The Pentagon is reportedly investigating allegations that China has deployed nuclear-tipped missiles on two Russian-built Sovremenny-class destroyers, said by one defense expert to be warships designed to initiate a nuclear war.

Reports of nuclear warheads on the new Chinese anti-ship missiles first appeared inside a new book called "Red Dragon Rising." According to the book's co-author, William Triplett, each Chinese warship is equipped with eight nuclear-tipped, Russian-made Moskit anti-ship missiles--each armed with a warhead equal to over 120,000 tons of TNT.

"The Sovremenny is strictly an offensive platform," stated Triplett during a WorldNetDaily interview. "Ed (Timperlake) and I are the only two Americans that have ever been on a Sovremenny," said Triplett. "It has virtually no stealth. It can't hide. It is intended to attack. The vessel is designed to fire its nuclear tipped missiles and die."

Triplett also openly charged the missiles arming the new warships are nuclear-tipped.

"The new missiles are designed specifically to destroy American carriers and Aegis cruisers with a single nuclear blast."

According to the U.S. Naval Institute, in August 1999, the first of two 8,480-ton Russian Navy Project 956A destroyers built for China conducted trials in the eastern Baltic. Each 956A warship is armed with eight supersonic 3M82 Moskit sea-skimming missiles (NATO code-named SS-N-22 "Sunburn"). The first Chinese warship was built originally for the Soviet navy, as the Vazhnyy in 1988.

The ship was launched in May 1994 and renamed the Yekaterinburg before work was halted. In 1996, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy negotiated to buy the Yekaterinburg and another 956A class destroyer named the Alexandr Nevskiy. The Yekaterinburg is due for delivery by the end of 1999 and the second destroyer by the end of 2000. In July 1999, Richard D. Fisher, a defense analyst for Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., wrote an evaluation of the Russian-built Moskit missile being sold to China. According to Fisher, the U.S. Navy cannot stop the Moskit.

"The Raduga Moskit anti-ship missile is perhaps the most lethal anti-ship missile in the world," wrote Fisher in a review of the Chinese navy.

"The Moskit combines a Mach 2.5 speed with a very low-level flight pattern that uses violent end maneuvers to throw off defenses. After detecting the Moskit, the U.S. Navy Phalanx point-defense system may have only 2.5 seconds to calculate a fire solution--not enough time before the devastating impact of a 750-lb. warhead."

There is evidence supporting the allegations that the U.S. Navy cannot stop the Moskit. The only U.S. missile capable of duplicating the Moskit's blistering low-level performance is the Allied Signal Vandal. Vandal target drones are reported to have penetrated U.S. Navy air defenses during recent trials. However, a Clinton administration deal with Moscow has left the U.S. Navy without a means to simulate the Moskit anti-ship missile threat.

The updated Vandal target drone, re-named the Sea Snake, was canceled in 1999 by the Clinton administration in favor of purchasing a Russian target drone, the Zvezda MA-31. According to official U.S. Navy statements, the Zvezda MA-31 target drone cannot duplicate the Moskit performance.

"The U.S. Navy has no defense against this missile system," stated "Red Dragon Rising" author Triplett.

"One nuclear-tipped SS-N-22 (Moskit) will kill thousands of American sailors, airmen and Marines. The message to the U.S. Navy is clear: Stay away or die."

PRAVDA Announces New Moskit SS-N-22 Missile Contract

3M80/Kh-41 MOSKIT [SS-N-22 'Sunburn']
The Moskit is a large supersonic anti-ship missile. Designed by the Raduga Design Bureau, development of the Moskit began in the 1970s. The Moskit entered Soviet military service in the 1980s aboard Sovremennyy-class guided missile destroyers and several classes of fast attack boats.  An air-launched version of the Moskit was first displayed in 1992, and Raduga also reportedly began designs for a surface-to-air variant. Neither variant had entered production as of April 2002.[3,4] The Moskit's control system is manufactured by NPO Altair.  Missile assembly takes place at the Progress plant in Arsenyevo in Primorskiy Kray.
 
The Moskit is powered by a ramjet engine and has an estimated top speed of Mach 2.5.  It has a launch weight of 3,950kg and carries a payload of 300kg. The Moskit has a range of 120km (250km air-launched), but tests of the Moskit using a high trajectory showed the possibility of increasing its range to 300km. The air-launched version can be carried by Su-27 and Su-33 fighters. There is no known submarine-launched version of the Moskit.
 
Russia's export customers so far include only China, which purchased two Project 956E Sovremennyy-class guided missile destroyers armed with Moskit missiles. China has also recently signed a new contract with Rosoboroneksport to purchase two more destroyers by 2005. There are also reports that China is expected to sign contracts for the air-launched version of the missile.