China: April 12, 2001

Archives

China is seeking new anti-ship missiles to improve its combat capabilities. It will buy Russian Kh-35 (AS-20 Kayak) missiles to mount on its Su-30MKK fighters. This could mean that the latest batch of these aircraft will be assigned to naval aviation. The Kh-35 has a speed of 300m/second (671 miles per hour) and carries a 145kg high explosive warhead to a range of 130km+. The Chinese have begun modifying JH-7 fighters to carry Kh-31 (AS-17 Krypton) missiles. The fighters should also be able to carry the Kh-31P anti-radiation missile, which China already builds for itself as the KR-1. In an unrelated note, J-8D fighters have been seen with R27 (AA10 Alamo) missiles bought from Ukraine or Russia. Apparently, the Chinese have recently obtained the necessary software to fit this missile to their J-8 fighter series. Radar-guided and passive radar-seeking versions of the R27 are known to be in service with Russia, Ukraine, and China.--Stephen V Cole

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close