Skip to main content

China's Air Defences get mobile and multiply


The air defence systems on display at Airshow China in November showed a strong emphasis on deployable, multi-functional weapons with the export market firmly in mind.
Several new design approaches were in evidence as China's range of mobile and man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS) continues to expand.




Alongside the existing QW-18 shoulder-launched missile, details were given of an improved QW-18A with new electric servo control actuators for improved guidance and flight characteristics plus a laser proximity fuze not found on the earlier QW-18. Data from manufacturer China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) indicated that the QW-18A may have an imaging infra-red seeker, which it describes as "temperature-comparing discrimination".

A new CASIC MANPADS weapon, the QW-19, was also shown. It had all the enhanced performance features attributed to the QW-18A, including a new grip design (SK-19) with a revised battery and cooling system. It is possible that the data for the QW-18A was released in error and actually refers to the missile designated QW-19.


A new variant of the QW-18 was fitted to the brand new FL-19 vehicle-mounted terminal air defence weapon system. The FL-19 has six single-shot missile tubes with an integral electro-optical (EO) target detection and tracking unit, all mounted on the rear section of an armoured light truck.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF

Pakistani F-16s Shoot Down RAF Eurofighter Typhoons During Air Combat Exercises In Turkey

Pakistani pilots flying modernised versions of the 1970s-vintage F-16 Falcon fighter have beaten the RAF's brand-new Eurofighter Typhoon superfighters during air combat exercises in Turkey, according to a Pakistani officer. Analysis: The RAF Typhoon, formerly known as the Eurofighter, should nonetheless have been vastly superior in air-to-air combat whether BVR or close in within visual range (WVR). The cripplingly expensive, long-delayed Eurofighter was specifically designed to address the defects of its predecessor the Tornado F3 – famously almost useless in close-in, dogfighting-style air combat. The Typhoon was meant to see off such deadly in-close threats as Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers" using short-range missiles fired using helmet-mounted sight systems: such planes were thought well able to beat not just Tornados but F-16s in close fighting, and this expectation was borne out after the Cold War when the Luftwaffe inherite

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.