YJ-12

DF-21D

DF-21D MIRV Version

YJ-12 Anti-ship Missile Regarded by US media as China’s Most Dangerous Missile
US War on the Rocks website published an article on July 2 titled “China’s Most Dangerous Missile (So Far)” by Robert Haddick, an independent contractor at U.S. Special Operations Command, that regards China’s YJ-12 anti-ship missile as China’s most dangerous weapon so far.
Haddick’s article is based Pantagon’s latest annual report that briefly mentions that anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM). He quotes the report as saying, “The new missile provides an increased threat to naval assets, due to its long range and supersonic speeds.”
According to Haddick, the report understates the danger of the missile to US Navy in Western Pacific because the missile constitutes a threat greater even than the much-discussed DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM).
YJ-12 missile is indeed China’s powerful weapon againt US aircraft carrier strike group, but his comparison between YJ-12 and DF-21D proves his ignorance about China’s weapon development.
Haddick said that DF-21D had “still apparently not tested against a moving target at sea”. This proves even the best informed US military expert does not really know China’s weapon development.
That is perhaps due to his inability to read Chinese military materials.

An article by Wang Genbin, deputy commander-in-chief of Department 4 of China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp. (CASIC), on a journal publicly available in China. Wang says in the article that in the two decades since 1988, China spent 3 billion yuan ($494 million) in successfully developing DF-21A, 21B, 21C and 21D missiles and completed the transition from development of only nuclear missiles to that of both nuclear and conventional missiles and from fixed target to low-speed target. In addition, the accuracy has been improved from several hundred to several tens of meters. The two decades from 1988 ended in 2008. What Wang says means that by 2008, DF-21D is able to hit low-speed target, i.e. a warship, with the accuracy of several tens of meters. Do you think Wang’s figure is not based on tests? In China, an officer of his rank will be in problem if the accuracy he mentioned is not based on tests.
For fear of being blamed for revealing the secret about the test results of DF-21D, important Chinese official media huanqiu.com says in its report : A US research institute believes that in 2011 and 2012, China conducted quite a few launches of DF-21D in the South China Sea and successfully hit and sank a simulated model of aircraft carrier made by transforming China’s Yuanwang 4 survey ship.
Return to YJ-12, Haddick says: Naval War College Review published a 2011 study that YJ-12 had the longest range of 400 km among all the ASCMs in the world. It enables Chinese attack aircraft to launch it outside the engagement range of US Navy’s Aegis Combat System and the SM-2 air-defense missiles. As a result US aircraft carrier strike group does not have enough time to respond to the attack.
Haddick describes in his article a realistic future scenario of China sending 48 Su-30 MKK or J-11B fighter jets to attack a US aircraft carrier combat group. The Chinese aircrafts are supersonic and have a combat radius of 1.500 km. They each can carry two to four YJ-12 missiles. As those aircrafts are roughly equal in strength to that of US F-15E fighter-bombers, the aircrafts from the US carrier can only shoot down a few of them. The 100 YJ-12s launched by them from various directions at very low altitude above sea surface will not be detected until they are so close that the US warships have only 45 seconds to engage them.
According to the conclusion of a study from the Naval Postgraduate School, surface warships on alert were only able to hit 32% of the attacking missiles. That means more than 32 of the more than 100 ASCMs will hit US warships, but US navy will be in trouble if only five of them hit US warships.
Haddick says that US Navy is well aware of the threat and plans to develop Navy’s long-range network engagement to destroy YJ-12s and the aircrafts launching them far away. However he believes that China may develop longer-ranged ASCMs with better target seekers. In this competition China “seems to possess the competitive cost and technology advantages”
This blogger’s Note: It is common sense that a warship is a much larger target than a missile; therefore, it is much easier to develop a missile to hit a warship than a missile to hit another missile. In addition, ASCMs are much cheaper than warships especially aircraft carriers.
Based on mil.huanqiu.com’s report “The US discloses China’s real aircraft carrier killer more formidable than DF-21D missile”, I said saturated cruise missile attack was more formidable than DF-21D. Let me quote the following paragraphs in the post:
US think tank International Strategy Research Institute recently published a report, stating that in spite of the great concern raised by PLA’s DF-21D anti-aircraft carrier missile, China’s anti-ship cruise missiles may finally be the greatest threat to US aircraft carrier combat groups.
Cruise missiles are cheap but accurate and can be launched from land, warships, submarines and aircrafts. Simultaneous attack of lots of cruise missiles can frustrate an aircraft carrier combat group’s Aegis air defense so that they can be used to destroy the group.
Due to their compact shape, supersonic speed, small radar signal and low-altitude flight, they can better penetrate enemy air defense. In addition, once launched, a cruise missile needs little support. It can hit its target even if the warship or aircraft that launched it has been destroyed.
Source: huanqiu.com “US media’ exposure of China’s most dangerous missile so far, even more dangerous than DF-21D” (summary by Chan Kai Yee)

