Chinese navy shows off hypersonic anti-ship missiles in public
- Military analysts said displaying the YJ-21, or Eagle Strike 21, may be a warning to the United States or Taiwan
- The missiles are designed to target aircraft carrier strike groups
The Chinese navy has shown off an advanced anti-ship missile ahead of celebrations to mark its 73rd anniversary this weekend.
The missile is estimated to have a range between 1,000 to 1,500km (600 to 930 miles), and is believed to be capable of hitting a whole carrier strike group
Video footage circulating on social media showed a missile that looks like YJ-21 being launched from a Type 055, the People’s Liberation Army’s largest and most advanced destroyer.
The Type 055, which has 112 vertical launch missile cells, is designed as a multipole warship armed with air-defence, anti-missile, anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons.
Military analysts said the rare demonstration by the PLA could be seen as a strategic deterrence aimed at the United States and Taiwan.
Beijing-based naval analyst Li Jie said arming Type 055s with YJ-21 missiles was intended to deter foreign ships from getting involved in the event of an attack on Taiwan.
“The matching of the Type -55 and YJ-21 missile was designed for anti-access and area-denial to counter American’s maritime hegemony in the region,” Li said.
“The ship-borne YJ-21 missile, which has a range up to 1,000km, is able to hit any vessel in an aircraft carrier strike group.”
Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank in Beijing, said the combat range of the air-launched YJ-21 could be increased to 1,500km, while its hypersonic speed made it more difficult to intercept.
Zhou said the unprecedented demonstration of YJ-21 by the Type 055 and H-6N had aimed at warning both Washington and Taipei that the PLA has many options for anti-access and area-denial strategy.
“Beijing is worrying that the unlimited US military assistance to Ukraine and a recent American congressional group tour to Taiwan might make Taipei believe Washington may provide the same help in the event of a conflict between the mainland and Taiwan,” Zhou said.
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Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at Taiwan’s Naval Academy, said Type 055 destroyers were better defended against missile strikes than the Moskva, the Russian warship that sank last week.
“Indeed, the PLA has begun the systematic deployment of advanced missile systems to different platforms, not only the Type -55 destroyer, it’s creditable the YJ-21 could be also deployed to the Type -52D destroyers,” Lu said.
“Taiwan definitely needs more weapons to defend itself, because so far none of the early-warning and air-defence systems on Taiwanese warships is able to detect an attack by the YJ-21 missiles.”
