Global Strike HN-2000 The Chinese Anti-Ship Cruise Missile

Anti-Ship Cruise Missile HN-2000 With Millimeter Wave Radar, Infrared Image Mapping, Laser Radar, Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR)

China is currently developing its next-generation cruise missile, the Hong Niao-2000 (HN-2000). This missile will reportedly be equipped with millimeter wave radar, infrared image mapping, laser radar, synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and the Chinese Beidou satellite guidance system, for accuracies of 1-3 meters. This missile will also incorporate the latest stealth technologies and have a supersonic terminal flight phase, with an expected range of 4,000km.

Highly-detailed, authoritative Chinese sources have shed light on the direction of China’s future cruise missile development and underscore the importance of cruise missiles in Chinese strategic thinking. One such article revealed interest in “super long range” and intercontinental cruise missiles with striking distances of 5,000 to 8,000 km and over 8,000 km, respectively. This article, a product of CASIC’s Third Academy, also revealed a strong interest in using long-range cruise missiles with a supersonic terminal phase to attack U.S. aircraft carriers, and discussed ways to defeat U.S. air defense. China has studied U.S. air defense capabilities and techniques in great detail, and is working hard on finding ways to defeat them in conjunction with the Second Academy.


China has also studied the U.S. common aero vehicle (CAV) program in great detail, and is looking at combining elements of both cruise and ballistic missile technology to develop a “Qian Xuesen Missile” for anti-ship and global strike missions. While the U.S. Navy is deeply concerned by China’s evolving ASBM program, much less attention has been paid to the role that cruise missile technology featured in the ASBM program or the fact that China is developing long-range cruise missiles such as the DH-2000 for anti-carrier strikes as well.

Recent unconfirmed Chinese reports state that the PLA Navy (PLAN) has deployed large numbers of long-range cruise missiles to the South China Sea for the purpose of “dealing with” U.S. carriers. And one Chinese journalist writing on behalf of the PLA Daily, Li Wenqi, reportedly left an interview with Third Academy researchers convinced that the success of the DH-10’s recent flight test meant that China now had a long-range, anti-carrier weapon.