C-802

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Yingji-82 (C-802), CSS-N-8 Saccade

Type Anti-ship missile
Service history
In service 1989
Production history
Manufacturer China Haiying Electromechanical Technology Academy (中国海鹰机电技术研究院)
Specifications
Weight 715 kg
Length 6.392 m
Diameter 36 cm
Warhead 165 kg time-delayed semi-armour-piercing high-explosive
Engine turbojet engine
Wingspan 1.22 m (unfolded); 0.72 m (folded)
Operational
range		 200 km
Flight altitude 3 m
Speed Supersonic
Guidance
system		 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. Due to the Yingji-82 missile's small radar reflectivity, low attack flight path (only five to seven meters above the sea surface) and strong anti-jamming capability of its guidance equipment, target ships have a very small chance of intercepting the missile. The single shot hit probability of the Yingji-82 is estimated to be as high as 98%.[1] The Yingji-82 can be launched from airplanes, surface ships, submarines and land-based vehicles, and has been considered – along with the U.S. Harpoon missile – as among the best anti-ship missiles of its generation.[2] 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.

[edit] Deployment

The YJ-83 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.[1] 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 targets.

[edit] Launch platforms:

[edit] Variants

  • YJ-82 (C-802): Basic variant
  • YJ-82K (C-802K): Air launched variant
  • YJ-83 (C-803): Extended range variant to 150-200km (255+km air-launched), possibly supersonic terminal flight
  • C-802KD
  • KD-88
  • 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.[2][3]

[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 the cruise altitude is reduced to 10 - 20 metres (depending on the sea state) from the original 20 - 30 metres of the C-801/YJ-81.

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 lowers its cruise altitude to 3 - 5 metres above the sea level at a distance of a few kilometres from the target, the same altitude of Exocet, and a reduction from the original 5 - 7 metres of C-801/YJ-81. 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. At the 6th Zhuhai Airshow held at the end of 2006, the manufacturer revealed that the "pop-up" approach and the checkpoint flight functions are being worked on.

[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

  • Naval flag of Iran Islamic Republic of Iran Navy: Iran reportedly possesses 60 of the YJ-82, deployed in coastal batteries at Qeshm Island.[1] Iran originally ordered 150 of the YJ-82 in the immediate aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, but due to American pressure, the Chinese suspended shipments of the missile to Iran in 1996 after 60 were delivered.[1] It is also suggested that China exported 15 patrol boats equipped with these missiles to Iran.[1] Iran is suspected of having supplied the Islamic militant group Hezbollah with an unknown number of these missiles, one of which was possibly used in an attack on an Israeli ship during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict (see below).[5] Currently Iran produces it's own (upgraded) version of the C-802 called: Noor.
  • Naval flag of Pakistan Pakistan Navy: Pakistan has reportedly bought a large number of these missiles possibly under a license production arrangement.[citation needed]
  • Naval flag of Burma Myanmar Navy
  • Hezbollah: Hezbollah is thought to have acquired this missile.
  • Naval flag of Thailand Royal Thai Navy: phasing out C-801/YJ-81 and replace them with C-802/YJ-82 missiles onboard its Type 053HT class frigates[6]

[edit] Combat history

Some news reports indicate that this was the missile used on July 14, 2006 in the 2006 Lebanon War when Hezbollah fired two at Israeli warships.[7][8] The two missiles hit the corvette INS Hanit, causing significant damage and four fatalities.[9] Chinese government sources have stated that the missile was not a C-802, and it is not certain if any anti-ship missiles of Chinese origin were used.[citation needed] Iran, the reported supplier of the missile to Hezbollah, refused to formally confirm or deny the claim. The Hanit suffered severe damage to its steering and some to its engine from the missiles hit and had to be removed from the area, but the damage was less than initially feared. Using hits by the Harpoon missile — which has a warhead approximately 1.5 times larger than the C-802, and is generally considered able to cripple a corvette-sized vessel with a single hit — as a reference point, it seems likely that the missiles used by Hezbollah were not C-802s, and were possibly the smaller C-701 or its Iranian version, the Kowsar.[10] The C-701/Kowsar missiles are classed as being able to sink a FAC with one or two hits, which is more in line with the reported damage. On the other hand, an unsourced figure of an explosive weight of 50 kg for the missile that hit the Hanit has been published,[11] although it appears that this is not based on fact, but on the assumption the missile was a C-802.

