YJ-12 - Description

Description

Externally, YJ-12 looks almost identical to Air-Sol Moyenne Portée (ASMP), and the performance, size and weight of these two missiles are also very similar, prompting claims of YJ-12 being a Chinese copy of ASMP. However, Chinese developers have denied this and claimed that the missile is indigenously developed, without any French input. It’s also highly unlikely that France would export ASMP, or any other nuclear strike weapons and delivery system to China. It's rumored that there were another prototype with different inlet, but such rumor has yet to be verified by official sources. Contrary to the ASMP which is a sole an air-to-surface missile, YJ-12 was first developed as an anti-ship missile instead, and then as an anti-radar missile, and the land-attack air-to-surface version was the latest development. Chinese developer of YJ-12 claimed that the reason YJ-12 looked almost identical to ASMP was because the aerodynamic layout was the best to meet the performance requirements thus resulting in similar looks of the two missiles.

The propulsion system of the missile is a ramjet engine integrated with a rocket booster, reportedly based on that of Kh-31 and developed with the help of Russian expertise. Some have argued that this might be partially contributed to the confusion between YJ-91 and YJ-12. For the model made its public debut, the side arrangement of the engine layout is the same as that of ASMP. Many Chinese military enthusiasts have claimed that the successful development of YJ-12 is the reason that forced Russia to allow the export of Kh-31 and (even more outrageously, SS-N-22) to China. However, such erroneous claims are openly denied by the developer, and when asked about such claim was true at earlier Zhuhai Airshows, the Chinese developers answered that they have never heard of such claims, and neither has the Chinese government made any official confirmation of such claims. The developer of YJ-12 claimed that Kh-31 and its Chinese development, YJ-91 were in different classes, with YJ-12 having longer range and instead of competing with each other, the two missiles would complement each other, YJ-91 for targets that were closer, while YJ-12 for targets further away.

YJ-12 is claimed to be the first Chinese supersonic anti-ship missile to incorporate the modular design concept, and around a dozen models have been developed or under development. In addition to anti-shipping version, anti-radar and land-attack versions have also been developed. The cheapest of these are the fire-and-forgot version for anti-shipping role, without any data link. For the rest of models that are more costly, it is not known if they have entered Chinese service yet or they are still under development, because the missile was withdrawn from defense exhibitions after its initial appearance in earlier Zhuhai Airshows. Most of the technologies of YJ-12 are based on that of C-803, but a brand new VLSIC microchip was specifically developed for YJ-12 by the 771st Research Institute of ex-Aerospace Ministry of China, and is used both for the radar seeker and ECM/ECCM. It is claimed that the processing and storage capability of the new microchip is expanded multifold in comparison to that is used on C-803, thus improving the performance of the highly digitized seeker of C-803 used on YJ-12, without making any other changes. However, due to the limitations and backwardness of Chinese microelectronic industry, the unit cost of the microchip was expansive, driven up the price of the missile: the unit price of YJ-12 in late 1990s price was 1.8 million US$, more than twice of Boeing Harpoon. The radar seeker costs a quarter million US$, while the ECM/ECCM system of YJ-12 costs 580,000 US$, and the total cost of these two subsystems is almost half of the unit price of the missile.

According to the developer, there are three categories YJ-12. The fire-and-forget category is the first one to be developed, and the next one had a one way data link added so that pilots can change the targets for the missile after launching. The last one has a two way data link added to the missile so that pilots can see the information of the target detected by the seeker of the missile. Some Chinese military enthusiasts have claimed, however, that with the exception of the fire-and-forget category, none of the rest had progressed beyond the developmental stage due insufficient funding partially caused by the high unit price of YJ-12. The range is usually at 250 to 300 km (high-low), but an alternative flight path is also available to increase the range to 400 km: Like the Russian Raduga Kh-15, the missile would climb to high altitude of 40 km for cruising, and at the very last moment, diving down on the target. Many Chinese sources have claimed that this feature is incorporated based on the technologies of AS-16, but this feature is only available for the anti-shipping versions of YJ-12. Since the missile has been withdrawn from public displays, such claims have yet to be verified by independent sources. What is confirmed by the official governmental sources at the 6th Zhuhai Airshow held in the 3rd quarter of 2006 by the developer is that when the high altitude cruise and terminal diving attack trajectory is adopted, the maximum speed of YJ-12 is around Mach 4, and YJ-12 is usually carried on the inner most pylons of JH-7A, as shown in the model at the airshow. The midcourse guidance of YJ-12 is inertial + GPS, though the developer has claimed that other satellite navigational system can also be incorporated.