History
During the Falkland War, the Royal Air Force (RAF) used Westland Lynx to launch Sea Skua anti-ship missiles against Argentinian patrol boats. Helicopter-based anti-surface operation was seen as a viable option in any potential Taiwan Strait operation by the Chinese military industry. In the 1990s, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) Third Academy and Hongdu Aviation Industry Group (Hongdu) both initiated small anti-ship missile projects, resulting in CASIC's C-701 missile and Hongdu's TL-10 missile. Both missiles shared very similar specifications, but with a slight deviation in launch profile. The initial model of the C-701 focused on surface launch from boats, while TL-10 focused on helicopter air-launch integration.
The C-701 was first unveiled at Zhuhai Airshow 1996, featuring the first-generation TV seeker built in China.
The radar-guided C-701 was displayed by the China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC) at the 2004 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition. Although the missile was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, Iran's Aerospace Industries Organisation (AIO) claimed presented the missile as a national program. In April 2006, it was reported that radar-guided C-701s were fired during Iranian military exercises.
Jane's Defence Weekly suspected that the reason behind the similar roles, dimensions, and performance of the C-701 and TL-10 was that they were part of a competition bid intended for Iran's Kowsar missile program. Sources conflict regarding which missile variant ultimately entered service with the Iranian military; one account states that the TL-10/FL-8 and TL-6/FL-9 became the Kowsar and Nasar missiles, while another suggests that the C-701 and C-704 were the ones developed into these two systems.
The missile is sometimes called YJ-7. The YJ-7 missile features a modular seeker, such as TV/CCD, semi-active laser homing, infrared homing (IR), image infrared homing (IIR), and millimeter wave radar (mmW) homing. The seeker can combine multiple tracking modes. The C-701 was not accepted into Chinese military service.