Future Nuclear Submarines

After disclosure Types 094, 095 and 096 nuclear submarines, people outside China have great concerns whether China really has any Type 098 strategic nuclear submarines.
Recently, a US media has said in its report, US satellite has detected China’s construction of 2 new-type fourth-generation strategic nuclear submarines, each of which is equipped with 12 sets of launching devices for ballistic missiles.
It is said that a Chinese Type 098 strategic nuclear submarine has a displacement of 28,300 tons, can submerge to the depth of 5,200 meters and is wide in size.
As it is propelled by a superconductive system, its noise does not exceed 20 dB. It has free maneuverability due to several vector propelling devices located in various areas of its body. It is a real intelligent stealth submarine undetectable due to very low noise.
It has 50 torpedo launching tubes for conventional defense while its major weapons are the 24 new JL-5 SLBMs with 80 separately guided warheads each, in which 20-35 are decoys. However effective the enemy’s missile defense systems are, it can be absolutely sure that 84 enemy cities will be destroyed at the first round of attack.
However, there is another less sensationalizing speculation that by the year 2025, China will have 3-4 aircraft carrier battle groups and 6 strategic nuclear submarines. Each submarine carries 12 SLBMs with 3 nuclear warheads each. Two of them will keep routine patrol while a third of them will be deployed when there is an emergency.
The 108 nuclear warheads they carry will constitute effective deterrent against the U.S.
Source: qianzhan.com “Foreign media: PLA is building 2 most advanced type 098 strategic nuclear submarines” (summary by Chan Kai Yee)

WS-35, 155 mm precision-guided artillery shells

WS 35, 155mm guided shell

“WS-35″ 155 mm diameter precision-guided artillery shells, its range has reached 100 km, almost win a fight with the short-range ballistic missiles, but regardless of the cost or use elastic advantage.

article said weapons exhibition in Southeast Asia, ALMT launched publicly WS-35-style guided artillery shells for the 155 mm howitzer.
The platform was undoubtedly the PLZ-05 self-propelled artillery, fired the shells by North Industries Group Corporation production, production shells of ALMT belonging to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
article quoted the the ALMT weapons display panels, said WS-35 artillery shells, there are two versions, but the use of GNSS/INS guidance system, install four stability wing tail, four stability wing is also installed on the warhead used to adjust the flight attitude.
the company said, the WS-35 guided projectile length 1620 mm, weight 18 kg, the theoretical rate of fire 5 rounds/minute, the storage time of 10 years, which has a range up to 100 km, Hit error of 40 meters.
see from the pictures, the WS-35 artillery shells appearance is quite similar to the U.S. “Excalibur guided artillery shells.
It is reported that Excalibur is the U.S. Army to develop the first GPS-guided artillery ammunition, is a modular ammunition, divided into three models, the maximum range of 64 km, and a very precise compared hit error of only 10-20 meters, and up to 370 m with traditional shells hit error can be described as “shoot with great precision.”
From this perspective, the WS-35 artillery shells can be described as “the Chinese version of the Excalibur.
However, the article is full of doubts about the Chinese version of the Excalibur “, the article pointed out that, even with the Rockets extended range technology on the international has not developed a range can reach 100 km the GPS or GNASS satellite guided artillery shells, roughly 22-60 km maximum range of existing products. Articles, or even suspected of typographical errors, “10 kilometers” written “100 km”.
Western military speculated that the the shells open from ALMT image analysis, WS-35 is put into pre. Taking into account the WS-35 launch platform dependent equipment of the PLA only PLZ-05 155mm self-propelled howitzers, and whether it meets the technical scope of NATO, can be emitted by the Western 155 mm caliber artillery is still under controversy, so its export prospects seem erratic.
However, there are scholars believe that the WS-35 has a range of 100 kilometers is not without possible contact to sell the shells of the Chinese aerospace industry sector, relying on its deep aviation air design skills shells with the better wing glider projectile resistance reducing design to achieve a range of 100 kilometers is not impossible.
Moreover, the manufacturing capacity of China’s own remote shells very amazing launch on the existing 155-mm artillery the exhaust shells at the bottom of the range on the more than 40 kilometers, even the U.S. military are extremely envious.
from the future form of war, WS-35 artillery shells at the advent of the forefront of the world, marking the Chinese Army “non-contact combat” level.
In addition, due to the improved accuracy, can greatly reduce the shells consumption, the logistical pressure to reduce. In addition, the shells have converted into a reconnaissance shells, artillery and U.S. military gap will be greatly reduced, or even leading.

