Anti-aircraft missile systems of Pakistan
Pakistan is one of a limited number of countries that have anti-aircraft missiles on permanent combat duty. missile medium- and long-range systems with anti-missile capabilities. In addition, the arsenal includes a significant number of short-range SAMs and MANPADS.
The Pakistani air defense forces operate medium- and long-range missile systems made in China and Italy. But the troops also have MANPADS manufactured in the USA and Sweden, as well as French self-propelled short-range air defense systems.
As far as possible, the Pakistani military-political leadership is trying to independently modernize existing systems. Defense, to establish domestic production of modern anti-aircraft systems or at least their components. The main partner in this matter is China.
Self-propelled short-range air defense systems
The events of the Indian-Pakistani wars demonstrated that a rapid-fire small-caliber anti-aircraft gun alone artillery unable to protect targets from surprise attacks by jet fighter-bombers. In connection with this, in the late 1970s, Pakistan agreed with France to purchase mobile short-range Crotale air defense systems.
For that time, the Krotal was a very advanced mobile military air defense system, which in its characteristics approximately corresponded to the Soviet Osa-AK air defense system. However, in the Soviet complex all elements were placed on one floating chassis, while in the French one two separate wheeled vehicles were used: a combat control point with an airspace viewing radar and a self-propelled launcher with guidance equipment.
The Crotale complex, launched into mass production in 1972, could be mounted on a wheeled or tracked chassis, as well as on a towed trailer. The fire platoon consisted of a combat control point and 2-3 launchers.
The combat control point carried out a review of the airspace, target detection and identification of its nationality using the Mirador-IV pulse-Doppler radar. This station was capable of detecting low-flying targets at a range of up to 18 km. Target data was transmitted to self-propelled launchers. Each SPU has a missile guidance station and 4 TPKs with missiles with radio command guidance with radar or optical direction finding. The guidance station can track one target and point at it simultaneously up to two missiles with a launch range of 10 km and an altitude reach of 5 km. The target acquisition range is up to 17 km.
By the mid-1980s, more than a hundred self-propelled command posts and launchers on wheeled chassis were delivered to Pakistan, which were combined into six air defense divisions. The Crotal short-range air defense systems were subordinate to the Air Force Command; in peacetime, individual batteries provided cover for large air bases, and in wartime they were considered as an operational, highly mobile air defense reserve.
In the 1990s, Crotale complexes existing in Pakistan were overhauled and modernized at the production facilities of the Pakistani state concern GIDS. In addition to the French company Thomson-CSF, Chinese specialists took part in the work.
The Chinese became thoroughly familiar with these French air defense systems back in the mid-1980s, after which the PLA entered service with a “Sinicized” version of the Crotal, known as the HQ-7.
HQ-7 anti-aircraft missile
A modified export version of the Chinese HQ-7B air defense system, offered to foreign buyers under the designation FM-90, was demonstrated in Pakistan during the parade on March 23, 2015.
The modernized HQ-7B air defense system uses a battery combat control center equipped with a phased array radar (detection range 25 km), and the maximum missile launch range is increased to 15 km.
Also, the jamming immunity and probability of destruction have been significantly increased. According to information published at international arms exhibitions, in a simple jamming environment at a range of 12 km, the probability of destroying a MiG-21 type target flying at a speed of 900 km/h with a two-missile salvo is 0,95.
Currently, Chinese FM-90 air defense systems have largely replaced French Crotale air defense systems in Pakistani air defense combat units. According to estimates published in India, the troops may have at least 120 self-propelled launchers. For combat duty to protect stationary objects, one of the division’s three fire batteries is allocated from the anti-aircraft missile division on a rotational basis. The duration of duty is 10 days.
Medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems
The first Pakistani medium-range air defense missile system put on combat duty was the Chinese HQ-2B. Pakistan bought several complexes of this modification, which were deployed in the vicinity of the cities of Islamabad and Karachi, as well as in the area of the Kushab nuclear facility.
In China, based on the Soviet S-75 air defense system, several of its own versions of the HQ-2 were developed and put into service, differing in the characteristics of anti-aircraft missiles and guidance station equipment.
