March 30, 2010: After years of rumors and speculation in the media, the U.S. Department of Defense has officially announced that it is aware of Chinese efforts to build a ballistic missile system that can hit warships, particularly carriers, at sea. The Pentagon says it is prepared for such a weapon, with anti-missile systems deployed in the Pacific (on land and at sea) to deal with such a weapon. The U.S. is apparently expecting China to test this new weapon soon, and is deploying spy ships, aircraft and satellites, to capture as much data as possible.

2010年3月30日：在媒体的数年传闻和推测之后，美国国防部已经正式宣布认识到中国努力建立一个能击中军舰的弹道导弹系统，特别地在海上的航空母舰。五角大楼为此种类武器做准备，并用部署在太平洋（在地面和海上）的反导系统应对此类武器。美国正在显然地期待中国很快测试这种新武器，而且正在部署间谍船、飞机和卫星，捕获尽可能很多的数据。

The general idea is that the Chinese DF-21 ballistic missile has been equipped with a high-explosive warhead and a guidance system that can find and hit a aircraft carrier at sea. The DF-21 has a range of 1,800 kilometers and normally hauls a 300 kiloton nuclear warhead. It's a two stage, 15 ton, solid fuel rocket that could instead carry a half ton penetrating, high-explosive warhead, along with the special guidance system (a radar and image recognition system).

一般认为中国DF-21弹道导弹已经装备一枚高爆弹头和一套能在海上寻找并且击中一艘航空母舰的制导系统。DF-21射程1,800公里并且正常地装载一枚300千吨当量核弹头。它是一种二级、重量15吨固体燃料推进火箭可以改为携带一枚重量半吨的侵彻、高爆弹头，连同专用制导系统一起（一套雷达和图像识别系统）。

It is believed that the Chinese have reverse engineered, reinvented or stolen the 1970s seeker technology that went into the U.S. Pershing ballistic missile. This 7.5 ton U.S. Army missile also had an 1,800 kilometer range, and could put its nuclear warhead within 30 meters of its aim point. This was possible because the guidance system had its own radar. This kind of accuracy made the Russians very uncomfortable, as it made their command bunkers vulnerable. The Russians eventually agreed to a lot of nuclear and missile disarmament deals in order to get the Pershings decommissioned in the 1980s.

一般认为中国反向设计，再创或窃取美国1970年的“潘兴”（Pershing）弹道导弹搜索技术。美国陆军这种7.5吨导弹射程1,800公里，并且可以投放核弹头到它的瞄准点30米内。这是可能的因为制导系统有它自己的雷达。这种精度造成俄国非常不安，由于它使他们的指挥部掩体易受打击。俄国最后同意许多核和导弹裁军交易为了要让“潘兴”导弹在1980年退役。

The Chinese have long been rumored to have a system like this, but there have been no tests. If the Chinese do succeed in creating a "carrier killer" version of the DF-21, the U.S. Navy can modify its Aegis anti-missile system to protect carriers against such attacks. This sort of work is apparently already underway. There are also electronic warfare options, to blind the DF-21 radar. Another problem the Chinese will have is getting a general idea of where the target carrier is before they launch the DF-21. This is not impossible, but can be difficult. The Chinese have apparently been working on this as well.

中国已经长期传闻有像这样的一种系统，但是没有测试。如果中国确实成功创造一个“航空母舰杀手”版本的DF-21，美国海军能修改它的宙斯盾反导系统保护航空母舰免于此类攻击。这个工作显然已经进行。也有电子战选项，去致盲DF-21雷达。在他们发射DF-21之前，中国另外一个问题将是常见的考虑航空母舰目标在哪里。这并非不可能，但可能是困难的。中国也显然地已经致力于这些。

For the last three years, at least, China has been developing an over-the-horizon (OTH) radar that can spot large ships (like American aircraft carriers) as far as 3,000 kilometers away, and use this information to guide ballistic missiles to the area,. Such radars have long been used to detect ballistic missile launches, and approaching heavy bombers. Some OTH radars have been modified to take advantage of the flat surface of an ocean, to pick up large objects, like ships. Cheaper and more powerful computers enable such OTH radars to more accurately identify ships thousands of kilometers away. OHT radars are large and fragile beasts, easily disabled or destroyed by missiles or smart bombs.

最近三年，至少中国已经发展一种超地平线（OTH）雷达在像3,000公里一样远的距离能发现较大舰船（类似美国的航空母舰），并且使用这个信息制导弹道导弹到该区域。这种雷达已经长期用来发现弹道导弹发射和入侵的重型轰炸机。一些OTH雷达已经改进去获得在海平面上的优势，去捕获大型目标，像舰船。偏宜和更强大的计算机能够使这种OTH雷达更精确识别数千公里之远的舰船。OHT雷达是大型和脆弱的，容易被导弹或聪明炸弹使之失效或摧毁。