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The PRC I believe used a DF-21 on a target barge early last year. As far as I know this was the only test against a sea target, though more recently they have apparently adopted large CV like targets that are moved on railroad tracks in the desert.The problem for the PRC is that they have US assets patrolling right up against their shores so any weapons tests or telemetry can easily be monitored. They are very gun shy about actually testing anything over water for this reason, and additionally they are largely limited to the East and South China seas as they are ringed in by Russia-Korea-Japan-China-Philipines. There are surprisingly few places where aircraft can pass though the first island chain without entering the twelve mile limit of one of the numerous small islands of Japan or or the PI, with Taiwan and its outlying islands sitting right in the middle of those two barriers. The main access route for their patrols past the first chain is just southewest of Okinawa - a mere hundred miles from Kadena air base.The PRC ability to provide tracking information against targets outside the first island chain seems rather minimal. They can't travel more than a hundred miles off their coast without being inside someone's radar coverage unless they are flying low.
The PRC I believe used a DF-21 on a target barge early last year. As far as I know this was the only test against a sea target, though more recently they have apparently adopted large CV like targets that are moved on railroad tracks in the desert.
The problem for the PRC is that they have US assets patrolling right up against their shores so any weapons tests or telemetry can easily be monitored. They are very gun shy about actually testing anything over water for this reason, and additionally they are largely limited to the East and South China seas as they are ringed in by Russia-Korea-Japan-China-Philipines. There are surprisingly few places where aircraft can pass though the first island chain without entering the twelve mile limit of one of the numerous small islands of Japan or or the PI, with Taiwan and its outlying islands sitting right in the middle of those two barriers. The main access route for their patrols past the first chain is just southewest of Okinawa - a mere hundred miles from Kadena air base.
The PRC ability to provide tracking information against targets outside the first island chain seems rather minimal. They can't travel more than a hundred miles off their coast without being inside someone's radar coverage unless they are flying low.
