YJ-12

The YJ-12, also written Yingzhe-12 or Eagle Strike 12, is a Chinese supersonic anti-ship missile described as the fourth generation of China's anti-ship missiles. It was developed with reference to the Russian 3M80E, NATO reporting name SS-N-22 Sunburn, but is much smaller: the YJ-12 is about 6 to 7 metres long and 0.5 metres in diameter, against more than 9 metres and 1.3 metres for the 3M80E, which suits it to light and medium ships. It uses an integrated ramjet with four evenly spaced inlets, foldable wings in an X layout and a slightly pointed warhead. Guidance combines GPS and Beidou satellite navigation with a terminal broadband active radar. After launch it climbs, receives its first target data over a data link, then descends to cruise silently at about Mach 1.5 and 12 to 15 metres altitude, with a terminal speed reported as high as Mach 4. It weighs 2 to 2.5 tons and its range is given as about 150 to 300 kilometres. Fighter-bombers and bombers such as the H-6 have been named as carrier aircraft.