Silkworm missile
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The HY-2 Haiying (Chinese: 海鹰; pinyin: hǎiyīng; literally "Sea Eagle"), known in Western media as the Silkworm missile, is an anti-ship cruise missile made by the People's Republic of China and still used by many countries in the Middle East. Since the 1980s, the Silkworm has been superseded in the Chinese military by the far more sophisticated Yingji series. The missile is also designated as C-201.
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[edit] Specifications
It is based on Shang You (SY), meaning Upstream anti-ship missile, which in turn, was based on the Russian SS-N-2 Styx missile. The missile looks almost identical to the Shang You (SY) anti-ship missile, and has similar performance. It has a maximum range of 95 km, with a 513 kilogram payload.
[edit] Design
During its deployment, China discovered that the Shang You (SY) anti-ship missile could only be used by small missile boats with very few electronic components. When the missile was deployed on larger ships containing many complex electronic components, the missile proved subject to severe compatibility problems. This incompatibility could have resulted in the accidental ignition and/or possible explosion of the missile when all of the electronics on the ships were turned on to their maximum capacity.
Orders were given to solve the problem, and Hai Ying (HY) or Sea Eagle anti-ship missile was the answer. However, due to the political turmoil in China, such as the Cultural Revolution, the program did not succeed until the 1980s, too late for the planned platform, the Luda class destroyer, which was called upon for ballistic missile test missions in the Pacific Ocean. As a result, none of the Luda class destroyers deployed in that mission carried anti-ship missiles.
Once the Hai Ying (HY) anti-ship missile entered mass production, however, the Shang You (SY) anti-ship missile was not phased out immediately. Instead, it was continuously manufactured in parallel, as a cheaper alternative for export, as well as to arm the numerous classes of much smaller missile boats of the massive force, which totaled several hundreds, but eventually, Shang You (SY) anti-ship missile was replaced by its improvement, the Hai Ying (HY) anti-ship missile in Chinese service.
[edit] History
The Silkworm was developed at the Institute of Mechanics under Tsien Hsue-shen, a Chinese scientist who did his graduate studies at MIT and Caltech, before being deported by the United States in 1955 after being suspected of Communist ties. A book about this scientist's life was written by Iris Chang, entitled "Thread of the Silkworm."
The Silkworm gained fame in the 1980s when it was used by both sides in the Iran-Iraq War; both countries were supplied by China. During the Gulf War, Iraq used the Silkworm as a surface to surface missile by firing at least two of them at the coalition positions in Kuwait more than 100 km away, but both missed because the range of the missiles is only 80 km.
On February 25, 1991 a shore-based launcher fired two silkworm missiles at the USS Missouri (BB-63) which was in company with the USS Jarrett (FFG-33) and HMS Gloucester. A Sea Dart missile from the Gloucester shot down one Silkworm and the other missed, crashing into the ocean.[1] More recently, the missile was used by Iraq in the 2003 Iraq War[citation needed].
In March 1988, China agreed to stop supplying Iran with HY-2 missiles, though it is reported that supply continued into 1989. Iran has since developed the capability to manufacture these missiles itself.
During the 2006 Lebanon War, it was initially reported that Hezbollah guerillas fired a "Silkworm missile" at an "Israeli warship" off the shores of Lebanon. Israeli sources later said that the missile used instead was a more sophisticated Chinese Yingji-82 (C-802). Notably, Syria and Egypt employed Soviet Styx missiles—the Russian-made precursors to the Silkworm—against Israeli warships in both the 1967 War of Attrition following the Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. While the missiles were ineffective during the Battle of Latakia in 1973, four Styx missiles sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat in October 1967, marking the first time that ship-to-ship missiles were successfully used in combat.
While it is not a particularly sophisticated missile when compared to others such as the Exocet, the Silkworm's unusually large warhead ensures that a single hit will inflict very serious damage.
[edit] Derivatives
Many derivatives of HY-2 are developed, including the following:
- HY-2: Basic variant radar-guidance land-to-ship missile *developed from the HY-1 missile
- HY-2A: IR-guidance variant
- HY-2AII: Improved variant of the HY-2A
- HY-2B: Improved radar-guidance variant with a mono-pulse radar seeker replacing the original conical scanning radar
- HY-2BII: Improved variant of the HY-2B with a newly designed radar seeker
- C-201: air-launched version
- C-201W Extended-range variant powered by a turbojet engine replacing the original liquid-fuel rocket motor. Export only
[edit] Naming confusion
The name Silkworm may be slightly inaccurate. Coined by Western analysts, this term has been apparently used to refer to both HY-1 and HY-2 missiles. C-201 is the numerical designation used by Chinese for these missiles. The HY-1 missile, NATO codename CSS-C-2 has been nicknamed both Silkworm, and Sea Eagle (from the Chinese Haiying).