The Israeli ship possessed sophisticated multi-layered missile defense capability: a Phalanx CIWS gun, Barak anti-missile missiles, Chaff and ECM. These should have been able to prevent an anti-ship missile attack such as the YJ-82, 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 might have accidentally set off the ship's anti-missile/aerial threats system, with the danger of shooting down a friendly aircraft. However, the ship has an (optionally-installed) Identification friend or foe interrogator system to prevent attacking friendly aircraft.

(See also: Military operations of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict: Friday, July 14.) www.youtube.com

[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 is much less likely to be detected ESM. The laser altimeter can be retrofited to all models of this anti-ship missile family.

[edit] Seekers

One of the first upgrades included the incorporation of infrared guidance so that there is a dual guidance system similar to that of the Taiwanese Hsiung Feng II missile. Imaging infrared seeker and a television seeker similar to that of the C-701 anti-ship missile became available later. 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 can be fitted at naval bases rather than the factory.

As the imaging infrared seeker and the television seeker are significantly smaller than the radar seeker, the manufacturer has taken advantage of the extra space 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 and imaging infrared) guidance, and television and infrared guidance. These combined seekers can also be fitted at naval bases. According to domestic Chinese news media the manufacturer says that as of the last quarter of 2006 no orders for had been received for any of the combined seekers except the radar and infrared guidance, due to funding problems.

[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 beneficiary 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, a 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-803

China has developed the YJ-83 (C-803) anti-ship missile based on the YJ-82 design as a successor. The chief designer was the chief designer of YJ-85, the latest member of YJ-8 series, Mr. Huang Ruisong (黄锐松), who succeeded Mr. Liang Shounie (梁守聂) after his retirement. Also powered by a turbojet engine, the YJ-83 is supersonic at the terminal stage (> Mach 1.3) and has an operational range of 255+km air-launched and 150-200km surface-launched. 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. Despite its improvement, however, the future of YJ-83 (C-803) was uncertain, because a more advanced missile designed as YJ-12 was already being developed by China Haiying Electromechanical Technology Academy (中国海鹰机电技术研究院), and the chief designer of the new missile was none other than Mr. Huang Ruisong (黄锐松), the chief designer of YJ-83 (C-803). It is unlikely that YJ-83 (C-803) would enter service in large numbers due to the availability of more advanced missile already developed.

[edit] KD-88 Land-Attack Cruise Missile

The PLAAF is currently equipped with a land attack version of the YJ-81 air-launched anti-ship missile, dubbed the KD-88 (KongDi-88).[12] This weapon was revealed to the public during the 2006 Zhuhai Air Show, and was demonstrated to the press in November 2006.[12]

The KD-88 is similar in concept to the American Stand-off Land Attack Missile (SLAM), in that the basic weapon design was based on an anti-ship missile which was modified for a land attack purpose. The missile can deliver a 165kg high-explosive warhead at around mach 0.9 to a maximum distance of around 180~200km.[12] The missile is guided via inertial navigation system, with datalink command for mid-course correction and active radar homing for terminal guidance. The weapon is claimed to be able to engage ships in harbour or fixed land targets.[12] Launch platforms for the KD-88 are the JH-7A fighter-bomber and H-6 medium bomber.

Further developments of the KD-88 may include GPS guidance and TV-homing to improve accuracy, or also include passive radar radiation guidance.[12]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e "C-802", GlobalSecurity.org, 2006-16-07. Retrieved on 2008-03-22. 
  2. ^ a b FAS Military Analysis Network - C-802
  3. ^ ["N. Korea, Iran Jointly Develop Missile: Report" Korea Times February 17, 2000]
  4. ^ [http://www.bdmilitary.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=133551 - The Bangladesh Navy is the C-802As export launch customer. BNS Osman is armed with the C-802A anti-ship missiles.
  5. ^ Israel: Iran Aided Hezbollah Ship Attack, New York Times, July 15, 2006
  6. ^ "YJ-83", Deagel, 2008-03-24. Retrieved on 2008-03-26. 
  7. ^ Hizballah Brings out Iranian Silkworm to Hit Israel Navy Corvette (Iranian-made C-802)
  8. ^ Israel turning to Turkey to block Hizbollah arms, Reuters, Aug 17, 2006
  9. ^ IDF finds bodies of missing sailors aboard damaged Navy ship
  10. ^ E.g. [1]
  11. ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3276221,00.html#n
  12. ^ a b c d e "KD-88 Land-Attack Cruise Missile", SinoDefence.com, 9 July 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-22. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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