New footage launched by the Chinese language Folks’s Liberation Army Japanese Theatre Command Air Power has for the primary time proven a J-10C fighter carrying a brand new sort of air-launched ballistic missile. The missile intently resembles the YJ-21 anti-ship ballistic missile which is carried by H-6K bombers, and seems to be a miniaturised model. The YJ-21 was first unveiled on the 2022 Zhuhai Airshow, and combines a 1500 kilometre vary and Mach 10 velocity, making it among the many most potent anti-ship weapons fielded wherever on this planet. A miniaturised variant of the YJ-21 was first seen being carried by the CH-9 unmanned assault plane, and is estimated to have a weight of effectively below 1000 kilograms. The missile is believed to have an analogous flight efficiency to its bigger counterpart, however a shorter 500 kilometre vary.
The J-10C is the primary light-weight single engine fighter sort to combine an air-launched ballistic missile, which stays a really uncommon sort of weapon. The utility of such missiles has been demonstrated from early 2022 by the efficient use of Kinzhal ballistic missiles fired by Russian MiG-31K/I heavyweight strike fighters to interact targets throughout Ukraine. With the MiG-31K/I being the world’s heaviest sort of tactical fight jet, nevertheless, and being extremely expensive maintain which means lower than three dozen are estimated to be in service, the J-10C in contrast is fielded very extensively with near 50 being produced yearly, permitting it to equip not solely home fighter items, but additionally strategic companions. The Pakistan Air Power already operates the fighter sort, whereas Indonesian officers have reported that giant orders have already been positioned. Unconfirmed studies point out that Egypt and Uzbekistan have additionally positioned orders, elevating the opportunity of the brand new missile being marketed to export shoppers.
The J-10C is the one post-Chilly Struggle Chinese language fighter sort to have been utilized in air-to-air fight, and reportedly achieved main successes within the fingers of the Pakistan Air Power in early Might, capturing down a number of Indian Air Power fighters together with a reported one-to-four French-supplied Rafales. The addition of a YJ-21 spinoff has the potential to considerably additional enhance the fighter’s attraction on export markets, permitting even a small variety of plane to pose a significant risk to enemy warships. In Folks’s Liberation Army service, the missile significantly improves the flexibility of the fighters, and permits them to play a a lot higher function in maritime strike operations and interact targets a lot additional out to sea. A major chance stays that the brand new missile is being utilised on a trial foundation, and that its integration onto different for much longer ranged fighter sorts such because the J-16 is presently into account.