In the second half of the 1980s, based on elements of the S-75M Volga air defense system received from Egypt, the PRC created the HQ-2B, which was produced with self-propelled tracked and towed launchers.
In terms of its capabilities, this Chinese complex comes close to the Soviet S-75M Volga air defense system. However, Chinese designers failed to achieve the range and noise immunity characteristics of the late modification of the S-75M3 Volkhov air defense system with the B-759 (5YA23) missile system. The maximum firing range of the HQ-2B missile is 36 km.
As of December 2022, one HQ-2B division was still deployed 20 km south of Islamabad. In satellite images taken at the beginning of 2024, this complex is no longer here.
Google Earth satellite image: HQ-2B air defense system in a position south of Islamabad. Photo taken in December 2022
Until recently, Chinese-made first-generation single-channel systems with radio command missiles fueled with liquid fuel and a caustic oxidizer were the only Pakistani medium-range air defense systems capable of fighting air targets at an altitude of more than 20 km. Currently, all HQ-2B air defense systems in Pakistan have been decommissioned and replaced by multi-channel mobile systems HQ-9 and HQ-16.
The existing HQ-2B air defense systems protected very limited areas, and in the late 1990s, due to the growing strike potential of the Indian Air Force, the leadership of the Pakistani military department raised the question of the need to strengthen ground-based air defense with additional medium-range systems.
By that time, the People's Republic of China had developed an improved HQ-2J air defense system with a multifunctional radar with AFAR N-200, which differed from the HQ-2B available in Pakistan in improved noise immunity and an increase in the number of simultaneously fired targets to three units. However, despite the increase in combat characteristics, the inherent shortcomings of the Chinese air defense system have not gone away. The complex, the main technical solutions of which were based on the design of the late 1950s, was still complex, time-consuming and expensive to operate; There also remained restrictions regarding the shelling of low-altitude targets.
The Chinese HQ-61 air defense system, built on the basis of a licensed Italian solid-propellant missile Aspide Mk.1 and produced in a small quantity, was in trial operation, had big problems with reliability and required fine-tuning. In fact, at that time, China did not have the opportunity to offer Pakistan an inexpensive, modern and effective medium-range air defense system.
A quarter of a century ago, Pakistani representatives were asking the price of self-propelled air defense systems of the Buk family; Ukraine and Russia were considered as potential suppliers. The Pakistanis refused a deal with Ukraine due to the fact that this country could not guarantee proper maintenance of the Soviet-made Buk-M1 complexes; in addition, there was no production of anti-aircraft missiles in Ukraine, and they would have to turn to Russia to replenish the ammunition.
Taking into account the close political and economic ties, as well as the already concluded large Russian-Indian weapons contracts, Moscow did not want to spoil relations with New Delhi for the sake of a one-time delivery of modern air defense systems to Pakistan.
The Norwegian-American NASAMS air defense system, created by the American company Raytheon and the Norwegian Kongsberg to replace the aging MIM-23B I-Hawk complex, was also considered as a possible option in Pakistan. But the sale of NASAMS at that time was impossible due to the arms embargo imposed by Washington in response to Pakistani nuclear tests, since the most important element of the complex are American-made AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles.
As a result, a solution was found in the form of the purchase of the Italian SPADA 2000 Plus air defense system. After lengthy negotiations and fierce bargaining, a contract worth 2007 million euros was signed in 415. This included the supply of 10 anti-aircraft batteries (each with two firing sections of two launchers), 750 anti-aircraft missiles and the construction of two workshops for repair, adjustment and routine maintenance of technical equipment, electronic equipment and missiles.
The first anti-aircraft battery was transferred to the Pakistani armed forces in 2010. The Italian company Selenia Industrie Elettroniche Associate (currently part of the MBDA concern) fulfilled all provisions of the contract by 2014.
