The C-802 is the export upgraded version of the Chinese anti-ship missile YJ-8 (Chinese: 鹰击-8, literally "Eagle Strike"; NATO reporting name: CSS-N-8 Saccade), first unveiled in 1989 by the China Haiying Electro-Mechanical Technology Academy (CHETA), also known as the Third Academy. Due to the Yingji-82 missile's small radar reflectivity, low attack flight path (only five to seven meters above the sea surface) and strong anti-jamming capability of its guidance system, target ships have a very small chance of intercepting the missile. The single shot hit probability of the Yingji-82 is unknown, though one unreferenced source claims it to be as high as 98%. The Yingji-82 can be launched from airplanes, surface ships, submarines and land-based vehicles.
It is commonly misunderstood even in China that C-802 is the export version of YJ-82 (Chinese: 鹰击-82) but actually YJ-82 is the submarine-borne version of YJ-8 and it never was exported.
The C-802 anti-ship missile was derived from the Chinese YJ-8 (C-801) with extended range. The YJ-82 is externally similar to the YJ-8, and has the same solid-propellant rocket booster and guidance system as the YJ-8. The most distinctive difference on the YJ-82 is that it employs a turbojet with paraffin (kerosene)-based fuel to replace the original solid rocket engine. For this reason the fuselage was extended to accommodate the extra fuel. The maximum range of the missile has also been extended from the original 40 km (or 80 km for YJ-81/C-801A) to 120 km.