C-802

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Yingji-82 (C-802), CSS-N-8 Saccade
Yingji-82 (C-802), CSS-N-8 Saccade
Yingji-82 (C-802), CSS-N-8 Saccade
Basic data
Function anti-ship missile
Manufacturer China Haiying Electromechanical Technology Academy (中国海鹰机电技术研究院)
Entered service 1989
General characteristics
Engine turbojet engine
Launch mass 715 kg
Length 6.392 m
Diameter 36 cm
Wingspan 1.22 m (unfolded); 0.72 m (folded)
Speed Mach 0.9
Range 120 km
Flying altitude 20-30 m (flight); 5-7 m (attacking)
Warhead 165 kg time-delayed semi-armour-piercing high-explosive
Guidance Inertial and terminal active radar
Launch platform ground-based vehicles, naval ships, fixed-wing aircraft

The Yingji-82 or YJ-82 (Chinese: 鹰击-82, literally "Eagle Strike"; NATO reporting name: CSS-N-8 Saccade) is a Chinese anti-ship missile first unveiled in 1989 by the China Haiying Electro-Mechanical Technology Academy (CHETA), also known as the Third Academy. Since the Yingji-82 missile has a small radar reflectivity and is only about five to seven meters above the sea surface when it attacks the target, and since its guidance equipment has strong anti-jamming capability, target ships have a very low success rate in intercepting the missile. The hit probability of the Yingji-82 is estimated to be as high as 98 percent. The Yingji-82 can be launched from airplanes, surface ships, submarines and land-based vehicles, and has been considered along with the US Harpoon missile as among the best anti-ship missiles of its generation.[1] Its export name is the C-802.

Contents

[edit] Design

The Yingji-82 (C-802) anti-ship missile was derived from the Chinese YJ-8 (C-801) with extended range. The YJ-82 is externally similar to the YJ-8, and has the same solid-propellant rocket booster and guidance system as the YJ-8. The most distinctive difference on the YJ-82 is that it employs a turbojet with paraffin-based fuel to replace the original solid rocket engine. For this reason the fuselage was extended to accommodate the extra fuel. The maximum range of the missile has also been extended from the original 40 km (or 80 km for YJ-81/C-801A) to 120 km. The YJ-8 series (including the YJ-82) was developed on the basis of Western design concepts, rather than from the Soviet Styx, and has no relation with the Silkworm (HJ-2).

[edit] Deployment

The YJ-82 missile is carried by the latest Chinese-made surface combatants including the Type 051B (Luhai class) destroyer and Type 053H3 (Jiangwei class) frigate. Some ships built in earlier years have also been upgraded to carry YJ-82 missiles. Because of its extended range, the YJ-82 missile sometimes has to rely on airborne radar systems carried by helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft to provide target information. Iran reportedly bought about 60 land-launched variant YJ-82 missiles following the 1991 Gulf War. The air launched variant of the YJ-82 is designated YJ-82K (C-802K). A JH-7 fighter-bomber can carry four missiles. The secondary role for the YJ-82 is for shore bombardment, and in the land attack role, the missile can only be used against fixed targets but not mobile target.

[edit] Launch platforms:

JH-7 fighter-bomber carrying four YJ-82K missiles.
Enlarge
JH-7 fighter-bomber carrying four YJ-82K missiles.

[edit] Variants

  • YJ-82 (C-802): Basic variant
  • YJ-82K (C-802K): Air launched variant
  • YJ-83 (C-803): Extended range (to 150-200km) supersonic variant
  • Noor: Iranian advanced variant.
    • In early 2000 it was reported that North Korea and Iran were jointly developing an advanced version of the C-802 missile. The missiles initially acquired by Iran from China were rather outdated, and Iran turned to North Korea for missile system technology. The two countries are jointly developing an upgraded version with improved accuracy. [1][2]

[edit] Design features

The YJ-82 is almost identical to the YJ-8 in appearance apart from a slightly longer fuselage and an air inlet for the turbojet engine. The missile has a slim body and ovoid nose. There are four front delta wings, four smaller control surfaces, and four large tail stabilising wings. The tail wings are mounted on the rocket booster and will be lost when the booster detaches from the missile body. The air inlet is located between the main fins under the missile body. The front and tail wings are folded when the missile is in the launcher.

[edit] Flight profile

When the missile is launched, the solid rocket propellant booster accelerates the speed of the missile from 0 to 0.9 Mach in a few seconds. After the booster burns out, it detaches from the missile body and the missile's turbojet engine starts working. Controlled by the inertial autopilot system and radio altimeter, the missile flies at a cruising speed of 0.9 Mach and a flight altitude of 20-30 metres.

When entering the terminal phase of flight, the missile switches on its terminal guidance radar to search for the target. Once locking on the target, the missile reduces its flight altitude to 5−7 metres at a distance of a few kilometres from the target. The missile may also maneuver during the terminal phase to make it a more difficult target for shipborne air defense systems. When approaching the target, the missile dives to hit the waterline of the ship to inflict maximum damage.

