HONG KONG: China continues to surprise and steal its Western counterparts with new types of weapons and missiles. The latest example of this came to light on 19 April when People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) released a video clip showing the hitherto unidentified missile being fired from a Type 055 guided-missile cruiser.
The new weapon is considered by most commentators to be an anti-ship ballistic missile, which analysts refer to under the nomenclature YJ-21. If its initial analysis YJ-21 If correct, then China becomes the first country in the world to have operated such a missile from a naval ship.
The YJ-21 was fired from the battleship Wuxi, a type 055 cruiser Which was commissioned in Qingdao a month earlier, in March. Its launch from an active-duty ship indicates that the missile is now almost certainly in PLA service.
The new Chinese weapon, which can be seen in the video clip, has short wings and a bi-conical nose. The missile’s small control surfaces suggest that it is not a surface-to-air missile (SAM), a class that requires extreme maneuvering to hit high-speed aircraft.
The YJ-21 was cold-launched from Wuxi’s Stern Vertical Launch System (VLS), meaning it was expelled from the launcher cell by gas, before the missile had its own engine in the air and cleared of the ship. Ignite after it is done. Chinese VLS cells can accommodate missiles up to 9 meters long and 850 mm in diameter, so the YJ-21 should be within these parameters.
No performance specifications are yet known about the YJ-21, but it could have a range of anywhere from 1,000 km to 1,500 km. The South China Morning Post, which is not always accurate in its reporting on the PLA, attributes the YJ-21 to a terminal velocity of Mach 10, or ten times the speed of sound.
Its legacy is still hazy, the YJ-21 may have been developed from the Chinese CM-401 missile, Russia’s equivalent of the Iskander short-range ballistic missile that has been used against Ukraine in recent weeks. When the CM-401 debuted in 2018, it was said that it was set to be fitted on warships in the future. However, the YJ-21 adds a bigger booster than the CM-401.
The extended and tapered maneuver re-entry vehicle and small rocket booster have been explicitly adapted to fit inside a confined VLS cell onboard. However, the sudden reveal of the YJ-21 doesn’t come as a complete surprise. US Department of Defense (DoD) suggested back in 2020 that China would equip its Type 055 cruisers with this type of weapon.
In fact, in the Pentagon’s most recent annual report on the situation in the Chinese military, the DoD stated: “Renhai (Typ 055) has 112 VLS cells and can carry a substantial load of weapons, including anti-ship cruise missiles, SAM torpedoes and anti-submarine weapons, with potential land-attack cruise missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles when they become operational.”
The latter part of that quote is relevant, showing China’s first anti-ship ballistic missile now actually in operation.
Another hypothesis of such a naval ballistic missile came during a lecture by retired PLAN Rear Admiral Zhao Dengping, former director of the PLA Equipment Department. In 2017 images of his lecture slides were leaked to the Chinese Internet. One of those surprises was a depiction of a future ship-launched anti-ship ballistic missile flight profile, as well as another lecture slide that indicated that Chinese warships could take “near-“. Space Hypersonic Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile”.
The PLA already deploys the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, although it is launched from land-based vehicles. Obviously, the DF-21D’s range of about 1,200 km is limited to waters less than this distance from the Chinese coast. The YJ-21 can be seen as the naval equivalent of the DF-21D, giving Chinese naval warfare a major boost in capability as the missile can travel anywhere in the world’s oceans aboard ships.
Discussing China’s naval capabilities, a US Congressional Research Service report said: “China is developing a hypersonic glide vehicle that, if incorporated into China’s anti-ship ballistic missiles, could be used by China’s ship- Anti-ballistic missiles can be difficult to intercept.”
It clearly just happened. This type of ballistic missile with the larger warhead would be able to target enemy capital ships such as US aircraft carriers and help protect surface fighters thanks to their great speed. The combination of supersonic cruise missiles and hypersonic ballistic missiles would be a formidable addition to any target warship.
“The pairing of the Type 055 Large Destroyer and the YJ-21 is through anti-access and area denial to counter US maritime hegemony in the region,” the South China Morning Post quoted naval expert Li Jie as saying.
The YJ-21 greatly increases the strike range of the Type 055, even though the range of the YJ-21 is not so great as to present a serious threat. Although it could potentially receive targeting information from other assets, if the YJ-21 used the ship’s own sensors – rather than relying on a complex and perhaps vulnerable series of satellites and drones – the new missile could be extremely effective. Is.
