China Reveals New Missiles At Singapore Airshow

[BLACKEAGLE]

Wendell Minnick 12:45 p.m. EST February 16, 2016

SINGAPORE – At the Singapore Airshow this week, the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp. (CATIC) provided brochures of two new missiles, the TL-2 and the TL-7.

TL stands for “Thunder Lighting” (Tien Lei), though the configurations and missions are unrelated. CATIC is a Chinese state-owned company that manages export sales of aviation defense and commercial products. It is similar to Russia’s Rosoboronexport in function. Both the TL-2 and TL-7 are actually products of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

CATIC officials indicate the TL-7 is an anti-ship missile that can be launched from fighter aircraft (TL-7A), ground-based units (TL-7B), and ships (TL-7C). The turbojet engine allows it to hit cruising speeds of 0.8-0.85 Mach with a range of 180 km (110 miles).

According to Richard Fisher, a senior fellow on Asian military affairs with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, the TL-7 is making its debut as the export model of the KD-88 precision-guided air to surface missile that entered PLA Air Force service on the Xian-built JH-7A fighter bombers in 2006 and 2007.

“The KD-88 was the first medium-range optically-guided ground attack missile to arm the JH-7,” Fisher said. “Originally thought to have been derived from the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) C-802/YJ-82 family of anti-ship missiles, it can now be said that [the CASC] KD-88/TL-7 was designed to compete with CASIC's anti-ship and ground attack missiles.”

According to CATIC officials, the TL-2 missile can be launched from a ground-based launcher or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Photographs provided by CATIC show two TL-2s mounted on an ASN-209 medium altitude and medium endurance (MAME) UAV. The ASN-209 has a range of 200 km (120 miles) and the TL-2 has a range of six km (3.7 miles). CATIC photographs show it destroying a light armored vehicle. It has a circular error probable range of 2-10 meters depending on the guidance system used. Modes of operation include direct attack for lock-on before launch (LOBL), mid-course navigation, and semi-active guidance for lock-on after launch (LOAL).

Fisher said the TL-2 was first marketed at the 2014 Zhuhai Airshow as a precision strike weapon for the Chengdu-built Wing Loong/Pterodactyl unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), now in service with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. CATIC is displaying a model of the Wing Loong at the Singapore Airshow this week.

CASC’s TL-2 is in competition with CASIC's and China North Industries Corporation’s [Norinco’s] line up of precision UCAV weapons, Fisher said.
China Reveals New Missiles At Singapore Airshow

 

[explorerx7]

The constant introduction of new weapons with updated features is frightening, to say the least. The world is being turned into the equivalent of a fast food restaurant, the menu, in this case, however, is the serving of arms, every day in the media there are reports of new and more sophisticated weapons being served up, whether it being a new aircraft, a new submarine, a new assault vehicle, a new missile, a new battleship.
I shudder to think of the amount of destructive equipment that's in the world presently.

 

[Corzhens]

It seems to me that China is indeed building up its military armaments maybe as a show of muscle to the claimants of Spratly islands. The Philippines could only muster about 40 young militants to pitch camp in one of the islands as a means of protest against China's invasion and future invasion of the big islands there. I wonder what Vietnam has to say to this Chinese missiles.

 

[djdefense]

Hmm.. naval warfare is China's biggest weakness. I guess they're trying to prop themselves up with new Marine Tech.