CJ-10

CJ-10, also associated with the DH-10 family, was developed as a Chinese long-range land-attack cruise missile for precision strikes against fixed targets. It represents a major PLA shift toward conventional strategic strike options beyond ballistic missiles. The system gives China a way to hold regional airfields, command sites, logistics hubs, and other fixed targets at risk from mobile launch platforms.

The CJ-10 family is generally described as a subsonic land-attack cruise missile with long range and a conventional payload. Mobile launchers improve survivability and allow dispersal, while cruise-missile flight profiles complicate detection compared with high-arching ballistic trajectories. The missile complements ballistic missiles by adding different routing, altitude, and attack geometry.

CJ-10-class missiles are part of China's broader regional missile inventory and are often discussed alongside other PLA conventional strike systems. Their significance is doctrinal: cruise missiles diversify the PLA's strike portfolio and complicate air-defence planning for regional opponents. For HiWars readers, CJ-10 helps explain how land-attack cruise missiles fit into China's anti-access and precision-strike strategy.