China's military has test-fired its DF-26 intermediate ballistic missile, which reportedly has the capacity to strike moving warships.

Key points: China says the missiles are capable of striking moving aircraft carriers

China says the missiles are capable of striking moving aircraft carriers The DF-26's range could also allow it to strike the US territory of Guam

The DF-26's range could also allow it to strike the US territory of Guam Footage of the missile test did not show it hitting any targets

The missile is nicknamed the "Guam killer" because US military bases on the Pacific island are within its range.

Chinese state media reported that the tests were conducted in an undisclosed location in China's north-west.

Beijing announced that it had deployed the missiles to a desert area in that region earlier this month, one day after a US freedom of navigation exercise in a section of the South China Sea that Beijing claims is its territory.

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Footage of the test broadcast on state television showed the missiles being launched into the air, as well as close-up images of its design, but did not feature the weapons striking any targets.

However experts cited by state media tabloid the Global Times said the tests proved the missiles were capable of hitting moving aircraft carriers.

They told the paper that the missile's "double-cone structure", as well as the "information network connected to the warhead" — which could include a variety of radar and satellite systems — would allow the moving target's location to be constantly updated.

China's Ministry of National Defence has previously said the DF-26 missiles were capable of carrying conventional nuclear warheads.

The missiles are believed to be able to strike targets up to 4,500 kilometres away, putting the Pacific island of Guam in range. The US territory hosts Air Force and Navy bases.

Chinese state media reported the missiles could strike moving warships. ( CCTV )

Bates Gill, a professor of Asia Pacific security studies at Macquarie University, said China's decision to publicise the DF-26 missile test was aimed at creating a deterrent.

"It's a bit of a warning shot you could say, to remind Americans in particular that China is making these kinds of advancements," Dr Gill said.

However it remains unknown whether the missile system is actually able to strike a moving aircraft carrier at sea, and Dr Gill urged "a fair degree of scepticism" on that point.

The DF-26 missiles were moved to a desert region earlier this month. ( CCTV )

"It has never been really tested in that way, in actual semi-battlefield conditions, on a ship, at sea," he said.

"It's really a matter of sowing the kind of operation doubt into the minds of American political and military leaders that's really the powerful outcome here."