At night, the Chinese military launched one of its much-hyped "carrier-killer" missiles. This was part of a more significant effort to improve guidance systems and target technology for more difficult combat situations, such as tracking targets in low-light conditions.
According to the Chinese Global Times newspaper, China's People's Liberation Army Rocket Force fired a DF-26 anti-ship missile at midnight during multi-wave mock fire attacks and missile transfer and loading.
"After launching the first wave of missile strikes, the troops were told to relocate, reload, and launch a second wave. According to the Chinese source, the drills included mimicked a hostile attack on a launch station, in which the forces had to relocate to a backup launch location.
According to the article, the Chinese soldiers also trained maneuver operations under hostile fire to maintain their capacity to attack while under fire. This is one of the numerous reasons the Chinese military values mobile launchers so highly, as they can maneuver to avoid being detected or subjected to air bombardment.
According to the Chinese research, night operations pose more tactical factors, such as carefully managing any signal or trace that could jeopardize a launch location.
"Night launches are more difficult than day launches due to lower visibility, and artificial light must be kept to a minimum to avoid exposing the launch position," the Chinese daily claims.
Defending against an incoming anti-ship missile, on the other hand, may not be as difficult as shooting one and attaining the necessary guidance to hit a nighttime target. Not only is it likely that a launch will produce some form of a light signature that can be monitored by drones, surface ships, or even satellites, depending on its size and duration. Anti-ship missiles like the DF-26, on the other hand, have a distinct heat signature that can be detected at night by long-range infrared sensors on drones, helicopters, or surface ships in position to communicate tracking data to ship defenders.
The DF-26, a weapon fired by China regularly, is capable of traveling over 2000 nautical miles to kill maneuvering targets at sea. An incoming DF-26 would emit some form of radiofrequency or electronic signature that may be detected by passive electronic warfare sensors or other detection systems, in addition to heat and light indicators. Of course, electromagnetic signals operate independently of visible light but still travel at the speed of light, which could help detect and track DF-26 missiles approaching a carrier.ly