[edit] Guidance

As well as its terminal guidance radar, the midcourse guidance is inertial. During the inertial guidance, the YJ-8 missile is also equipped with a radio altimeter for use with its autopilot during cruise. The missile's terminal guidance radar with monopulse system possesses high anti-jamming capabilities. The high precision radio altimeter allows the missile to have minimum-altitude flight above the sea, which is normally 20−30 m.

[edit] Warhead

The missile uses a 165 kg semi-armor-piercing anti-personnel blast warhead which relies on the missile's kinetic energy to pierce the deck of a ship, penetrate into and explode in the ship's interior. In addition, the YJ-82 might have a higher single hit probability than the YJ-8/YJ-81.

[edit] Users

[edit] Combat history

News reports indicate that this was the missile used on July 14, 2006 in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis when Hezbollah fired two at Israeli warships.[5][6] One of the missiles hit the INS Hanit, causing heavy damage and the deaths of four Israeli servicemen.[7] The other missile hit an Egyptian merchant ship causing heavy damage; it is reported that all the crew survived. [8] However, according to Chinese, the missile was not C-802 and China is not certain if any anti-ship missiles of Chinese origin was used at all, and Iran, the reported supplier of the missile to Hezbollah, refused to formally confirm or deny the claim.

The Israeli ship possessed a sophisticated multi-layered missile defense capability designed to prevent an anti-ship missile attack such as the YJ-82 (a Phalanx CIWS gun, Barak anti-missile missiles, Chaff and ECM), but according to the Israeli military, these were intentionally disabled at the time of the alleged C-802 hit due to:

  • a lack of intelligence indicating Hezbollah possessed such a missile; and
  • the presence of many Israeli Air Force aircraft conducting operations in the vicinity of the ship which may have accidentally set off the ship's anti-missile/aerial threats system, with the danger of shooting down a friendly aircraft. However, that ship has an (optionally-installed) IFF system for this type of purpose (identifying which blip is a friend like F-15/16 and which blip is a foe such as a Styx missile, a C-802 or a Syrian ASW-intended helicopter like the Kamov).
See Also Military operation of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict: Friday, July 14

[edit] Upgrades

Most upgrades of C-802 are not funded by the Chinese government, but by the manufacturers and trading firms themselves, and most upgrades were mainly focused on the guidance.

[edit] Altimeter

The radar altimeter can be replaced by a newly developed laser altimeter, which has much lower probability of being intercepted by ESM in comparison to the original radar altimeter. This new laser altimeter can be retrofited to C-801, C-803, and all other models of this anti-ship missile family.

[edit] Seekers

One of the first upgrade included the incorporation of infrared guidance so that there is a dual guidance system similar to that of Taiwanese Hsiung Feng II missile. Imaging infrared seeker and a television seeker similar to that of C-701 anti-ship missile became available later on. The imaging infrared seeker is reportedly derived from the imaging infrared seeker technology developed for Chinese air-to-air missiles. These three seekers are interchangeable with the original radar seeker, and the change can be performed at the naval bases instead of requiring the missile to be sent back to the factory for the change.

Since the imaging infrared seeker and the television seeker are significantly smaller in size in comparison to the radar seeker, this enabled the manufacturer to develop a variety of combined seekers for dual guidance, which include: radar and imaging infrared guidance, television and imaging infrared guidance, dual band infrared guidance (i.e. infrared and imaging infrared guidance), and television and infrared guidance. Again, these combined seekers can be changed at the naval bases instead of requiring the missile to be sent back to the factory for the change. However, according to domestic Chinese media, the manufacturer claims that as of the last quarter of 2006, due to the funding problems, niether the Chinese military nor any foreign customers has yet to order any of the combined seekers with the exception of the radar and infrared guidance, despite the fact that all of them are ready for production upon customers' requests.

[edit] Datalinks

A datalink associated with the radar seeker and the dual radar and infrared guidance seeker armed C-802 was added enabled the missile to receive target information provided by aircraft and this later became a standard feature. The first successful test fire of the C-802 with the datalink was conducted with Harbin SH-5 ASW equipped with British radar, and soon after, with Y-8X Maritime Patrol Aircraft equipped with Litton Canada radar. This datalink was originally developed for YJ-83/C-803, the successor of the YJ-82/C-802, and adopted for the YJ-82/C-802 upgrade.

Based on the datalink associated with the radar seeker, a newer datalink that was compatible with all three types of seekers was also successfully developed, enabling the missile to significantly improve its attack capability by allowing the pilot of the aircraft or the crew of the ship to view the images provided by the television or the imaging infrared seekers, and thus to select the potential targets, just like the way A-10 pilots used the images provided by the imaging infrared seekers of AGM-65 Maverick Air-to-surface missiles for targeting during the Gulf War. Land attack capability is the greatest beneificiary since mobile targets on land can be engaged as a result, though only when the missile is equipped with television and imaging infrared seekers, but not the radar seeker. Like the datalink only associated with the radar seeker, the newer datalink allows the operators to alter the course of the missile and change targets after launching. However, there are no reports to support the claim that the operator can terminate the attack via the datalink like that of the Harpoon missile. This new datalink has very little difference from radar seeker associated datalink it is developed from in terms of hardware, the major difference is the software programs.