KD-63 air-to-surface missile and its carrier the H-6H missile bomber

This early example shows the old designation YJ-63(XL) on its body

The KD-63 (KongDi-63, official designation K/AKD63, previously designated YingJi-63 or YJ-63), is an air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) developed by China Haiying Electro-Mechanical Technology Academy (CHETA, a.k.a. The Third Academy). The missile was derived from the HY-4 (NATO code name: CSS-C-7 Sadsack) land-based anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) and the YJ-6 (CAS-1 Kraken) air-launch anti-ship missile, both of which can trace their origins to the HY-2 (CSS-C-3 Seersucker), a Chinese derivative of the Soviet P-15 (SS-N-2 Styx) liquid-fuel active radar-homing anti-ship missile.
The KD-63 features a large round body with a round nose and an engine inlet located under the missile body near the rear end. It has a pair of large delta wings and an X-shape tail control surface arrangement. The missile consists of four main sections: guidance, warhead, propulsion, and control surfaces.
The KD-63 is carried by the modernised Xi’an H-6H (Tu-16 Badger) medium-range bomber. Each H-6H carries two KD-63 missiles on its under-wing stores stations. The missile is launched at altitudes between 200 m to 5,000 m from a dive. Once leaving the carrier aircraft, the missile drops down for 70-120 m before its engine starts. The missile is then accelerated to a sustained subsonic speed of 900 km/h and flies at a typical altitude of 600 m.

KD-63 TV-guided air-to-surface missile

KD-63 missile was developed from the HY-4 anti-ship missile

The KD-63 relies on inertial navigation, with input of datalink command (and possibly GPS signal correction) and TV terminal guidance. The missile is fitted with a CCD camera, which transfers images of the target back to the carrier bomber. The bomber’s onboard fire-control computer then sends correction command back to the missile until it hits the target. Alternatively, the missile can be guided using a manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) method, where the weapon operator manually ‘flies’ the missile remotely to its target. The communications between the missile and the carrier bomber is via the datalink antenna located underneath the bomber’s fuselage behind the bomb bay doors.
Carrying a 500kg high-explosive (HE) warhead, the KD-63 was designed to hit large fixed land targets, such as bridges, airport, command posts, and barracks. Its TV-seeker can lock on a typical target at a distance of 12 km. The missile’s effectiveness is greatly hampered at night or in adverse weather conditions. It is also vulnerable to enemy jamming due to its dependence on the carrier aircraft for guidance command.

Specifications:

IOC	2004
Length	7.0 m
Diameter	0.76 m
Launch weight	2,000 kg
Warhead	500 kg HE
Propulsion	FW-41B turbojet
Speed	900 km/h
Max range	180 km
Min range	20 km
Guidance	Inertial + datalink command + GPS? + TV terminal
Max target detection range	18 km
Max target lock-on range	12 km
Launch altitude	200 – 5,000 m
Flight altitude	7 – 1,000 m (typical 600 m)
CEP	2 – 6 m

KD-88

The KD-88 (KongDi-88, official designation K/AKD88) is the land-attack version of the YJ-83K (YingJi-83K) series air-launched subsonic sea-skimming anti-ship cruise missile. It is PLA’s second-generation standoff weapon, designed for use against fixed high-value targets. The baseline version of the missile is fitted with a TV-seeker for terminal guidance, which only allows the missile to be operated in good weapon conditions in day light. Alternatively the missile could be fitted with semi-active radar or infrared imaging seekers for all-weather, day/night operation capability.

JH-7A fighter-bomber carrying the KD-88 missile under its wing.

 The targeting pod is clearly visible underneath the aircraft fuselage

KD-88 air-to-surface missile is similar in concept to the U.S. AGM-84 SLAM, but is fitted with a TV-seeker which is more prone to adverse weather and enemy jamming

CHETA initially introduced a land-attack version of its C-802A anti-ship missile debuted C-802KD during the 2005 DSEI exhibition. Fitted with a semi-active radar-homing seeker, the missile could be used to attack both surface vessels and fixed land targets. Other features of the missile included on-off-on radar operation and multiple target selection capabilities. The missile had a launch weight of 600 kg and could deliver a 190 kg HE warhead to a maximum distance of 180 km.

CHETA brochure introducing its C-802A missile

CHETA brochure introducing the air-launched C-802KD

The TV-guidance version of the missile, designated KD-88, was commissioned by the PLA around 2006. The missile uses inertial navigation system (INS) with datalink command and possibly GPS inputs for mid-course correction. The terminal guidance of the missile can be controlled either by the aircraft’s fire-control computer automatically or by the weapon operator manually. The carrier aircraft carries a targeting pod under its fuselage for receiving television images of the target from the missile and transmit guidance command back.

KD-88 uses inertial navigation with datalink command and TV terminal guidance

JH-7 fighter-bomber launching the KD-88 air-to-surface missile

More recently, CHETA revealed a passive infrared-homing version of the missile debuted CM-802AKG. According to CHEAT’s brochure, the missile uses infrared homing with datalink command input, and is capable of attacking targets both on land and in the sea. The missile has a launch weight of 670 kg and carries a heavier semi-armour-piercing HE warhead (285 kg) , with a maximum range of 230km.

CHETA brochure for the CM-802AKG

CHETA CM-802AKG infrared-homing air-to-surface missile