China confirms YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship missile now launches from Type 052D destroyers, expanding capable fleet from 10 to about 45 ships
China's YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship missile can now launch from Type 052D destroyers, not just the rarer Type 055 class, CCTV footage aired July 30 showed. That takes PLAN ships able to fire it from about 10 to roughly 45, per Reuters and naval analysts.
China has confirmed for the first time that its YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship missile can be launched from Type 052D guided-missile destroyers, not only the larger Type 055 class it had previously been linked to. State broadcaster CCTV aired footage of the launch on July 30, part of a documentary trailer marking the People's Liberation Army's 99th anniversary on August 1. Reuters and specialist naval outlets including The War Zone and the South China Morning Post confirmed the wider rollout. The footage shows the missile ejecting cold from a forward vertical launch cell before its booster ignites, a launch method compatible with China's standard shipboard vertical launch system used across its destroyer fleet. China currently operates about 35 Type 052D destroyers alongside roughly 10 Type 055s. That detail matters beyond the hardware demonstration. Before this confirmation, only the ten-strong Type 055 fleet was known to carry the YJ-20. Extending it to the far more numerous Type 052D class raises the number of Chinese warships capable of firing a hypersonic anti-ship strike from about 10 to roughly 45. Any US or allied naval task force operating in the Indo-Pacific now has to account for a much larger pool of ships that can threaten it with hypersonic weapons, not just the smaller high-end squadron it previously had to track.