New Chinese ship-launched ballistic missile breaks cover
This is a screengrab of the launch of the launch of an YJ-21 anti-ship ballistic missile from the PLAN’s newly commissioned Type 055 cruiser Wuxi. (PLAN)
Chinese naval capability has taken another important step forward with the fielding of the world’s first ship-launched anti-ship ballistic missile.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) released a video clip on 19 April that depicted a hitherto unknown missile being fired from a Type 055 guided-missile cruiser. Likely an anti-ship ballistic missile, analysts refer to it as the YJ-21.
The firing from the active-duty ship Wuxi (pennant number ‘104’), commissioned in Qingdao just last month, indicates the missile is almost certainly in service.
In the video clip, the missile can be seen to have small fins and a biconic nose. It was cold-launched from the stern VLS.
No specifications are known, although it appears that the weapon is what was previously
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