The JL-3 () is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

third-generation intercontinental-range

submarine-launched ballistic missile A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which carries a nuclear warhead ...

(SLBM) in development. It will likely deploy on the Type 096, a predicted future class of Chinese ballistic missile submarine. The missile is solid-fueled and has a reported range of over . Chinese and US sources reports ranges up to . The JL-3 is expected to carry

multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with int ...

—warheads capable of targeting numerous separate locations. The first test flight occurred on 24 November 2018 in the

Bohai Sea The Bohai Sea () is a marginal sea approximately in area on the east coast of Mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects to the east via the Bohai Strait. It has a mean depth of a ...

; it was likely a test of the launch tube's cold-launch ejection system. Testing continued through June 2019. An analyst cited by ''

The South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'' stated that it would take until approximately 2025 for China to fully integrate the JL-3 into the

Type 096 submarine The Type 096 is a projected class of ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classifi ...

. The development of the missile has reportedly been separated from work on the

in order to accelerate its development. In November 2022, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

reported that the

Type 094 submarine The Type 094 (; Chinese designation: 09- IV; NATO reporting name: Jin class) is a class of ballistic missile submarine developed by China for the People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force. The Type 094 succeeds the Type 092 submarine and pr ...

was rearmed with the JL-3.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jl-3 Submarine-launched ballistic missiles of the People's Republic of China Nuclear weapons of the People's Republic of China