Place of origin China Used by China | In service 2010s to present Unit cost depends on models | |
Type anti-ship / anti-tank / air-to-surface missiles Manufacturer China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation | ||
CM501G is a Chinese land attack missile first revealed during the 9th Zhuhai Airshow held in November 2012. Developed by China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation(CASIC), CM-501G is also available in air and ship launched versions upon customers' requests, but only the land-based version made its public debut at the airshow.
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International comparisons
The CM-501G missile has been claimed by many Chinese internet sources as the Chinese equivalent of the American NLOS-LS Netfires missile or the Israeli JUMPER missile, but the Chinese missile is much larger than the two western counterparts: in comparison to the 50 to 60 kg range of western missiles, CM-501G weighs around 150 kg, almost three times the weight of Netfires or JUMPER missiles. The 70 km+ range of the CM-501G is equal to that of the Netfires missile, and is longer than the 50km range of the JUMPER missile, and the warhead of CM-501G is around 40 kg.
Guidance options
CM-501G also has more guidance options such as Satellite/INS, imaging infrared (IIR), semi-active laser homing (SAL) and in-flight updates for re-targeting if needed. The developer has claimed that the open architecture and modular design concept made the CM-501G system versatile enough to meet different financial constraints customers face by selecting different guidance systems: when budgetary constraints limit the funding, the two way data link and IIR can be replaced by cheaper SAL, and satellite guidance can be any of GPS, GLONASS, or Beidou.
Launch and command vehicles
The basic CM-501G system consists of two vehicles both based on a Shaanxi Automobile Group SX2190 6 x 6 cross country heavy duty truck. For the launching vehicle, two launcher/containers each consisting of 9 missiles in 3 x 3 arrangement are mounted in the rear, totaling 18. This is more than the 15 of Netfires but less than the 24 of JUMPER. The command vehicle can use other chassis, such as Chinese HUMVEE. When a human operator is in the loop for re-targeting after receiving the update via two-way data link, this task is completed in the command vehicle. One of the improvement programs of CM-501G is to have the command vehicle integrated with the launching vehicle, so all tasks could be in a single vehicle. Another improvement program currently underway is the addition of re-targeting capability by forward observers.
AFT-10
AFT-10 is a scaled-down version of CM-501G using the same technology. The missile is only a third weight of the CM-501G and range is drastically reduced to 10 km. AFT-10 was first revealed in its deployment in Peace Mission 2014 joint military exercise. Specification: