China’s military parade reveals new missiles, drones

Soldiersin pristine and pressed uniforms marched in lockstep, their boots clacking a steady cadence on the pavement and their eyes following leader Xi Jinping ashe drove by in review. Helicopters flew overhead, forming the numbers 8 and 0 in honor of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

- By Davip RISING

LINTAO ZHANG Getty Images CHINESE soldiers rehearse before Wednesday's military parade in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

There was no shortage of pageantry at Wednesday's military parade in Beijing, but beyond the spectacle, it also provided the first good look at China’s latest military hardware. New missiles, drones and other high-tech equipment have been added to its arsenal as part of a massive modernization program with the goal, according to the official parade announcers, of producing a force “with both nuclear and conventional capabilities able to deter wars in all battle spaces.”

China’s nuclear arsenal still lags far behind that of the United States and Russia, but it has been rapidly expanding. In its annual report to Congress on China, the U.S. Department of Defense estimated that Beijing now has more than 600 warheads and will have more than 1,000 by 2030.

The parade featured many of the missiles capable of delivering those warheads, from air, sea and land. China’s official Xinhua News Agency said it was the first time the military's “triad of strategic nuclear forces was presented in a concentrated fashion,” calling it “China’s strategic trump card for safeguarding national sovereignty and defending national dignity.”