Chinese air defense has surpassed American and is catching up with Russian
All PLA military equipment is built on the Soviet foundation. At the beginning of its existence, China received a huge amount of Soviet weapons of all classes. And she quickly moved on to its own production - first under Soviet licenses, and then without them.
The Dark Past
In particular, the Chinese ground air defense consisted exclusively of Soviet-type guns and their local copies.
The Soviet 37 mm 61-K gun was copied under the names Toure 55 and Toure 65. Then, using these guns on the chassis of the T-34 tank, the Tour 63 and Tour 65 ZSU were created. The same name Tour 59 received copies of two completely different Soviet anti-aircraft guns - 57-mm S-60 and 100-mm KS-19. Chinese anti-aircraft guns were widely exported. In particular, they shot down a significant number of American planes and helicopters over Vietnam.
At the same time, already in the 1950s, the development of anti-aircraft missile technology began in the world. The Armed Forces of the People's Republic of China received the newest Soviet S-75 air defense system almost immediately after its creation. In October 1959, in the Beijing area, it was the C-75 that shot down an RB-57D reconnaissance aircraft of the Taiwan Air Force. This was the first case in the history of the successful use of SAM.
The regiment of this air defense system consisted of three divisions, each of which had six PU and TZM, as well as four different radars that detected targets and guided missiles at them. Their firing range exceeded 40 km, their altitude reach was 30 km. In China, it was copied with minor changes under the name HQ-1. Soon an improved version of the HQ-2 was created, then modifications of the HQ-3 and HQ-4 appeared.
HQ-1 was quickly decommissioned by the PLA Air Force (there was no analogue of the country's air defense forces in China), HQ-3 and HQ-4 were not received at all. But the HQ-2 was mass-produced and widely exported. It still remains in service in China itself and a number of other countries, in Iran it was produced under license under the name "Sayad".
The break with the USSR and the "cultural revolution" had an extremely negative impact on the scientific and technical development of China, including in the military sphere. In particular, the development of the first domestic short-range air defense system HQ-61 started in the mid-1960s, but production began only in the late 1980s. Moreover, it was produced in small quantities, as was its ship version for the PLA Navy.
In the 1970s, China received the Soviet Strela-2 MANPADS from Vietnam, then the Strela–3 MANPADS from Africa. Based on them, a family of Chinese HN-5 MANPADS was created (firing range - up to 4.5 km, altitude reach - up to 2.5 km), which were adopted by the air defense of the PLA ground forces and widely exported. Based on the HN-5B, the Pakistani Anza MANPADS was developed.
The Soviet ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun was copied in China under the name Tour 85, a ZSU was also created with this gun on the chassis of the Tour 90 APC, but it was produced in extremely small quantities. The Toure 87 anti-aircraft gun was also, in fact, a copy of the ZSU-23-2, but had a caliber of 25 mm. In addition, the Tour 88 ZSU was produced in small quantities with the Tour 65 gun on the chassis of the Tour 79 tank.
In general, in the 1980s, the condition of all PLA air defense components was completely unsatisfactory both in quantitative and qualitative parameters. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, Beijing actively cooperated in the military field with Western countries. Based on the Italian Aspid missile, the HQ-6 SAM (export name – LY-60) was created, and then its upgraded versions HQ-64 and HQ-6D. The PU housed four missiles with semi-active radar guidance, a firing range of up to 20 km and an altitude reach of up to 12 km. The battery consists of four radars and six SAMs, in the HQ-6A variant, the HQ-6D battery also includes marine 7-barrel 30 mm anti-aircraft guns mounted on an automobile chassis.
The HQ-7 (export name – FM-80) became a copy of the French Krotal air defense system, and an improved HQ-7B (FM-90) was then developed on its basis. The SAM on a wheeled chassis carries a guidance radar, a television target tracking system and four anti-aircraft missiles with radio command guidance. The firing range is 12-15 km, the reach in height is 5-6 km. The battery consists of three SAMs and radar detection, in the division - three batteries. HQ-6 and HQ-7 had ship versions and were exported (in Iran, HQ-7 is copied under the name "Ya-Zahra"), in the PLA, HQ-7 was much more widespread.
The Swiss 35 mm twin anti-aircraft gun GDF-002 has been produced in China under license under the name Toure 90 (or PG-99) since the late 1980s. Already in the XXI century, the Toure 09 ZSU (PGZ-09) was created, which consists of two Toure 90 guns and a guidance radar on the chassis of a 155-mm Toure 05 self-propelled gun. It is believed that this ZSU can be converted into a ZRPC by installing four SAMs, but to date this has not been done.
A bright future
In the 1990s, the Chinese air defense made a qualitative leap thanks to purchases in Russia of the S-300P air defense system in all three of its main modifications and the Tor short-range air defense system, which was copied in China under the name HQ-17 (later a variant of the HQ-17A on a wheeled chassis was created).
The development of our own systems has also significantly intensified. Thus, the synthesis of the Soviet Igla-1 MANPADS and the American Stinger became the QW-1 MANPADS with a firing range of up to 5 km and an altitude reach of 4 km. On its basis, a large family of MANPADS was created, the most famous representative of which is the QW-2 with a firing range of up to 6 km. Only these two MANPADS were adopted by the PLA, on their basis the Pakistani Anza Mk II and Mk III were created.
