Published by The Maritime Executive
Published by The Maritime Executive
Published by The Maritime Executive
Published by The Maritime Executive
Published Apr 19, 2022 7:07 PM by The Maritime Executive
The PLA Navy has released what appears to be the first video footage of a hypersonic missile launch from a Chinese warship, a Type 055 cruiser.
Naval analyst H.I. Sutton has identified the missile in the video as a YJ-21 hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile, a relative of the CM-401. The Type 055 has 112 VLS cells, suggesting that it could carry a substantial hypersonic arsenal in a high-end fight.
The Chinese PLA Navy for the first time showed footage of the launch of a new hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile from a Project 055 destroyer. pic.twitter.com/Tdb6cz3UNR
The PLA also released video footage of an H-6 heavy bomber carrying the same weapon.
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The previous generation CM-401 is a short-range missile with a maneuverable reentry vehicle, and it has been seen in public before, beginning with an appearance at the Zhuhai Airshow in 2018. At the time, manufacturer CASIC suggested that the weapons system could be mounted on a ship like the PLAN's Type 055 cruiser - the vessel class seen in the newly-released photos.
The missile has a range of at least 180 miles using a "skip-glide" flight path. This means that it goes nearly straight up in the initial phase of flight, then skips off the atmosphere one or more times on re-entry, converting its downward momentum into horizontal travel. This creates an irregular flight path and gives the reentry vehicle an opportunity to change course while in motion, making it harder to intercept.
On terminal approach, the CM-401 arrives on target at speeds of up to Mach 6. Like other hypersonic munitions, speed makes it exceptionally difficult to intercept, and the U.S. Navy is hard at work on counter-hypersonic systems to reduce its vulnerability.
The U.S. does not currently have a missile equivalent to the CM-401. The Navy is working with the U.S. Army on a joint hypersonic-missile system, Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS), which will be launched from land, ship-based and submarine platforms. In the meantime, the service does have a range advantage for ship-launched weapons: the Tomahawk Block Va and Vb cruise missiles can reach out to more than 1,000 nm, though they are subsonic and are easier to defeat.
Published Apr 21, 2022 12:19 AM by The Maritime Executive
On Tuesday morning, a floating drydock at the small port of Saka, Japan partially sank alongside a pier. The dock is a 180 foot by 110 foot platform used for repairing smaller vessels and for scrapping. The Hiroshima Maritime Security Department said that it received a report about the sinking from a ship repair facility at about 0810 hours on Tuesday morning. No injuries were reported, and the floating dock released only a small quantity of fuel into the water. ...
Published Apr 20, 2022 11:47 PM by The Maritime Executive
After the loss of the cruiser Moskva to Ukrainian anti-ship missiles last week, the Russian Navy has assigned a destroyer from its Pacific Fleet to demonstrate Russia's naval air-defense capabilities - particularly for use in the defense of Russian merchant shipping. The Udalay-class destroyer Admiral Panteleev was selected to lead the mock exercise. "According to the plan of the exercise, the air defense crews of the ship covered the medium sea tanker Izhora . . . from a mock enemy...
Published Apr 20, 2022 9:08 PM by The Maritime Executive
The lost Russian cruiser Moskva may have gone down with a (purported) piece of the True Cross on board, according to Russian state media. The 19th-century reliquary was donated to the Black Sea Fleet by an anonymous private collector in 2020, according to the archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church's Sevastopol district, Sergiy Khalyuta. It was intended for the chapel aboard the Moskva. The relic entered private hands when "European churches began to close and sell their property," state-owned outlet...
Published Apr 20, 2022 8:26 PM by The Maritime Executive
A week after the WWII-era destroyer the USS The Sullivans began taking on water, divers and drones were finally able to survey the extent of the hull breach. The U.S. Coast Guard joined the efforts to survey the vessel and begin to determine a plan to stabilize and salvage the destroyed turned museum ship. Commissioned in 1943, the destroyer saw active duty in both the Second World War and the Korean War. It later was assigned to the U.S. 6th...
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