[edit] Missile Launching Rail

For the air-launched version, an universal missile launching rail system was also developed for C-802, reducing the installation time significantly. Furthermore, the new system allowed virtually any aircraft in the Chinese inventory to be armed with YJ-82K.

[edit] Container

For the surface-launched version, Chinese developed a new launcher/storage container that is able to handle YJ-8 (C-801), YJ-82 (C-802) and CY-1 ASW missiles, and this new container became standard.

[edit] GPS/GLONASS

Latest upgrade was the incorporation of both the GPS and GLONASS guidance system, reportedly based on the technology from the American Joint Direct Attack Munition obtained from the NATO Bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The GPS/GLONASS guidance system can be either used in conjunction with other guidance or independently. When combined with seekers in anti-shipping role, it improves flight profile, saving fuel and thus increasing range, and for the land attack role, it provides a much cheaper alternatives to terrain-following radar when combined with digital maps (and the altitude in the terrain-following mode must be preset).

However, due to financial reasons, only the new launching/storage container upgrade and the upgrade of the datalink associated with the radar seeker and the dual radar and infrared guidance seeker have entered the PLA service, and despite the Chinese manufacturers' marketing efforts, there is no known export success of any of these upgrades of C-802.

[edit] C-802A

At Zhuhai Airshow held from the end of October 2006 thru early November 2006, an improved version of C-802 was displayed. The size of this updated version is about the same as the original C-802, but the range was extended to 180 km. Other information regards this version was very limited except the one that had already entered the Chinese service adopts radar seeker.

[edit] C-802KD

A dedicated air-to-surface missile version of the C-802 was also officially released to the public at Zhuhai Airshow held from the end of October 2006 thru early November 2006. However, like the C-802A displayed at the same airshow, the information released was very limited except the missile was designated as C-802KD, with KD short for Kong Di, or Air (to) Surface. It is not clear whether C-802KD is just the land attack version of the GPS/GLONASS upgrade of C-802 mentioned above that is officially accepted into service, or the version similar to BGM-109 Tomahawk with longer 400 km range LACM mentioned below. Strangly, the missile adopts a radar seeker.

[edit] YJ-83/C-803

China has developed the YJ-83 (C-803) anti-ship missile based on the YJ-82 design as a successor. Also powered by a turbojet engine, the YJ-83 is supersonic at the terminal stage (> Mach 1.3) and have an operational range of 250 km. The very first model of the YJ-83 anti-ship missile first appeared on the National Day parade in 1999, and it was only armed with a radar seeker. Seekers of the YJ-82/C-802 upgrade are also available for YJ-83/C-803, but it is not clear if Chinese have adopted these seekers yet. The launching/storage container of the new missile retained the capability to handle earlier missiles, as well as the CY-1 ASW missile.

A datalink antenna is fitted on the missile to receive midcourse targeting information from naval surveillance aircraft such as Harbin SH-5 or Y-8X Maritime Patrol Aircraft and helicopters such as Z-8 and Z-9, and this feature has become standard for the all missiles currently in production. Unlike the seekers of YJ-82/C-802 upgrades that was later adopted for YJ-3/C-803, the datalink was actually first developed for YJ-83/C-803 and then later adopted for the YJ-2/C-802 upgrade. However, it is not clear if this datalink is the one that is only compatible with the radar seeker and the dual radar and infrared guidance seeker, or the one that is compatible with all types of seekers.

Due to the supersonic speed of the terminal stage, it is nearly impossible for the missile to fly in the terrain following mode, and thus the new missile has not yet had the land attack capability against inland targets like its predecessor C-802, instead, it only has limited land attack capability against coastal targets.

Some unconfirmed reports indicated that there is a 400 km-range land-attack cruise missile (LACM) variant of the YJ-82 fitted with GPS/TERCOM guidance. Although this has never been confirmed, it is certain that with its secondary role as shore bombardment, YJ-82 missile does have the potential of being modified into LACM without too much difficulty.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b FAS Military Analysis Network - C-802
  2. ^ ["N. Korea, Iran Jointly Develop Missile: Report" Korea Times February 17, 2000]
  3. ^ C-802 - Global Security
  4. ^ Israel: Iran Aided Hezbollah Ship Attack, New York Times, July 15, 2006
  5. ^ Hizballah Brings out Iranian Silkworm to Hit Israel Navy Corvette (Iranian-made C-802)
  6. ^ Israel turning to Turkey to block Hizbollah arms, Reuters, Aug 17, 2006
  7. ^ IDF finds bodies of missing sailors aboard damaged Navy ship
  8. ^ Egypt confirms ship hit off Lebanon, crew safe

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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