China is in the latter stages of developing a new long-range, antiship cruise missile to be fitted as one of the primary weapons on board the latest variant of its Type 052 class of destroyer.
Two launch canisters can be seen mounted in the above picture. Possibly eight missiles--in two four-canister packages--will be on board. The canisters appear to be 8-10 meters (26.3-32.8 ft.) long, with a diameter of about 1.5 meters. While the actual missile design has yet to be shown, it is most likely to be subsonic or transonic, with air-breathing propulsion and a range requirement of several hundred kilometers.
Chinese naval missiles are often given a YJ designation, but the actual number for this weapon is not yet known. The development phase builds on the experience China has gained through the YJ-8/YJ-82 family of antiship missiles. These have ranges of 40-120 km. (24.8-74.6 mi.), with the most powerful ones equipped with turbojet engines.
The development, and eventual deployment, of an antiship missile with a considerably greater range than existing weapons raises questions about over-the-horizon targeting for the long-range missile. Likely to follow a low-altitude flight profile, with a further reduction in the terminal phase, mid-course target updates from a third-party platform will be required. The missile will almost certainly use active radar-guidance for the terminal phase of an engagement.
When first deployed, the missile probably will be used in the antisurface role but could be adapted for littoral land attack easily.
