China Airs Footage of DF-17 Missile Launch for First Time

On Saturday, a military news programme carried footage of two live-fire exercises, one of which showed a Dongfeng-17, or “east wind”, missile launcher by the side of a road, followed by a vertical launch.

The other segment showed training exercises involving multiple branches of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at a rocket force training area somewhere in the Gobi Desert.

The DF-17 made its first public appearance during a major military parade in Beijing in October 2019, but this is the first time footage of a launch has been aired in public.

The footage was broadcast ahead of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Second Artillery Force, the forerunner of today’s PLA Rocket Force, on July 1.