DF-17 Missile

The DF-17 is a Chinese medium-range ballistic missile developed to carry the DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle, a maneuverable warhead that separates from its rocket booster and glides toward its target along an atmospheric flight path rather than following the fixed, predictable trajectory of a conventional ballistic warhead. China publicly unveiled the DF-17 at a National Day military parade in Beijing in October 2019, presenting it as part of the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force's arsenal, and the glide-vehicle design is intended specifically to maneuver during its descent so as to evade tracking and interception by existing missile defense radars and interceptor systems. Western and regional defense analysts have generally treated the DF-17's public unveiling as a significant milestone in China's development of hypersonic weapons technology and as part of a broader competition among major military powers, alongside Russia and the United States, to field maneuverable hypersonic strike systems.