FL-7

This article is about the Chinese anti-ship missile. For other uses, see FL 7 (disambiguation).

The FL-7 (Chinese: 飞龙-7) is the export version of the SY-2 missile, specifically the liquid propellant prototype of SY-2. The export variant of the solid propellant SY-2 is known as the FL-2.

FL-7
Type	anti-ship, and air-to-surface missiles
Place of origin	China
Service history
In service	late 1980s–present
Used by	China
Production history
Manufacturer	Hongdu Aviation Industry Corporation
Produced	1980s–1990s
Specifications
Mass	1.77 ton
Length	6.59 meter
Diameter	0.54 meter
Wingspan	1.86 meter
Warhead	360 kg warhead
Detonation mechanism	Semi-armor-piercing
Engine	rocket motor
Propellant	liquid fuel
Operational range	32 km
Flight altitude	5 to 50 cruising
Maximum speed	Mach 1.4
Guidance system	ARH
Launch platform	Air & ground

Development

In addition to developing the C-101 and C-301 supersonic anti-ship missiles which are fairly large in size, China has developed FL-7 (FL: Fei Long, meaning Flying Dragon) supersonic anti-ship missile which can be carried on airplanes and warships. The Feilong-7 has an effective range of 32 kilometers and a speed of Mach 1.4. It has powerful anti-jamming capability and its supersonic flight makes terminal interception difficult. The warhead of the FL-7 can pierce solid armor and destroy large and medium-sized surface warships. This missile can be roughly considered as the supersonic counterpart of the subsonic C-704 anti-ship missile. The missile is powered by a liquid fuel rocket motor and a solid rocket booster, which is under the airframe at the rear.

Along with C-101, FL-7 competed for the air-launched supersonic anti-ship missile program in China during the 1990s. However, C-101 was selected because it flies at faster speed and its range is nearly a third greater than that of FL-7, while it only weighs slightly heavier. Being the last Chinese anti-ship missile with rocket motor powered by liquid fuel, the role of FL-7 is decreasing, but not yet immediately phased out. The reason is that the Chinese coastal defense doctrine when using anti-ship missiles: multi-direction, multi-altitude, multiple waves attacks on targets with both supersonic and subsonic anti-ship missiles to make it difficult for the targets to defend itself from such saturated attacks, FL-7 is thus still have a little role to play in such saturated attacks at shorter range. However, it is safe to conclude that as newer missiles becoming widely available, the role of FL-7 would continuously decrease to its eventual retirement.

Western sources have claimed in 1996, with Chinese help in the forms of technology sales, that Iran had begun indigenous production of a medium-range anti-ship missile, based on the technologies of FL-7.

• Length: 6.59 m
• Diameter: 0.54 m
• Weight: 1,770 kg
• Wingspan: 1.86 m
• Warhead: 360 kg
• Speed: > Mach 1.4
• Range: 32 km max.
• Guidance: active radar homing seeker (Other types of seekers being developed)
• Propulsion: one liquid rocket engine with a solid rocket booster

References

• FL-7 Archived 2016-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
• FL(Feilong-7)