In addition to developing the C-101 and C-301 supersonic anti-ship missiles which are fairly large in size, China has developed FL-7 (FL: Fei Long, meaning Flying Dragon) supersonic anti-ship missile which can be carried on airplanes and warships. The Feilong-7 has an effective range of 32 kilometers and a speed of Mach 1.4. It has powerful anti-jamming capability and its supersonic flight makes terminal interception difficult. The warhead of the FL-7 can pierce solid armor and destroy large and medium-sized surface warships. This missile can be roughly considered as the supersonic counterpart of the subsonic

C-704 The C-704 is a Chinese anti-ship missile. The missile was developed by the third research institute of the Chinese Aerospace Group, also the manufacturer of the C-701. Design This anti-ship missile is designed specifically for targets with displa ...

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A goo ...

. The missile is powered by a liquid fuel rocket motor and a solid rocket booster, which is under the airframe at the rear. Along with C-101, FL-7 competed for the air-launched supersonic anti-ship missile program in China during the 1990s. However, C-101 was selected because it flies at faster speed and its range is nearly a third greater than that of FL-7, while it only weighs slightly heavier. Being the last Chinese

with rocket motor powered by liquid fuel, the role of FL-7 is decreasing, but not yet immediately phased out. The reason is that the Chinese coastal defense doctrine when using anti-ship missiles: multi-direction, multi-altitude, multiple waves attacks on targets with both supersonic and subsonic anti-ship missiles to make it difficult for the targets to defend itself from such saturated attacks, FL-7 is thus still have a little role to play in such saturated attacks at shorter range. However, it is safe to conclude that as newer missiles becoming widely available, the role of FL-7 would continuously decrease to its eventual retirement.

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

sources have claimed in 1996, with Chinese help in the forms of technology sales, that

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

had begun indigenous production of a medium-range anti-ship missile, based on the technologies of FL-7. *Length: 6.59 m *Diameter: 0.54 m *Weight: 1,770 kg *Wingspan: 1.86 m *Warhead: 360 kg *Speed: > Mach 1.4 *Range: 32 km max. *Guidance: active radar homing seeker (Other types of seekers being developed) *Propulsion: one liquid rocket engine with a solid rocket booster

References

FL-7
{{Chinese_Missiles Anti-ship cruise missiles of the People's Republic of China Weapons of the People's Republic of China Air-to-surface missiles Anti-tank guided missiles of the People's Republic of China Military equipment introduced in the 1980s