China Makes Missile Defense Test

China recently claimed to have successfully tested a mid-course ballistic missile defense system. (also here)

There are also murmurs of a sea based variant. (scroll down)

This raises a number of questions, most notably how the PLA defines "success", my guess is that this means the interceptor passed within lethal distance of the target.

The technology could be hit to kill, but given the fact that the Chinese have successfully miniaturized nuclear warheads, my guess would be that it would armed with a nuclear warhead, either a sub kiloton neutron warhead, as was used in the Sprint, or a larger warhead as used on the Spartan (it was a 5 mt W71) that kills thermally, but I'm pulling these guesses out of my head, and they should be considered in no way authoritative.

Nuclear warheads make targeting easier, you do not have to get a as close, or pass off to a terminal seeker as you do in hit to kill, and they eliminate many of the problems with decoys, since they get everything within a fairly large radius, making decoys moot.