YJ-21

China's ship-and-air-launched anti-ship hypersonic ballistic missile — a "carrier killer" with a maneuvering glide vehicle fired from Type 055 destroyers and H-6N bombers. It is built to hold US aircraft carriers and allied fleets at risk deep into the Pacific, and sits at the core of China's anti-access/area-denial picture.

Overview

The YJ-21 is a Chinese hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) — a maneuvering, boost-glide weapon designed to strike high-value warships such as aircraft carriers at long range. It is associated with two launch modes: vertical launch from the Type 055 Renhai destroyer's cells, and an air-launched variant carried by the H-6N bomber, widely designated the KD-21. By extending the "carrier killer" mission from China's land-based ballistic missiles to its surface fleet and bombers, the YJ-21 is a centerpiece of Beijing's anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) strategy in the western Pacific. Its great advertised strength is that a maneuvering hypersonic re-entry vehicle is very hard for current naval missile defenses to intercept; its great unproven element is the over-the-horizon kill chain needed to find and hit a moving carrier at well over 1,000 km.

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