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CM-400AKG becomes Pakistan's 'Carrier Killer'
November 16, 2012

By Robert Hewson

* The weapon has been Described as the PAF's 'carrier killer'
* A Chinese-developed new very-high-speed missile has been fielded by the PAF

Pakistan has fielded a new very-high-speed long-range air-launched missile That senior officers in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Have Described as "an aircraft carrier killer".

The CM-400AKG Mach 4 is a plus-capable air-to-surface weapon Developed in China and now in service with JF-17 aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force. (Robert Hewson) The weapon, Designated CM-400AKG, was designed and Developed in China by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) and was Revealed at Airshow China 2012, held in Zhuhai from November 13 to 19.

The CM-400AKG is now part of the operational weapon set of the PAF's JF-17 Thunder multirole fighter. "This is a mature weapon has been fully tested That. It is not conceptual. It is in service," Air Commodore Khalid Mahmood, PAF JF-17 Deputy Project Director stated. "The CM-400AKG is a very high-speed missile that is very Difficult to intercept. It hits the target at Mach 4 or above and its kinetic impact alone is enough to destroy any high-value target, like an aircraft carrier."

The CM-400AKG Appeared first, briefly, in public at last year's Dubai Airshow, When a placard for the weapon was Placed alongside to PAF JF-17 - and then removed. The weapon itself was not shown. At the time it was Acknowledged PAF personnel to new Chinese-built air-to-surface stand-off missile. However, the initial assumption That It was a derivative of the C-802 anti-ship missile has PROVED to be very wide of the mark.

The CM-400 is 400AKG kg solid-rocket-powered weapon That Can be Fitted with Either a penetrator or blast / fragmentation warhead. It is a fire-and-forget precision-guided weapon That Can be Fitted with several options seeker, Which are Understood to include an active radar seeker and an imaging infrared seeker with target-recognition (TR) capabilities. PAF sources say the missile can be pre-programmed with digital imagery highly needed for attacks against fixed sites in TR mode, but it can be retargeted in flight Also by using the radar seeker option.

The range of the CM-400AKG is Understood to be in the 180-250 km class. It is designed for use against fixed or what Were Described as "slow moving" targets. Data Indicates That CASIC launch after the CM-400AKG climbs to high altitude and Terminates with a high-speed dive on the target. The PAF describe the missile's impact velocity as "hypersonic".

Both CASIC and the PAF note the CM-400AKG That Has Been Developed As A JF-17 weapon. The PAF currently has two squadrons of approximately 36 JF-17s operational. A ten or eleven aircraft Further Have Been Delivered and a third squadron will be Established early next year.

Source: Jane's Defence Weekly