Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: CivilWarBrewing
Nonsense.

The Chinese have nothing as capable.

Active homing, mach 3.5, 200+ miles range and it attacks not along the surface, but from above.

And hits moving targets.

Sure, they've put concepts on the drawing board with the "Carrier Killer", but that's a pipe dream that will be at least a dozen years in development.

5 posted on 02/11/2016 8:37:31 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18 - Be The Leaderless Resistance)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies ]


To: Mariner; CivilWarBrewing; sparklite2; The Antiyuppie
Nonsense. The Chinese have nothing as capable. Active homing, mach 3.5, 200+ miles range and it attacks not along the surface, but from above. And hits moving targets. Sure, they've put concepts on the drawing board with the "Carrier Killer", but that's a pipe dream that will be at least a dozen years in development.

The Chinese actually have a supersonic anti-ship cruise equipping some of their destroyers (the Luyang III Class), with these missiles to be carried on their submarines soon. The missile is the YJ-18, which is a copy of the Russian supersonic Klub. If they managed to copy the Klub properly, then they have a very capable missile that carries a big warhead at supersonic speeds.

Outside China, a few countries have bought Russian supersonic anti-ship missiles (e.g. Algeria and Viet Nam), but the big users are Russia and India. Russia has had supersonic anti-ship missiles for decades due to their naval doctrine that called for big ships and submarines that would mass-launch large ASMs at USN carrier groups, and once those ships (e.g. the Soveremny) and submarines had launched the missiles, they had 'permission to die.' It is very interesting now to read strategic projections of what a Cold War naval battle between the US and USSR would have been like, and seeing that surface combatants on both sides were not expected to survive first contact. The Russians had missiles like the Sunburn and Shipwreck (with missiles like the Shipwreck having ranges of almost 700 miles, and coming in ripples with some hitting at the waterline and some top-attack) for decades.

Recently the Russians have the Strobile, out of which they produced the Indian BrahMos. The Russian version of the Strobile (the Oniks) has a range of 600 miles and a warhead over 500 pounds, and is able to do coordinated waterline/top-down attacks from different angles.

Personally I am very happy that the USN is getting a supersonic ASM, even though it has a small warhead. Why? Because several Standards launched against an enemy ship will do a softkill by taking out radars and communication, and without that the ship becomes absolutely defenceless. Once it cannot defend itself, then a single anti-ship version Tomahawk, or a Harpoon, would have a very high chance of taking out that ship (as opposed to the chances a subsonic missile like a Harpoon or Tomahawk would have against a modern ship operated by the enemy - which would be quite low). The standards are a major game changer for USN surface ships.

USN submarines don't really need a supersonic ASM though, as the Virginias are quite enough to get close enough to deploy their heavy torpedoes (unlike MOST enemy subs that require the safety provided by sub-launched supersonic ASMs). A USN submarine is quiet enough to get in within range of its torpedoes, launch them, and manage to egress safely/quickly/deep. Enemy diesel-submarines are quiet enough to get close enough to launch torpedoes, but would not be able to safely egress. Supersonic long-distance ASMs help them out.

Anyway, great news that the USN has a supersonic ASM. DARPA was working on two ASM designs by the way - one very stealthy, and the other hypersonic. So far the stealthy version seems to be getting all the funds, but I would not be surprised if in the near-future the USN fields a supersonic, or even hypersonic, ASM. Survivability against very-high-speed missiles, coming in from different vectors, is quite low. Almost zero with gun-type defense systems like the Phalanx and AK-630 CIWS, and while missile-based systems like the Rolling Airframe Missile and OSA systems provide better protection than gun-type systems like the Phalanx, they are still not yet guaranteed against a mass attack. Laser systems in the future will be better.

31 posted on 02/12/2016 1:17:33 AM PST by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies ]

To: Mariner

China has many more long range ASGMs than the US which also have programmable attack altitude profiles. The US most certainly is playing catch-up.

Are you forgetting this one?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-270_Moskit

And these?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anti-ship_missiles#People.27s_Republic_of_China


33 posted on 02/12/2016 3:21:17 AM PST by Justa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies ]

To: Mariner

Unless Obama pulls another Clinton Tech givaway... Or another clinton.


39 posted on 02/12/2016 7:08:18 AM PST by carjic (Media and GOPe are making the only people I trust not electable)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson