CJ - 1 CJ - 1 ( ) is a Chinese development of Russian 91RE1 anti - submarine missile . As China imported the ASW and land attack versions of SS - N - 27 , Chinese military was satisfied with the performance but not the price . It was too costly to import every single version of SS - N - 27 so China decided to develop its own versions based on two versions imported , and CJ - 1 is developed from the solid rocket powered 91RE1 model of SS - N - 27 . Norinco was assigned as the contractor to develop the Chinese improvement of 91RE1 , and the first improvement was to overcome the deployment limitation . The original Russian weapon can only be deployed on Russian Kilo class submarine s , and cannot be deployed on the newly built domestic Chinese submarines with fire control system based on western origin . The Chinese version is also built to Chinese GJV289A standard , the Chinese equivalent of MIL - STD - 1553 B , so that the weapon can be deployed on both the Russian and western origins . The second improvement shared by all models of the Chinese version is the incorporation of modular design concept so that a variety of payload can be carried . CJ - 1 ASW weapon . This is the first member of the Chinese version developed from 91RE1 . The main improvement is that in addition to the original Russian light torpedo carried in 91RE1 , a variety of western light torpedoes and domestic Chinese light torpedoes based on western origin can be carried . The need for such improvement is because despite having much higher speed , the range of the Russian light torpedo such as APR - 3E torpedo is too short . In contrast , western light torpedoes and their Chinese derivatives would have more than three times the range of their Russian counterparts , despite the slower speed they have . Although dubbed as an ASW missile , CJ - 1 ASW weapon is not an ASW missile as it is often erroneously referred , because one of the requirements for a missile is to have guidance in its flight , and this is not exactly what CJ - 1 ASW weapon has . The missile is fired into the general direction of the target submarine with only rather limited inertial guidance , and the true guidance does not kick in until after the payload , namely , the torpedo has entered water . As a result , the official Chinese term of Rocket propelled ( ASW ) torpedo is a more accurate description for this weapon , and the developer classify the weapon somewhere between a fully guided missile and an unguided rocket ( though closer to the missile than to the rocket ) . When the payload is a depth charge instead of a torpedo , the weapon is referred as ( long range ) ASW rocket . The depth charge that is much smaller in size and weight would also enable the maximum range of the missile to be extended by 60 % to 80 km . Specifications : CJ - 1 AShM . Instead of importing submarine - launched anti - ship models of SS - N - 27 from Russia , China has developed its own version . To simplify logistics and to reduce operational costs , the anti - ship version is developed from the solid rocket powered CJ - 1 ASW weapon , instead of the original turbojet powered Russian version . A variety of seekers are developed for CJ - 1 AShM , including radar , imaging infrared , and TV while the flight path of the missile is modified to have a sea - skimming capability . The warhead comes in a variety of size , with the largest weighing around half a ton . Specifications : The advantage of having CJ - 1 AShM is that while having similar range in comparison to C - 801 that is also powered by solid rocket motor , the warhead of CJ - 1 AShM is more than four times larger , while when armed with smaller warhead , the range of CJ - 1 AShM can be extended to over 60 % to 80 km . The same advantage of CJ - 1 AShM has over C - 801 also holds in comparison to the turbojet powered C - 802 , and additionally , the solid rocket powered CJ - 1 has another great advantage in that it is much easier and cheaper to maintain . According to Russian claims , 91RE1 can be put away and stored for three years , and this advantage is inherited in its Chinese upgrade . In contrast , any turbojet powered missile would require periodic maintenance in storage , thus increasing the cost .