CJ-10 (missile)

The CJ-10 is a land attack cruise missile (LACM) currently in service with the Second Artillery Corps of the People's Republic of China. It is the first of the Changjian (literally "long sword") series of long range land attack cruise missiles. The CJ-10 debuted during the October 1 military parade in 2009.

Besides the land attack variant, a possible shore to ship variant has also been rumored to be in Chinese service. Many Taiwan and Hong Kong media sources believe that the weapon has been developed to counter the US Navy's Carrier battle groups, with the aim of a land based carrier destruction capability.

The CJ-10A is an air-launched variant with a range of 2,000—2,200 km, intended to arm the Xian H-6K strategic nuclear bomber which can carry six of the missiles under its wings.

Development
The YJ-62/CJ-10 missile family is based on China's earlier land-based Hongniao cruise missile family. The new design also incorporates elements of the Soviet Kh-55 cruise missiles. Moscow Defense Brief speculates that Ukraine may have had some role in the CJ-10 project. China may also have acquired several American Tomahawk missiles from Pakistan and Afghanistan, after the missiles were fired in a failed attack on the Al Qaeda in 1998. The knowledge from these missiles may have been used in the CJ-10/YJ-62 project.

The CJ-10 family was developed from the DH-10 cruise missile.

Variants

 * CJ-10
 * CJ-10A
 * CJ-10K
 * CJ-20 - nuclear armed.

Users

 * 🇨🇳 China