray can keep the F-35s, F/A-18 Super Hornets, and EA-18 Growlers in the air with longer ranges to keep the carriers out of missile range. Sea Sparrow and Phalanx weapons are for close-in defenses. The Navy has been testing a directed energy laser weapon to defeat incoming missiles.
The DF-26B is a definite carrier killer; the Navy knows this and is planning accordingly, but it will be quite a battle if it indeed comes true.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
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doyle-1
June 20, 2025 at 9:46 am
In the coming westpac war, or coming ww3 or great pacific war 2.0, the US is fully expected to employ the B61-13 bomb.
China therefore must be at least a few steps ahead, meaning it must always keep a handful of EMP warheads ready to counter the B61-13 equipped strike force.
How to do it.
One way is to equip jet aircraft or large drones to haul EMP payloads aloft and send them toward the carriers and aegis fleet.
But a better way (since the june 2025 iran-Israel war has shown that airbases are open to lightning strikes) is to have a fleet of spacegliders or suborbital craft equipped with EMP weapons in their payloads bays.
Such spacegliders and suborbital craft can regularly return home to spaceports after a ‘tour of duty’ lasting several days to several weeks.
Thus any would-be attacker need to think twice before embarking on a ‘Rising Lion’ type of operation.
Should the attacker still desire to spring into action, an EMP warhead fired in his direction will emasculate all his electrical & electronic systems leaving hin vulnerable to kinetic missile strikes.
Always be prepared.
Randy Ray Pearson
June 21, 2025 at 9:20 am
The technology is NOY advanced or new. The US Navy and US Air Force have been using these missiles for over 39 years. During the Fauklands war, Britain faced these missiles as they were launched by aircraft or destroyer.
Chris Taylor
December 28, 2025 at 2:17 pm
There has been massive advancements in the computing and radar ability of the fleet and ability to intercept missiles. The warhead and missiles may not have changed, but the ability to intercept is massively improved. Comparing apples and oranges.
Jack
October 27, 2025 at 7:58 am
The DF-26 and other types of course can be deployed within modified, and maybe even unmodified, cargo pods on container ships and quickly creating a “stealth” weapons platform.
A few cargo pods even could be “accidentally” lost overboard from container ships as has happened in real-life, and could be deployed near and along routes capital ships are expected to navigate, as the pods just look like yet another “harmless” cargo pod(s) drifting on the surface.
Note: Hiding ship killer weapons and personnel on ships disguised as civilian ships has been around since at least WWII. Armaments included torpedoes, large-bore gun turrets, large-caliber mounted machine guns, and sometimes depth-charge drop-racks.
Ben
December 9, 2025 at 3:46 pm
The problem here is a lack of urgency, as usual, by the USN. The SM series, RAM, ESSM, and phalanx are old systems. The only one of them that has even the remotest chance of intercepting a IRBM is the SM series. The others are not designed for that. The directed energy weapons require power that only a CVN can provide, so the sooner these are developed and deployed in place of the phalanx, RAM, and ESSM on the CVNs, the better.
Of course, that doesn’t deal with the other great threat, which is AIP diesel subs. I’m sure the USN will bury their heads in the sand there, as they have done for the last 20 years.