DH-10 missile
Posted on 12/13/2009 9:26:35 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
China continues adapting its ground launched cruise missiles to operate from aircraft. The latest missile to get this treatment is the DH-10. This weapon is similar to early U.S. cruise missiles, and has a range of 1,500-3,000 kilometers and uses GPS, along with terrain mapping. The DH-10 was first shown publicly in the recent 60th anniversary (of the communists taking control of China) on October 1st.) The aircraft carried version is called the CJ-10. This is believed to be based on some American cruise missile technology. Earlier, China had taken the Russian Kh-31 air-to-ground missile (which they bought 200 of in the 1990s), and improved the design. The resulting YJ-91 comes in both anti-radiation (ARM) missiles for attacking radars, and anti-ship versions. The YJ-91 is small (.6 ton) compared to its predecessor, the C201, a three ton beast that is basically a small, pilotless, jet aircraft. For all that bulk, the C201 only has a range of about 100 kilometers. But China still likes this design because, launched from the ground, the sheer weight and bulk of the, plus the explosives in the warhead, can do a lot of damage.
While China has also developed anti-ship missiles similar to the U.S. Harpoon and French Exocet. But these are only effective on a modern aircraft that can maneuver and are equipped with electronic countermeasures to enable it to get close enough to a well defended target (like a U.S. Navy task force.) China, however, has both old and new aircraft assigned to its naval aviation force.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
That’s a very large air launched missile.
It is similar to look like the early cruise missiles we had in our arsenal
Well, not so air launchable. Hehe...
Question, what good does this do when the US can just scramble GPS at will?
These would only be good for export and don’t appear as if they would be a very good offensive weapon against the US.
Oh Sh!t *PING*
Yes, I was thinking about the Hound Dog missile.
I should have said in terms of size.
I agree
Does China plan to rely on the Galileo system? And if so, anyone know the final disposition of that? Personally, I think their involvement was to permit them to run their own ten or fifteen years down the track. That might be part of it.
These would only be good for export and don’t appear as if they would be a very good offensive weapon against the US.
If they're for export, China would care about their vulnerabilities only so far as they'd damage the export trade. In terms of targeting the US, they're probably planning on using these to test systems for the next generation of weapons. Like they are playing around with the Varyag to learn carrier design and vulnerabilities. That's the problem with China - they prepare for the war in ten or twenty years, not the one next year.... makes for good planning but it's also a weakness if their time schedules get surprised.
I doubt those missiles are reliant on GPS. And they wouldn’t build and deploy hundreds of LACMs just for experimental purposes. They already have an operational Regional Positioning system. So most likely, those missiles are guided by Terrain Image Mapping and Beidou.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beidou_navigation_system#Current_technology_.28Beidou-1.29
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
