CHINA-PLA: NEW YJ-12 ANTI-SHIP MISSILE

The Pentagon's latest annual report includes a brief reference to the YJ-12 anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM). According to a 2011 study that appeared in Naval War College Review, the YJ-12 ASCM has a range of 400 kilometers, making it one of the longest-ranged ASCMs ever fielded. At 400 kilometers, Chinese attack aircraft will be able to launch the YJ-12 beyond the engagement range of the US Navy’s Aegis Combat System and the SM-2 surface-to-air missiles that protect U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups. It envisaged a "realistic future scenario" as an attack on two or more axes by two Chinese Flanker regiments (totaling 48 Su-30 MKK or J-11B Flanker fighter-bomber variants). It said the Flankers could each be armed with two to four YJ-12 ASCMs. Although the carrier strike group’s combat air patrol could shoot down a few of the Flankers before they launched their missiles, the strike group would still face the prospect of defending against over a hundred supersonic ASCMs approaching from several directions at a wave-top height. The report describes the YJ-12 as the most dangerous anti-ship missile China has produced thus far, posing an even greater risk to the U.S. Navy’s surface forces in the Western Pacific than the much-discussed DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile. 





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