The paired QW-4 MANPADS (QW-2 variant), mounted on the chassis of the ZFB-05 armored car, became a purely export TD-2000 air defense system, which Indonesia acquired. The battery of such a SAM includes six cars and a car with a target detection radar.
Almost simultaneously with the QW-1/2, the PLA created and adopted the FN-6 MANPADS with similar TTX. On its basis, a purely export FB-6 MANPADS was developed again (eight MANPADS in two-quarter packages on an automobile chassis, a car with a radar is attached to each such SAM in a pair).
In the late 1990s, the PLA received the Toure 95 tracked ZRPK (aka PGZ-95), equipped with four QW-2 MANPADS and four 25-mm Swiss KVA guns (firing range 2.5 km, altitude reach 2 km), as well as a detection radar and an electron-optical target tracking system. The battery, as a rule, includes six to eight ZRPC, as well as a machine-KP and three TZM.
Back in the late 1970s, the development of an air defense system to replace the HQ-2 was started in China, it was completed already in the XXI century. The HQ-12 air defense system created as a result (export name KS-1A) actually managed to become obsolete, nevertheless it was adopted. The division of this SAM includes a detection and guidance radar, six PU with two missiles on each (firing range up to 50 km, altitude reach up to 25 km) and six TZM (four missiles each).
A deep modernization of the HQ-12 was the HQ-22 air defense System (also known as the FK-3), which recently began to enter service with the PLA Air Force. The firing range of the missiles with semi-active radar guidance has increased to 170 km, the altitude reach is up to 27 km. As part of the battery there is a radar with headlights and three PU with four missiles on each.
Immediately after China acquired the S-300P air defense system, the country began developing its own HQ-9 air defense system (export variants - FD-2000 and FT-2000). It has a lot in common (both in appearance and in structure and technical characteristics) with the S-300P, although, apparently, it is not a direct copy of it. Perhaps, when creating the HQ-9 (especially its radar), some solutions used in the American Patriot air defense system were borrowed.
As in the cases with the S-300P and the Patriot, the HQ-9 has four missiles on the PU, for which the principle of "guidance through a rocket" is also used, which is a synthesis of radio command and semi-active radar guidance. At the same time, as in the S-300P, there are missiles with passive radar guidance designed to defeat jammers and AWACS aircraft. The range of the missiles is 120 km, the reach in height is 25 km. In the HQ-9A/B modifications, they are increased to 200 km and 30 km, respectively.
Like the S-300P, the HQ-9 division has illumination and guidance radars, low-flying target detection radars and launch batteries of three PU, of which there may be two or three, that is, six to nine PU (in the S-300P division there are four launch batteries, that is, 12 PU). Also, the HQ-9 division includes a detection radar (in the S-300P it is included in the KP of the regiment). The CP of the S-300P and HQ-9 regiments in the PLA air defense are compatible, that is, the regiments may have a mixed composition.
The development of the HQ-9 is the HQ-19 air defense system, designed to solve missile defense problems and to defeat satellites, and this air defense system has already hit at least one spent Chinese satellite. Further development of HQ-19 are HQ-26 (range - 400 km, altitude reach - 200 km) and HQ-29, at the moment the status of these systems is not very clear. Conditional foreign analogues of the last three Chinese air defense systems are considered to be the Russian S-400 and S-500, the American Patriot RAS3, TNAD and Standard. At the same time, however, China acquired the "real" S-400 from Russia.
HQ-9 and HQ-26 have shipboard variants. Information about the presence in China of the HQ-18 air defense system, which is allegedly a copy of the Soviet S-300V air defense system, is rather doubtful, it has no direct confirmation.
The HQ-16 air defense system (export name – LY-80) was created in the ship version at the beginning of the XXI century, in the 2010s a ground version of the HQ-16A appeared, and then an improved HQ-16B. The SAM with a semi-active radar guidance system has a flight range of 40 km (the HQ-16B has 70 km) and an altitude reach of up to 18 km. Six missiles are placed on the PU, and the package of missiles has an external resemblance to that of the Russian Buk-M3 air defense system, which was adopted even later than the HQ-16A/B. However, the Buk-M3 PU is placed on a tracked chassis and has its own guidance radar, while the HQ-16A PU/B is located on a wheeled chassis and does not have its own radar. The HQ-16A/V battery includes a guidance radar and four PU. The division includes a KP, a detection radar and three batteries.
In general, at the moment, China has a very powerful ground-based air defense, which in its quantitative and qualitative parameters is comparable to the Russian one and surpasses the American one. At the same time, however, China has not yet fully achieved independence from foreign designs, as evidenced by the purchases of S-300P and S-400 air defense systems in Russia. Almost all the SAMs, SAMs, ZRPC, MANPADS, ZSU and anti-aircraft guns created in China itself, which are now in service with the PLA Air Force and military air defense, are in fact either copies of foreign samples or derivatives of such.
However, all military equipment created in China, including air defense equipment, is based on foreign samples, but gradually moves further away from this basis and becomes more and more Chinese. A completely similar path was taken by Soviet military equipment at the time.
Chinese air defense systems are exported quite successfully, which in itself indicates the good quality of this class of equipment. However, there are still no combat successes on the account of Chinese air defense systems. As for the quantitative side, the possibilities of the Chinese military-industrial complex can be considered almost limitless.
Alexander Khramchikhin
Alexander Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