Equipped with this new class of ballistic missiles, the Chinese Type 055 thus becomes arguably the most powerful warship in the world thanks to its long-range firepower. It is not yet clear whether the YJ-21 will be equipped with other PLAN warships such as the modernized Type 052D destroyer.
The Type 055 cruiser, which displaces about 12,600 tons, is a very important platform for the plan. It is capable of roaming the world’s oceans on its own merits or accompanies Chinese aircraft carriers as part of the carrier’s protective umbrella.
The Type 055 carries HHQ-9 SAMs, YJ-18A anti-ship missiles and Yu-8 anti-submarine rockets in its 112 VLS cells (64 forward and 48 near the stern) as well as the latest YJ-21 missiles. In addition, there is a 130mm caliber bow-mounted H/PJ-45A naval gun, H/PJ-11 30mm close-in weapon system, CS/AR1 55mm anti-diver rocket and 24-cell HHQ-10 point. Air Defense Launcher.
Reflecting the novelty of the Type 055, PLAN only commissioned the first of these guided-missile cruisers in 2020. In the same year, China launched the eighth hull of the class. The Type 055 ships have been built by two different shipyards and so far six ships have been inducted into the North Sea Fleet in Qingdao and the South Sea Fleet in Sanya.
No Type 055 has yet been assigned to the East Sea Fleet, probably because it has not yet received an aircraft carrier.
With regard to Wuxi, the sixth-class Type 055 that fired the YJ-21 in the promotional video clip, Shanghai’s jiangnan shipyard The ship took only 22 months to complete after launch. Despite the impact of COVID-19, this was the fastest construction period ever for the Type 055. The seventh and eighth Type 055s (Zuni and Xianyang) should also enter service this year.
Coming to Shanghai, the launch of the Type 003 aircraft carrier is rumored to be delayed by COVID-19. It is understandable that Shanghai is enduring harsh and debilitating lockdowns that strain the workforce and logistics supply chain. Some expected the Type 003 to be launched on 23 April, the planned 73rd anniversary, but this did not happen. China’s third carrier, and it’s second domestically-made one, could be launched in June instead, some speculate.
On the day the YJ-21 was revealed, another new video surfaced of a Chinese air-launched ballistic missile under an H-6N bomber. The first glimpse of this missile with a warhead similar to the DF-17 Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV) unveiled in 2019 was shown in a Chinese online post on 17 October 2020.
The bomber seen in the latest clip belongs to the PLA Air Force (PLAAF), and a semi-recess in the belly of the H-6N allows the carriage of the larger new weapon. It is believed that the first circulation of the images was a captive carry test for an under-development missile. That ballistic missile is at least two meters longer than the DF-21D, and also with a smaller diameter.
Again, the existence of this missile is no surprise, as, in its 2018 report, the Pentagon noted its existence and called it CH-AS-X-13, although its Chinese nomenclature is as yet uncertain. This two-stage, solid-fueled weapon is believed to have been first tested in December 2016. Performance details are not known, but a rumored range of 3,000 km is mentioned.
It is uncertain what the operational status of this aircraft-borne ballistic missile is, but it is clearly making progress. The United States and others are deeply concerned by China’s progress in developing the HGV since the country’s first hypersonic test took place in 2014. The maneuverability and extremely high speed of HGVs make them nearly impossible to intercept.
The location of the H-6N bomber seen in 2020 was reportedly Nexiang Air Base in Henan Province. The airfield is home to the 106th Air Brigade armed with H-6 bombers that are reportedly nuclear-capable. This unit belongs to the Central Theater Command.
This airbase has been modernized and improved. It already had 20 aircraft shelters of sufficient size to house H-6 bombers, but curiously a large underground facility was excavated on an adjacent hill. Satellite imagery shows two taxiways leading to three entrances that could allow attackers to enter and exit the underground facility.
The H-6N strategic bomber is newer than the H-6K, which was modernized by adding new avionics and larger Russian jet engines. The most significant advancements in the H-6N are a probe above the nose that allows for in-flight refueling, as well as an above belly recess instead of the traditional bomb bay. This allows larger missiles to be carried over the centerline, and such air-launched ballistic missiles give the PLAAF the ability to strike land and naval targets at long ranges.
The H-6N was publicly unveiled at an October 2019 parade in Beijing, likely to enter PLAAF service later that year. The H-6 is an older design, though it will have to endure until China completes development of its H-20 stealth bomber.
In the meantime, however, new weapons such as the YJ-21 ship-launched ballistic missile and air-launched ballistic missiles represent a serious threat to naval and land targets. They also indicate the tremendous progress China is making in the arms sector, and in many ways leaving the United States in its wake.