SPADA 2000 Plus is not the most advanced, but quite effective air defense system for target air defense. Structurally, it is based on solutions implemented in the 1970s in the Skyguard-Sparrow missile and artillery complex, which also included 35-mm Oerlikon GDF anti-aircraft guns, and a modified aviation AIM-7 Sparrow missile. In the early 1980s, in Italy, based on the Skyguard-Sparrow, the SPADA air defense system was created, to which the Aspide-1A missile defense system was used, which was an Italian version of the AIM-7 Sparrow.
The capabilities of the SPADA 2000 Plus air defense system have been expanded through the use of the new Aspide 2000 anti-aircraft missile and modern hardware.
To detect air targets, the SPADA 2000 Plus air defense system uses the RAC-3D mobile radar (detection radius up to 100 km), capable of simultaneously tracking up to 100 targets and providing target designation for 4 targets. To expand the capabilities of working against low-altitude targets, the surveillance radar antenna is raised on a mast to a height of up to 13 m.
In addition to detection and target designation, station operators also coordinate the interaction of up to 10 anti-aircraft missile and artillery batteries. Thanks to high automation and the use of advanced communication and display equipment, the station is controlled by two people. The command post communicates with the firing sections using two radio links and can be located at a distance of up to 5 km.
The SPADA 2000 Plus air defense system has two firing sections, each with a guidance station and two launchers with six Aspide 2000 missiles ready to fire.
The complex is air transportable and can be transported by C-130 transport aircraft. Autonomous power supply is provided by mobile diesel generators with a capacity of 75 kW. All elements of the air defense system are transported by road.
The Aspide 2000 missile defense system is an improved version of the Aspide-1A and also has semi-active radar guidance. When loaded, the rocket weighs 241 kg, and the largest diameter of the body in the engine area is 0,234 m. The maximum flight speed of the rocket exceeds 2,5 Mach, and it can maneuver with an overload of up to 9 g.
Compared to the previous version, the capabilities for working in conditions of organized interference have been significantly improved. A fragmentation warhead weighing 35 kg ensures hitting a target with a miss of up to 7 m. The firing range is more than 25 km. Height reach – 10 km.
The fire section control center is located in a separate van, connected to the launchers by cable lines and can be located at a distance of up to 100 m from them.
The Falco Plus illumination and tracking station operates in the frequency range 8000 – 10 MHz. If necessary, it is possible to work in target detection mode, performing circular or sector scanning of airspace at a distance of more than 000 km.
The antenna can be rotated in azimuth by 360°, in elevation from 0 to 70°. The Falco Plus radar is also equipped with an electro-optical system designed to operate without turning on the radar tracking mode, which increases noise immunity and stealth.
The first SPADA 2000 Plus battery was deployed at Chaklala Air Base outside Islamabad in 2011. Currently, complexes of this type cover the air bases of Jacobabad, Kahuta, Kamra, Karachi, Sargodha, as well as the Kushab nuclear facility. High-ranking representatives of the Pakistan Air Force stated that due to the high mobility of the SPADA 2000 Plus air defense system, it can be deployed in any part of the country within XNUMX hours.
In 2011, the PLA entered service with a new medium-range air defense system, the HQ-16A. During its creation, Russian developments in the Buk air defense system were used. Externally, the missile defense system used in the HQ-16A strongly resembles the Soviet 9M38M1.
The missile with a semi-active radar guidance system weighs 615 kg and has a length of 5,2 m. The maximum firing range in the first version was 40 km, the speed was up to 1200 m/s.
All elements of the HQ-16 are placed on the Taian TA5350 all-terrain wheeled chassis, and the missile is launched vertically from a sealed transport and launch container. The anti-aircraft missile battalion can travel on paved roads at a speed of 85 km/h, with a cruising range of up to 1000 km.
Unlike the Russian military complexes of the Buk family, the Chinese HQ-16 is better suited for long-term combat duty while covering stationary targets. Thus, conceptually the HQ-16 air defense system is closer to the military Buk-M1, capable of moving off-road in the same column with tanks and BPM, but to the latest Russian S-350 air defense system, intended to replace the S-300PS.
