DH-10


 * For the aircraft, see Airco DH.10

The DongHai 10 (DH-10; ) is a cruise missile developed in the People's Republic of China by the Third Academy by CASIC.

According to Janes, the DH-10 is a second-generation land-attack cruise missile (LACM), integrated inertial navigation system, GPS, terrain contour mapping system, and digital scene-matching terminal-homing system. The missile is estimated to have a circular error probable (CEP) of 10 meters. In 2008, a Pentagon report estimated the range of the DH-10 as over 4,000 km and that from 50 to 250 missiles had been deployed

However, since the PRC has not released any specs for the DH-10, the specs can only be considered best estimates by western military analysts.

Background
The PLA is known having been seeking long-range land-attack cruise missile (LACM) technology since the early 1990s. So far a number of developmental cruise missiles have been reported, though no detailed information has yet been published. China’s development of strategic LACM may have been assisted by Russian and Ukrainian technologies. Some sources predicted that the first operational deployment of Chinese indigenous LACM took place in 2004~2005. The PLA Second Artillery Corps (Strategic Missile Force) has formed a Cruise Missile Brigade based at Jianshui, Yunnan Province in southern China.

China’s LACM research and development is aided by an aggressive effort to acquire foreign cruise missile technology, particularly from Russia and Ukraine. China also seeks dual-use technologies and subsystems from the United States and other foreign countries. According to a recent report, Ukraine exported at least 18 examples of the 3,000 km-range, nuclear capable Kh-55 (NATO codename: AS-15 Kent) strategic cruise missiles to China and Iran between 1999 and 2001. China may have also obtained the design of the Kh-65SE, a shorter-range export version of the Kh-55 from Russia.

Cruise missile guidance
The guidance system represents the most significant challenge for a long-range cruise missile programme. The proposed Chinese cruise missile is likely going to be equipped with a multiple guidance system with an inertial navigation system (INS), global positioning system (GPS), and terrain comparison (TERCOM).

China would require an extensive database of accurate topographic information to use terrain comparison (TERCOM) guidance. But TERCOM would probably be relatively ineffective in areas such as the South China Sea, which present few navigational reference points. Published reports suggest that GPS would initially be used as the primary guidance system, possibly to be supplemented subsequently with TERCOM.

The potential use of the American GPS system would render this system vulnerable to jamming of the unencrypted civil signal (CA code) from GPS satellites within view of the Chinese area of operations, or to local jamming and spoofing in the target area. Chinese cruise missiles could still find their targets using inertial navigation system (INS) technology, but without GPS updates they would be significantly less accurate.

It is likely that even if the US tried to deny GPS signals to China, the PLA's cruise missiles could still function via the Russian GLONASS, or in the future the European GALILEO navigation signals. China could also use its own “Compass Satellite Navigation System”, which would comprise five Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites and 30 medium Earth orbit satellites to provide a global cover, but the compass navigation system only covers Asia, and part of the Pacific region right now. It will take approximately another five years to complete the whole system to have global coverage and compete with GPS.

Powerplant
China has developed a range of small turbojet engines to power its anti-ship cruise missiles such as HY-4 (C-401) and YJ-82 (C-802). China is also actively developing more advanced turbofan engines for its next generation fighter aircraft, such as the 16.87 kN thrust WS-11 turbofan engine to power its JL-8/K-8 jet trainer aircraft. The same technology can used to develop a suitable turbofan engine for the cruise missile.

Further Development
The DH-10 has been further developed into the CJ-10 cruise missile family. In addition, a submarine-launched version utilizing technologies used on another Chinese land attack cruise missile HN-2000 is also rumored to be under development, and designated as DH-2000, it would also be used as an anti-ship missile. However, claims about DH-2000 has yet remained to be verified.