China’s missile launch shocked the world. Its new JL-3 brings a threat we’ve never seen before

July 7, 2026 — 11:30am

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On Monday, China test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile with a dummy warhead into the waters of the South Pacific. The launch of the nuclear-capable missile was described as “destabilising” by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the Japanese government expressed its “grave concern”. Expect China to test many more.

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) are deployed on nuclear-powered ballistic submarines. They fly on a ballistic flight path, meaning that they are launched into flight by a brief burst of rocket power. They then travel in a high, arcing trajectory under their own momentum. They are different from cruise missiles, which are powered continuously and follow a lower, flatter path.

SLBMs are highly survivable against enemy attacks, unlike land-based ballistic missiles, which can be threatened by US advantages in space-based surveillance and precision strike capabilities. SLBMs give China the ability to retaliate massively to an enemy’s surprise, large-scale nuclear first strike. Known as a “second-strike”........

© Brisbane Times