Anti-ship and land attack cruise missile
The YJ-18 (Chinese: 鹰击-18; pinyin: yingji-18; lit. 'eagle strike 18', NATO designation CH-SS-NX-13[4]) is a Chinese family of anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles.[1]
Description
The United States Department of Defense believes the YJ-18 is similar to the Russian 3M-54 Klub, with a subsonic cruise mode and a supersonic terminal attack;[5] the missile is credited with a range of 290 nautical miles (330 mi; 540 km),[6] which would give it a threat ring of 264,200 sq nmi (349,900 sq mi; 906,000 km2).[3] Some Western analysts believe the YJ-18 is a copy of the 3M-54E, with a cruising range of 180 km (110 mi; 97 nmi) at Mach 0.8 and a sprint range of 40 km (25 mi; 22 nmi) at Mach 2.5 to 3.0;[4][1] other sources claim the submarine-launched variant has a range of 500 km (310 mi; 270 nmi) with a terminal speed of Mach 2 while flying at a lower terminal altitude than the Russian Kalibr/Klub.[7]
The missile can be launched from vertical launching systems,[8] and possibly from submarine torpedo tubes.[4] Chinese media claims the missile has an inertial guidance system using BeiDou Navigation Satellite System data, and carries a 300 kg (660 lb) high-explosive warhead or an anti-radiation warhead to destroy electronics at short range.[9]
The YJ-18 is deployed aboard the Type 052D destroyer and the Type 055 destroyer. It may already be carried by the Shang II-class nuclear attack submarine outfitted with VLS cells, will replace the 20 nmi (23 mi; 37 km)-range YJ-82 aboard the Yuan-class air-independent propulsion (AIP) and Song-class diesel-electric submarines, will likely deploy on the Type 095 submarine, and may be capable of deployment on Kilo-class submarines.[6][3] A land-based version could replace the subsonic 400 km (250 mi; 220 nmi)-range YJ-62 with shore batteries.[3][4]