The new weapon is considered by most commentators to be an anti-ship ballistic missile, which analysts refer to under the nomenclature YJ-21. If its initial analysis YJ-21 If correct, then China becomes the first country in the world to have operated such a missile from a naval ship.
The YJ-21 was fired from the battleship Wuxi, a type 055 cruiser Which was commissioned in Qingdao a month earlier, in March. Its launch from an active-duty ship indicates that the missile is now almost certainly in PLA service.
The new Chinese weapon, which can be seen in the video clip, has short wings and a bi-conical nose. The missile’s small control surfaces suggest that it is not a surface-to-air missile (SAM), a class that requires extreme maneuvering to hit high-speed aircraft.
The YJ-21 was cold-launched from Wuxi’s Stern Vertical Launch System (VLS), meaning it was expelled from the launcher cell by gas, before the missile had its own engine in the air and cleared of the ship. Ignite after it is done. Chinese VLS cells can accommodate missiles up to 9 meters long and 850 mm in diameter, so the YJ-21 should be within these parameters.
No performance specifications are yet known about the YJ-21, but it could have a range of anywhere from 1,000 km to 1,500 km. The South China Morning Post, which is not always accurate in its reporting on the PLA, attributes the YJ-21 to a terminal velocity of Mach 10, or ten times the speed of sound.
Its legacy is still hazy, the YJ-21 may have been developed from the Chinese CM-401 missile, Russia’s equivalent of the Iskander short-range ballistic missile that has been used against Ukraine in recent weeks. When the CM-401 debuted in 2018, it was said that it was set to be fitted on warships in the future. However, the YJ-21 adds a bigger booster than the CM-401.
The extended and tapered maneuver re-entry vehicle and small rocket booster have been explicitly adapted to fit inside a confined VLS cell onboard. However, the sudden reveal of the YJ-21 doesn’t come as a complete surprise. US Department of Defense (DoD) suggested back in 2020 that China would equip its Type 055 cruisers with this type of weapon.
In fact, in the Pentagon’s most recent annual report on the situation in the Chinese military, the DoD stated: “Renhai (Typ 055) has 112 VLS cells and can carry a substantial load of weapons, including anti-ship cruise missiles, SAM torpedoes and anti-submarine weapons, with potential land-attack cruise missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles when they become operational.”
The latter part of that quote is relevant, showing China’s first anti-ship ballistic missile now actually in operation.
Another hypothesis of such a naval ballistic missile came during a lecture by retired PLAN Rear Admiral Zhao Dengping, former director of the PLA Equipment Department. In 2017 images of his lecture slides were leaked to the Chinese Internet. One of those surprises was a depiction of a future ship-launched anti-ship ballistic missile flight profile, as well as another lecture slide that indicated that Chinese warships could take “near-“. Space Hypersonic Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile”.
The PLA already deploys the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, although it is launched from land-based vehicles. Obviously, the DF-21D’s range of about 1,200 km is limited to waters less than this distance from the Chinese coast. The YJ-21 can be seen as the naval equivalent of the DF-21D, giving Chinese naval warfare a major boost in capability as the missile can travel anywhere in the world’s oceans aboard ships.
Discussing China’s naval capabilities, a US Congressional Research Service report said: “China is developing a hypersonic glide vehicle that, if incorporated into China’s anti-ship ballistic missiles, could be used by China’s ship- Anti-ballistic missiles can be difficult to intercept.”
It clearly just happened. This type of ballistic missile with the larger warhead would be able to target enemy capital ships such as US aircraft carriers and help protect surface fighters thanks to their great speed. The combination of supersonic cruise missiles and hypersonic ballistic missiles would be a formidable addition to any target warship.
“The pairing of the Type 055 Large Destroyer and the YJ-21 is through anti-access and area denial to counter US maritime hegemony in the region,” the South China Morning Post quoted naval expert Li Jie as saying.
The YJ-21 greatly increases the strike range of the Type 055, even though the range of the YJ-21 is not so great as to present a serious threat. Although it could potentially receive targeting information from other assets, if the YJ-21 used the ship’s own sensors – rather than relying on a complex and perhaps vulnerable series of satellites and drones – the new missile could be extremely effective. Is.
Equipped with this new class of ballistic missiles, the Chinese Type 055 thus becomes arguably the most powerful warship in the world thanks to its long-range firepower. It is not yet clear whether the YJ-21 will be equipped with other PLAN warships such as the modernized Type 052D destroyer.
