Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2012

Cruise Missiles

- The PLA is acquiring large numbers of highly accurate, domestically built cruise missiles, and has previously acquired large numbers of Russian ones.

- These include:

- the domestically produced, ground-launched CJ-10 land-attack cruise missile

(LACM);

- the domestically produced ground- and ship-launched YJ-62 anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM)

- the Russian SS-N-22/SUNBURN supersonic ASCM, which is fitted on China’s SOVREMENNY-class guided missile destroyers;

- the Russian SS-N-27B/SIZZLER supersonic ASCM on China’s Russian-built KILO-class diesel-powered attack submarines.

SRBMs

- By October 2011, the PLA had deployed between 1,000 and 1,200 SRBM to units opposite Taiwan.

- In the past year, China has fielded new SRBM systems, added additional missile brigades in southeastern China, and upgraded the lethality of its existing SRBM force by introducing variants with improved ranges, accuracies, and payloads.

ASBMs

- During comments to the media in 2011, China confirmed it is developing an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), based on a variant of the DF-21 (CSS-5) medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM).

- Known as the DF-21D (CSS-5 Mod 5), this missile is intended to provide the PLA the capability to attack large ships, particularly aircraft carriers, in the western Pacific Ocean.

- The assessed range of the DF-21D exceeds 1,500 km, and the missile is armed with a maneuverable warhead.

Source: Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2012