The HY-2 missile, NATO codename CSS-C-3 has been nicknamed Seersucker, Sadsack and Silkworm. This is the missile China has exported to many Middle Eastern countries, and is the missile referred to in this article, and in the mainstream media. Both the Shang You (SY) and the Fei Long (FL) families of anti-ship missiles are often also referred as Silkworms.
These weapons are, however, very similar to each other. The reason for such confusion is because all of them are developed from the same root: In addition to the original Shang You (SY) family for small missile boats that remained in large scale production for sometime, and the Hai Ying family first developed for larger warships later on, there is another anti-ship missile that is specifically designed to be launched from shore. This family is the Fei Long (FL) or Flying Dragon anti-ship missile.
The Fei Long (FL) family is the cheapest of the three because its requirement is the lowest: as the missile is stored in a controlled environment in a warehouse on land, the salinity, temperature and relative humidity requirements for the missile itself are greatly reduced. Because it is designed and deployed on land, the associate C4I systems can be located separately: the distributed system prevents electromagnetic interference, and if the C4I system is attacked, the distributed nature of the Fei Long (FL) family would greatly reduce casualties and damage. All of the system of Fei Long (FL) family can be used by the Hai Ying (HY) or Shang You (SY) families, but FL systems cannot be used on ships. The Fei Long (FL) family has had a much longer production run than the Shang You (SY) family.
| Chinese industrial designation | PLA-N type designation | NATO reporting name | NATO/U.S DOD code | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shang You (SY-1) | tbd | SCRUBBRUSH | CSS-N-1 | tbd |
| Shang You (SY-2) | tbd | SABBOT | CSS-N-5 | tbd |
| Hai Ying (HY-1) | tbd | SAFFLOWER | CSS-N-2 | ship-launched |
| Hai Ying (HY-1) | tbd | SILKWORM | CSSC-2/CSS-N-2 | land-launched |
| Hai Ying (HY-2) | C-201 | SEERSUCKER | CSSC-3 | land-launched |
| Hai Ying (HY-3) | C-301 | SAWHOUSE | CSSC-6 | land-launched |
| Hai Ying (HY-4) | C-401 | SADSACK | CSSC-7 | land/air-launched |
[edit] SY-1
This is the original Chinese version of Soviet P-15 Termit missile, and the first was SY-1, produced at Factory 320 (the Nanchang Aircraft Factory [南昌飞机制造厂]);; Chinese sources identify the designers as Li Tongli and Lu Lin. The main difference between P-15 Termit and SY-1 missiles is that the unreliable aneroid altimeter of P-15 Termit was replaced by a much more reliable radar altimeter in SY-1. The successor of SY-1, designed by Peng Lisheng (彭历生) and designated as SY-1A, had a mono-pulse terminal guidance radar seeker replacing the original conical scanning radar seeker. The missile received a NATO reporting name CSS-N-1 Scrubbrush.
The missile has been upgraded to be air-launched, and the air-launched version is known as C-601, which is the first air-launched anti-ship missile in China. The missile received a NATO reporting name CAS-1 Kraken.
Specifications:
- Length: 6.55 metre
- Diameter: 0.76 metre
- Wingspan: 2.4 metre
- Weight: 2,095 kg
- Warhead: 513 kg shape charged high-explosive
- Propulsion: One liquid rocket engine and one solid rocket booster
- Speed: Mach 0.8
- Range: 40 km
- Cruising altitude: 100~300 metre (early models); <20 metre (later models)
- Guidance: Inertial + active conical scanning terminal guidance radar (SY-1); or inertial + monopulse active radar (SY-1A)
- Single-shot kill probability: 70%
[edit] SY-2
The liquid fuel engine was rather hazardous and unreliable, so a solid fuel rocket engine was developed. This engine also made it possible to reduce the size and weight of the missile while providing greater range. The warhead weight is also reduced, but its effectiveness was actually increased when a time-delayed semi-armour-piercing high-explosive design was adopted. The extended version developed is designated SY-2A.
