C-101
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- This article is about the missile; for information on the aircraft, see CASA C-101.
The C-101 (FL-2) is a supersonic anti-ship missile that can be launched from air, ship, and shore. The missile is also known as Fei Long - 2 (meaning Flying Dragon – 2, or FL-2 for short), and there are two side-mounted ramjet engines at the rear of the airframe. The development of C-101 missile started in the late 1970s, and production began in the mid-1990s, as part of the replacement of the obsolete HY-2/CSS-N-2 missiles. The Chinese Navy tested the C-101 anti-ship missile on the Hoku-class missile boat, and Huang-class missile boat are being fitted with four C-101 launch tubes, while smaller classes carry two launch tubes. The air launched version has been reportedly carried on the H-5 and Xi’an H-6 bombers and the Harbin SH-5 amphibian and eventually expanded to most of the aircraft in the Chinese inventory. The armed with a 300 kg semi-armor-piercing warhead with a delayed impact fuse. Cruising at an altitude below 50 meters, the missile dives about 3 kilometers away from the target to 5 meters above the sea level and then dive to attack, impacting just above the waterline.
- Length: 5.8 meter
- Wingspan: 1.2 meter
- Weight: 1,850 kg
- Warhead: 300 kg
- Range: 45 km
- Speed: > Mach 1.7 cruise, > Mach 2 in attack
- Cruise altitude: < 50 meter in flight, 5 meter at final stage
- Propulsion: two ramjet engines
- Guidance: active radar homing seeker (other types of seekers have been developed)
C-101 anti-ship missile has lower speed and higher cruise altitude than the larger and more potent supersonic anti-ship missile such as SS-N-22, and thus is relatively prone to interception in comparison to SS-N-22, but this drawback is partially made up by its smaller radar cross section and lower infrared signature. The same advantages are retained when compared to the subsonic Silkworm missiles, which also have higher cruise altitude and lower speed in comparison to C-101. As a result, C-101 saw wider service in Chinese armed forces than its larger cousin C-301, mainly as a stopgap measure for the air force until the newer supersonic missile such as the Russian Kh-31 becomes widely available, and as an upgrade for older missile boats such as the Heku class to replace the original Silkworm missiles onboard. Although Chinese claim that other type of seekers such as infrared imaging and television seekers have been successfully developed, the status is rather uncertain due to the availablility of newer anti-ship missiles.
