YJ-91 - YJ-91 Anti-radiation Missile

YJ-91 Anti-radiation Missile

The anti-radiation version of the YJ-91 missile was developed from the Kh-31P, which uses a wide array of seekers to cover the entire radar frequency band. The Chinese were not satisfied with the requirement to include multiple seekers and preferred to have a single seeker capable of covering multiple frequency bands, like the AGM-88 HARM. However, such ambitions proved to be too great for the Chinese microelectronics industry. They could not achieve the goal in a single step within the required timeline originally specified by the Chinese military. Instead, a two-step approach was implemented: The completion of the development of a single seeker covering multiple frequency bands was pushed back, while a stopgap measure was adopted in the meantime. The Kh-31P was modified so that the seekers could be rapidly changed in the forward airstrips (providing the specialized tooling is available), so that missile would not need to be sent back to depots or factories to perform such operation.

The resulting anti-radiation version of YJ-91 missile has a slightly increased the range to 120 km in comparison to 110 km of the original Kh-31P. In addition to a seeker that covers multiple frequency bands, additional measures to upgrade the missile are in development, such as, an open software architecture. Additional measures reportedly include prioritizing threats, which could be uploaded to the onboard computer from the ground or by the pilots while in flight. Threats could then be updated in real time. The multi-band seeker is of higher priority.