# DF-17 by PLA Rocket Force

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/aviation/df-17
Frontier: [Aviation](https://technooptimist.io/aviation.md) · Field: Hypersonic missiles · Company: [PLA Rocket Force](https://technooptimist.io/companies/pla-rocket-force.md)
Stage: Deploy (4 of 5: Research → Proto → Pilot → Deploy → Scaling)
Updated: last update 2025-09-03, facts checked 2026-10-11
Goal: Strike bases and air defences across the region fast enough, and on paths unpredictable enough, that existing missile defences cannot reliably stop it.
Status: In service since 2019; the first operational hypersonic glide missile

## Milestones

| Status | Milestone | Date | Slip |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Done | First DF-ZF glide vehicle test | 9 Jan 2014 |   |
| Done | Glide test flies ~1,400 km in 11 minutes | 1 Nov 2017 |   |
| Done | Shown publicly at Beijing parade | 1 Oct 2019 |   |
| Done | Entered service | 2019 |   |
| Done | Shown again at September 2025 parade | 3 Sep 2025 |   |

## Most important updates

- **3 Sep 2025**: DF-17 appears among eight ballistic missile types at China's September 2025 parade. China Daily listed the DF-17 medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile among eight ballistic missile types in the 3 September 2025 Victory Day parade in Beijing. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/df-17-appears-among-eight-ballistic-missile-types-at-china-s-september-10e4b9fe.md) · [original source](https://www.chinadailyhk.com/hk/article/619111))
- **1 Oct 2019**: China shows the DF-17 hypersonic missile publicly for the first time at its 70th anniversary parade. At the parade for the People's Republic's 70th anniversary in Beijing, China displayed the vehicle-mounted DF-17 alongside the DF-41 intercontinental missile. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/china-shows-the-df-17-hypersonic-missile-publicly-for-the-first-time-at-7d0bdf6e.md) · [original source](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/1/china-displays-new-hypersonic-nuclear-missile-on-70th-anniversary))
- **1 Nov 2017**: China tests DF-17 with hypersonic glide vehicle; glider flies about 1,400 km in 11 minutes. China ran two DF-17 tests in November 2017. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/china-tests-df-17-with-hypersonic-glide-vehicle-glider-flies-about-1-92ee5eb8.md) · [original source](https://missilethreat.csis.org/china-tests-new-df-17-hypersonic-glide-vehicle/))

## Current obstacles

- **Opacity**: China publishes almost nothing; even its developer is reported differently by US and other analysts.

## Physics limits

- **Gliding bleeds energy**: With no engine after boost, every manoeuvre trades away speed and range that cannot be recovered.
- **Heat limits the glide**: Air friction at Mach 5-10 heats the leading edges to thousands of degrees, so heat-resistant materials set how long it can glide.

## How it works

### Booster: Solid rocket from a truck

A single-stage solid rocket, apparently the DF-16's, launches from a road-mobile truck that can hide and move.

### Glider: DF-ZF separates

The booster lifts the wedge-shaped DF-ZF glider to the upper atmosphere, then drops away.

### Glide: Low and manoeuvring

The glider flies around 60 km up, lower than a ballistic warhead, and turns as it goes, so radar sees it late and cannot predict where it lands.

## Spec sheet

| Spec | DF-17 | Provenance |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Range (US estimate) | 1,800-2,500 km | reported |
| Glide speed | Mach 5-10 | reported |
| Length | 11 m | reported |
| Launch mass | 15,000 kg | reported |
| Glide altitude (2017 test) | ~60 km | reported |

Provenance: reported = stated by the company; estimated = our estimate; sample = a sample figure.

## About PLA Rocket Force

The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force operates China's land-based ballistic and hypersonic missiles. It fields the DF-17, the first missile known to be in service with a hypersonic glide vehicle.

- Operates the DF-17, publicly shown in 2019 and in service since then.
- Showed the DF-17 again among eight ballistic missile types at the September 2025 Beijing parade.

- Headquarters: CN
- Status: government

Company page: https://technooptimist.io/companies/pla-rocket-force.md

## Related programs

Everything in Aviation: https://technooptimist.io/aviation.md

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