FL-7

This article is about the Chinese rocket. For other uses, see FL 7 (disambiguation).
FL-7
Type anti-ship, and air-to-surface missiles
Place of origin China
Service history
In service late 1980s–present
Used by China
Production history
Manufacturer Hongdu Aviation Industry Corporation
Produced 1980s–1990s
Specifications
Weight 1.77 ton
Length 6.59 meter
Diameter 0.54 meter
Warhead 360 kg warhead
Detonation
mechanism
 Semi-armor-piercing
Engine rocket motor
Wingspan 1.86 meter
Propellant liquid fuel
Operational
range
 32 km
Flight altitude 5 to 50 cruising
Speed Mach 1.4
Guidance
system
 ARH
Launch
platform
 Air & ground

In addition to developing the C-101 and C-301 supersonic anti-ship missiles which are fairly large in size, China has developed FL-7 (FL: Fei Long, meaning Flying Dragon) supersonic anti-ship missile which can be carried on airplanes and warships. The Feilong-7 has an effective range of 32 kilometers and a speed of Mach 1.4. It has powerful anti-jamming capability and its supersonic flight makes terminal interception difficult. The warhead of the FL-7 can pierce solid armor and destroy large and medium-sized surface warships. This missile can be roughly considered as the supersonic counterpart of the subsonic C-704 anti-ship missile. The missile is powered by a liquid fuel rocket motor and a solid rocket booster, which is under the airframe at the rear.

Along with C-101, FL-7 competed for the air-launched supersonic anti-ship missile program in China during the 1990s. However, C-101 was selected because it flies at faster speed and its range is nearly a third greater than that of FL-7, while it only weighs slightly heavier. Being the last Chinese anti-ship missile with rocket motor powered by liquid fuel, the role of FL-7 is decreasing, but not yet immediately phased out. The reason is that the Chinese coastal defense doctrine when using anti-ship missiles: multi-direction, multi-altitude, multiple waves attacks on targets with both supersonic and subsonic anti-ship missiles to make it difficult for the targets to defend itself from such saturated attacks, FL-7 is thus still have a little role to play in such saturated attacks at shorter range. However, it is safe to conclude that as newer missiles becoming widely available, the role of FL-7 would continuously decrease to its eventual retirement.

Western sources have claimed in 1996, with Chinese help in the forms of technology sales, that Iran had begun indigenous production of a medium-range anti-ship missile, based on the technologies of FL-7.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.janes.com/article/65208/airshow-china-2016-casc-unsheathes-its-hidden-blade-lightweight-missile-system
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