DF-21D

China's original "carrier killer" — a road-mobile, medium-range ballistic missile with a maneuverable reentry vehicle, purpose-built to deny access to large warships by holding them at risk far from the Chinese coast.

Overview

The DF-21D (Dong Feng-21D, NATO designation CSS-5 Mod 5) is the world’s first operational anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) — a conventional, solid-fuel, two-stage road-mobile missile that uses a terminal maneuvering reentry vehicle (MaRV) to strike moving surface ships at ranges of roughly 1,450–1,550 km. Entering service around 2006, it became the signature component of China’s anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) posture, explicitly intended to push U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups out of striking range of the Chinese mainland. Its existence compelled Western navies to invest heavily in distributed operations, long-range anti-ship weapons, and layered missile defense.

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