YJ-18


The YJ-18 is a Chinese family of anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles.

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; the missile is credited with a range of, which would give it a threat ring of. Some Western analysts believe the YJ-18 is a copy of the 3M-54E, with a cruising range of at Mach 0.8 and a sprint range of at Mach 2.5 to 3.0; other sources claim the submarine-launched variant has a range of with a terminal speed of Mach 2 while flying at a lower terminal altitude than the Russian Kalibr/Klub.
The missile can be launched from vertical launching systems, and possibly from submarine torpedo tubes. Chinese media claims the missile has an inertial guidance system using BeiDou Navigation Satellite System data, and carries a high-explosive warhead or an anti-radiation warhead to destroy electronics at short range.
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 -range YJ-82 aboard the Yuan-class air-independent propulsion and Song-class diesel-electric submarines, will likely deploy on the Type 095 submarine, and may be capable of deployment on Kilo-class submarines. A land-based version could replace the subsonic -range YJ-62 with shore batteries.

Variants