The Type 055 cruiser, which displaces about 12,600 tons, is a very important platform for the plan. It is capable of roaming the world’s oceans on its own merits or accompanies Chinese aircraft carriers as part of the carrier’s protective umbrella.
The Type 055 carries HHQ-9 SAMs, YJ-18A anti-ship missiles and Yu-8 anti-submarine rockets in its 112 VLS cells (64 forward and 48 near the stern) as well as the latest YJ-21 missiles. In addition, there is a 130mm caliber bow-mounted H/PJ-45A naval gun, H/PJ-11 30mm close-in weapon system, CS/AR1 55mm anti-diver rocket and 24-cell HHQ-10 point. Air Defense Launcher.
Reflecting the novelty of the Type 055, PLAN only commissioned the first of these guided-missile cruisers in 2020. In the same year, China launched the eighth hull of the class. The Type 055 ships have been built by two different shipyards and so far six ships have been inducted into the North Sea Fleet in Qingdao and the South Sea Fleet in Sanya.
No Type 055 has yet been assigned to the East Sea Fleet, probably because it has not yet received an aircraft carrier.
With regard to Wuxi, the sixth-class Type 055 that fired the YJ-21 in the promotional video clip, Shanghai’s jiangnan shipyard The ship took only 22 months to complete after launch. Despite the impact of COVID-19, this was the fastest construction period ever for the Type 055. The seventh and eighth Type 055s (Zuni and Xianyang) should also enter service this year.
Coming to Shanghai, the launch of the Type 003 aircraft carrier is rumored to be delayed by COVID-19. It is understandable that Shanghai is enduring harsh and debilitating lockdowns that strain the workforce and logistics supply chain. Some expected the Type 003 to be launched on 23 April, the planned 73rd anniversary, but this did not happen. China’s third carrier, and it’s second domestically-made one, could be launched in June instead, some speculate.
On the day the YJ-21 was revealed, another new video surfaced of a Chinese air-launched ballistic missile under an H-6N bomber. The first glimpse of this missile with a warhead similar to the DF-17 Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV) unveiled in 2019 was shown in a Chinese online post on 17 October 2020.
The bomber seen in the latest clip belongs to the PLA Air Force (PLAAF), and a semi-recess in the belly of the H-6N allows the carriage of the larger new weapon. It is believed that the first circulation of the images was a captive carry test for an under-development missile. That ballistic missile is at least two meters longer than the DF-21D, and also with a smaller diameter.
Again, the existence of this missile is no surprise, as, in its 2018 report, the Pentagon noted its existence and called it CH-AS-X-13, although its Chinese nomenclature is as yet uncertain. This two-stage, solid-fueled weapon is believed to have been first tested in December 2016. Performance details are not known, but a rumored range of 3,000 km is mentioned.
It is uncertain what the operational status of this aircraft-borne ballistic missile is, but it is clearly making progress. The United States and others are deeply concerned by China’s progress in developing the HGV since the country’s first hypersonic test took place in 2014. The maneuverability and extremely high speed of HGVs make them nearly impossible to intercept.
The location of the H-6N bomber seen in 2020 was reportedly Nexiang Air Base in Henan Province. The airfield is home to the 106th Air Brigade armed with H-6 bombers that are reportedly nuclear-capable. This unit belongs to the Central Theater Command.
This airbase has been modernized and improved. It already had 20 aircraft shelters of sufficient size to house H-6 bombers, but curiously a large underground facility was excavated on an adjacent hill. Satellite imagery shows two taxiways leading to three entrances that could allow attackers to enter and exit the underground facility.
The H-6N strategic bomber is newer than the H-6K, which was modernized by adding new avionics and larger Russian jet engines. The most significant advancements in the H-6N are a probe above the nose that allows for in-flight refueling, as well as an above belly recess instead of the traditional bomb bay. This allows larger missiles to be carried over the centerline, and such air-launched ballistic missiles give the PLAAF the ability to strike land and naval targets at long ranges.
The H-6N was publicly unveiled at an October 2019 parade in Beijing, likely to enter PLAAF service later that year. The H-6 is an older design, though it will have to endure until China completes development of its H-20 stealth bomber.
In the meantime, however, new weapons such as the YJ-21 ship-launched ballistic missile and air-launched ballistic missiles represent a serious threat to naval and land targets. They also indicate the tremendous progress China is making in the arms sector, and in many ways leaving the United States in its wake.