Specification:
- Length: 6 metre
- Diameter: 0.54 metre
- Wingspan: 1.7 metre
- Weight: 1,720 kg
- Warhead: 365 kg shape charged high-explosive
- Propulsion: A solid rocket engine and a solid booster
- Speed: Mach 0.9
- Range: 50 km
- Cruising altitude: 20 metre
- Guidance: Inertial + active radar
- Single-shot kill probability: 70%
[edit] FL missiles
FL-2 of the Fei Long (FL) or Flying Dragon anti-ship missiles series, produced at the Nanchang Aircraft Factory (南昌飞机制造厂), shares the similarity with SY-2, except it is the cheaper version used for land use only, as mentioned earlier. A supersonic version, FL-7, has also been developed, which differs from the Silkworm missiles significantly.
[edit] HY-1
The HY-1 received two separate NATO reporting name, the CSS-N-2 Safflower for the ship to ship version and the CSSC-2 Silkworm for the land based coastal defense variant.
- HY-1: Basic developmental version developed from the SY missiles, used only in very small numbers as land-to-ship missile for evaluation purposes. Did not enter series production and was replaced by HY-1J.
- HY-1J: Ship-to-ship variant for Type 051 DDG
- HY-1JA: Improved ship-to-ship variant with a new radar seeker for better anti-jamming capability and accuracy
- HY-1A: Land-to-ship variant based on the HY-1JA
- HY-1B: Low level target drone for the test of HQ-2A SAM
- HJ-1YB Target drone for the test of HQ-61 SAM
Specifications:
- Length: 6.60 metre
- Diameter: 0.76 metre
- Wingspan: 2.4 metre
- Weight: 2,300 kg
- Warhead: 513 kg shape charged high-explosive
- Propulsion: One liquid rocket engine and one solid rocket booster
- Speed: Mach 0.8
- Range: 70 km
- Cruising altitude: 100~300m (early models); <20m (later models)
- Guidance: Inertial + active conical scanning terminal guidance radar (early models); or inertial + monopulse active radar (later models)
- Single-shot kill probability: 70%
[edit] HY-4
The HY-4 development of the C-201 is a mid-range ground-, air-, and ship-launched cruise missile. Development of the C-201 HY-4 is believed to have started in the mid-1970s, replacing the C-201 HY-2 liquid propellant sustainer motor with a small turbojet engine, and adding a the monopulse active radar seeker. Apart from the substitution of the turbojet engine, the overall configuration of the HY-4 variant of the C-201 missile is similar to the HY-2 variants of the C-201, with two delta wings and tri-form rudder and tail. The missile has a radio altimeter which allows the cruise height to be varied between 70 and 200 m altitude, followed by a steep dive onto the target. The air-launched version is designated as C-401.
- Developer: China Sea Eagle Electro-Mechanical Technology Co.
- Length: 7.36 m
- Diameter: 0.76 m
- Wingspan: 2.4 m
- Weight: 1,740 kg
- Speed: Mach 0.8 – 0.85
- Range: > 150 km
- Cruising altitude: 70 – 200 m
- Propulsion: one turbojet engine and one solid rocket booster
[edit] XW-41
A developed version based on HY-4, known as the XW-41, has been developed. This latest version of the C-201 missile family is said to have a 300 km range with additional GPS/GLONASS guidance. However, due to the availability of more advanced anti-ship missile with similar range, such as the C-602, the future of XW-41, like others in the Silkworm missile family, is uncertain despite its successful trials. Although still a member of Silkworm missile, the developer considers the missile was different enough to be a listed as a separate category of its own due to the amount of new technologies adopted.
[edit] YJ-63 (C-603)
XW-41 and its predecessor HY-4 lost their intended market when the wars in middle east ended, so XW-41 was converted to the first indigenously developed air-to-surface precision strike missile. The developmental work begun in the mid-1990s when Sea Eagle Mechanical-Electrical Research Academy (海鹰机电技术研究院) received support of Chinese military and the project was completed in 2002. The resulting new missile was named as YJ-63, also known as C-603. In comparison to XW-41, the original radar guidance was changed to TV guidance. The original inverted Y-configuration of tail control surfaces was changed to X-configuration. Like its predecessor, XW-41, turbojet engine was adopted instead of liquid fuel rocket engine used on HY-2.
[edit] Operators
[edit] References
- ^ Rostker, Bernard (December 2000). TAB H -- Friendly-fire Incidents (html). Depleted Uranium in the Gulf (II). United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
