Hello everyone.
This is just a short video on the recent announcement of the performance of the YJ-21 by the People
Liberation Army.
The YJ-21 is the world’s one and only anti-ship ballistic missile launched from a warship.
On the 19th of April 2022, a video surfaced on the Chinese internet showing the YJ-21
being fired from the Type 055 destroyer, confirming the weapon has been fielded.
According to the PLA, the YJ-21 travels at a sustained speed of Mach 6 on the way to
the target, and has a terminal speed of Mach 10 once it comes into contact with the target,
or 10 times the speed of sound.
This is extremely fast.
For reference, the Russian Zircon has a max speed of Mach 9, while the Indian Brahmos
can achieve Mach 3.
The PLA does not believe the YJ-21 can be intercepted by any anti-missile defences in
existence, at least currently.
Even if the weapon is intercepted at the last moment, the debris and shrapnel hitting the
enemy warship with such momentum can cause major damage anyway.
The YJ-21 relies on the satellite system for guidance, provided by the Beidou network of
navigation satellites.
According to the article, with the debut of the YJ-21, the Chinese Navy has begun to establish
a more destructive combat system in the offshore defence perimeter, which has brought its area
denial combat capability to a higher level.
The range of the YJ-21 remains uncertain, but Western analyst estimate, or should I
say guestimate, the range to be between 700 and 1,500 kilometres.
The upper bounds of this range are in line with the Chinese intermediate range anti-ship
missiles launched from land, such as the DF-21D.
In my opinion, I would tend to believe the mid-point of this estimate, rather than the
high end, but in the end, the range is unknown.
While the YJ-21 has been seen to be fired by the Type 055, they can almost certainly
be used by the Type 052D as well.
The Type 052D destroyer has the same universal UVLS as the 055, so it should be able to use
the same set of weapons.
Note the Chinese UVLS are much larger than the VLS cells on US Navy warships, which allows
larger weapons to be fielded.
An export version known as the YJ-21E was revealed in the Zhuhai Air show 2022.
It will likely be equipped on the Type 052DE export destroyer, known as the Whale Shark
2000.
The part of the PLA posting the article is the Strategic Support Force, a service branch
created in 2015 responsible for data analysis among other things, so what they say is taken
with a high level of credibility.
According to them, even more advanced naval hypersonic missiles are in development, and
could appear fairly soon.
The article was first published on the website of the China Science Communication, but was
reposted by an official PLA account for the first time.
To learn more about the warship on which the YJ-21 is deployed, the Type 055 destroyer,
please watch this video right here.