The YJ-12 () is a Chinese supersonic anti-ship

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warh ...

Description

The YJ-12 is an air-launched missile that resembles a lengthened

Kh-31 The Kh-31 (russian: Х-31; AS-17 'Krypton') is a Russian air-to-surface missile carried by aircraft such as the MiG-29 or Su-27. It is capable of Mach 3.5 and was the first supersonic anti-ship missile that could be launched by tactical aircraf ...

and is close in shape to the

GQM-163 Coyote The GQM-163 Coyote is a supersonic sea skimming target built by Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) and used by the United States Navy as a successor to the MQM-8 Vandal. Orbital's proposal was chosen over the MA-31, a joint venture between ...

aerial target. A 2011 article in the United States Naval War College Review credited the "

YJ-91 The YJ-91 () is an anti-radiation air-to-surface cruise missile produced by the People's Republic of China. It is a derivative of the Zvezda-Strela , type = Joint-stock company , location = , industry = Defense industryAerospace industry ...

/YJ-12" with a range of 400 km and a 205 kg

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ...

warhead, compared to the range of a

Harpoon anti-ship missile The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack ...

. Furthermore, an aircraft could launch the "YJ-91/YJ-12" while still 230 km beyond the range of SM-2 and Sparrow anti-air missiles, which have ranges of less than 170 km. According to Chinese sources, the YJ-12 has a speed of around Mach 2 if launched from low altitude and up to Mach 3.2 if launched from high altitude, with a maximum range of around depending on launch altitude; terminal attack altitude is 15 meters. In a September 2014 article published in Joint Forces Quarterly, the missile was credited with a range of up to 250 km and a speed of Mach 2.5. In February 2015, military expert Li Li claimed the YJ-12 has a warhead and a range of when traveling at Mach 3, or 400 km at a speed of Mach 4. The YJ-12 can also do evasive maneuvers to avoid anti-missile threats. A saturation attack by YJ-12's fired at long range would pose a grave threat to American

carrier strike group A carrier strike group (CSG) is a type of carrier battle group of the United States Navy. It is an operational formation composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, usually an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least t ...

s; once the wave of

sea-skimming Sea skimming is a technique many anti-ship missiles and some fighter or strike aircraft use to avoid radar, infrared detection, and to lower probability of being shot down during their approach to the target. Method Sea-skimming anti-ship miss ...

missiles appeared over the horizon and was detected by ships' own sensors, they would only have some 45 seconds to engage before impact and if there were enough, short range defenses would be overwhelmed. Given that fighters such as the

Su-30MKK The Sukhoi Su-30MKK (NATO reporting name: Flanker-G)MKK stands for Russian ''Mnogofunktzionniy Kommercheskiy Kitayski'' (Cyrillic: Многофунктзионний Коммерческий Китайски), "Multifunctional Commercial for C ...

and J-11B have a

combat radius Radius of action, combat radius, or combat range in military terms, refers to the maximum distance a ship, aircraft, or vehicle can travel away from its base along a given course with normal load and return without refueling, allowing for all safet ...

of about 1,500 km, equipping them with the YJ-12 gives them a potential strike range out to . The

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

's counter is to use the

Cooperative Engagement Capability Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) is a sensor network with integrated fire control capability that is intended to significantly improve battle force air and missile defense capabilities by combining data from multiple battle force air search ...

to detect and destroy the YJ-12's launch aircraft with SM-6 missiles and fighters at long range before they can be fired. It has been test-launched from

Xian H-6 The Xian H-6 () is a twin-engine jet bomber of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). The H-6 is a license-built version of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 and remains the primary bomber aircraft of the People's Republic of China. D ...

bombers and will be fitted on the JH-7B. Reportedly, they may also be launched from the J-10, Su-30MKK, the J-11 and J-16, For warships, it equips the Type 051B destroyer and PLAN overhauled

Sovremenny-class destroyer The ''Sovremenny'' class, Soviet designation Project 956 ''Sarych'' (buzzard), is a class of anti-ship and anti-aircraft guided-missile destroyers of the Soviet and later Russian Navy. The ships are named after qualities, with "Sovremenny" tra ...

Development

In August 2000, the Chinese unveiled a model of an air-launched missile labelled as the YJ-91, resembling the French Air-Sol Moyenne Portée. Later, a similar looking missile was seen that may have been designated as the YJ-12. Jane's reported that a YJ-12A was supposedly in development in 2004. The YJ-91 designation ultimately went to the Chinese development of the Russian

. The YJ-12 ultimately resembled a lengthened Kh-31. The YJ-12 appeared at the

2015 China Victory Day Parade The 2015 China Victory Day parade was a military parade held along Chang'an Avenue, Beijing, on 3 September 2015 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day of World War II. The commemoration was the first high-profile milita ...

, indicating that the missile had entered active service since all weapons showcased during the parade are actively inducted prior to the parade. The YJ-12B was reportedly deployed to the

Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...

around March 2018.

Variants

;YJ-12 :Air-launched variant ;YJ-12A :Naval surface-based variant, launched by rocket booster. ;YJ-12B :Land-based variant with range. ;CM-302 :In November 2016, CASIC unveiled the CM-302 as the export version of the YJ-12. It is marketed as "the world's best anti-ship missile" that it is supersonic throughout its flight, can be launched from air, land, and naval platforms, can disable a 5,000-tonne warship, and be used in a land attack role. Assuming physical characteristics similar to the YJ-12, the missile is likely long and diameter, with an estimated weight of . It is stated to have a range of , a warhead, guided by BeiDou which can be updated by

data-link A data link is the means of connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving digital information (data communication). It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a transmitter and a recei ...

with an

active radar Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track its target au ...

seeker for terminal homing to achieve a 90% probability of hitting its target, while traveling at a mid-course speed of Mach 1.5-2 and accelerating to Mach 3 or higher during the terminal flight phase.

Operators

Current operators

; *

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chines ...

; *

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

, CM-400 *

Pakistan Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Qur'an, 3:173'') , type ...

, CM-302 ** Type 054A/P frigate

References