The main purpose of the HQ-16A air defense system is to combat tactical and carrier-based aircraft; special attention was paid to the possibility of hitting low-altitude air targets with minimal RCS. This Chinese air defense system can intercept an air target flying at an altitude of 15 m to 18 km. The probability of hitting one missile for cruise missiles flying at an altitude of 50 meters at a speed of 300 m/s is 0,6, for a MiG-21 type target at the same speed and altitude of 3-7 km - the probability of hitting reaches 0,85. In the improved modification HQ-16B, the maximum launch range against subsonic targets flying in the altitude range of 7-12 km has been increased to 70 km. They write that the HQ-16B air defense system is capable of combating ballistic operational-tactical missiles, but the OTR destruction zone does not exceed 15 km.
The HQ-16A air defense system battery includes 4 launchers (6 missiles per TPK) and a missile illumination and guidance station with a target acquisition range of up to 80 km. The actions of anti-aircraft batteries are controlled from the divisional command post, which receives information from a three-dimensional all-round radar with a detection range of up to 150 km. There are three fire batteries in the division. The anti-aircraft division's ammunition load is 72 ready-to-use missiles.
Negotiations on the supply of an export modification of the HQ-16A, known as LY-80, between Pakistan and China began in 2014.
The first elements of the complex arrived in Pakistan in 2017. The Pakistani LY-80 air defense system was publicly shown in 2018.
Google Earth satellite image: elements of the LY-80 air defense system at an air defense base in the suburbs of Karachi. Photo taken in January 2018
In 2019, live firing took place at a training ground near Karachi, during which several radio-controlled targets were hit, after which the LY-80 air defense system was officially recognized as combat ready and put on combat duty. According to statements by the Pakistani military, one LY-80 battery is capable of covering an area of 8000 km².
Google Earth satellite image: elements of the LY-80 air defense system at an air defense base in the suburbs of Karachi. Photo taken in November 2022
In 2021, Pakistan acquired another division of the LY-80EV air defense system (export version of the HQ-16B) with a firing range of more than 70 km.
Long range air defense system
Until recently, the Pakistan Air Force command did not have at its disposal an air defense system with a firing range of more than 100 km. Such anti-aircraft systems are primarily necessary to counter AWACS and electronic reconnaissance aircraft.
Islamabad had no options other than to buy a long-range air defense system from China. Other suppliers refused due to political differences and reluctance to spoil relations with India.
In 2015, detailed discussions about the deal began, and the delivery itself took place in the first half of 2021.
The official event for the adoption of the Chinese-made HQ-9Р air defense system took place on October 14, 2021 at an air defense base in the suburbs of Karachi. Prior to this, Pakistani crews were trained at a Chinese training center in Kunming (Yunnan Province).
The creation of the HQ-9 air defense system in China began in the mid-1980s and accelerated sharply in the 1990s, after Chinese specialists became thoroughly familiar with the Russian S-300PMU air defense system (export version of the S-300PS).
The first HQ-9 complex in the PLA appeared more than 20 years ago, and currently this anti-aircraft system plays an important role in the Chinese air defense system. As of 2022, more than 20 HQ-9 divisions were deployed in China.
At the same time, it cannot be considered that the Chinese complex is a copy of the S-300PMU. Chinese intelligence made a significant contribution to the creation of the HQ-9. Thus, American experts write about the similarity of the multifunctional Chinese HT-233 radar with the American AN / MPQ-53 radar, which is part of the Patriot air defense system. At the same time, there is no doubt that the designers of the China Academy of Defense Technology looked at a number of technical solutions from the Soviet system. The first modification of the HQ-9 used command-guided missiles with radar sighting through the missile. Correction commands are transmitted on board the missile via a two-way radio channel by an illumination and guidance radar. The same scheme was used in the 5V55R anti-aircraft missiles supplied to China.
Like the S-300PMU, the Chinese HQ-9 air defense system uses a vertical launch without first turning the launcher towards the target. In terms of composition and operating principle, the HQ-9 air defense system is also similar to the Russian anti-aircraft system. In addition to the multifunctional tracking and guidance radar and mobile command post, the division includes the Type 120 low-altitude detector and the Type 305B search radar, created on the basis of the YLC-2 standby radar. The HQ-9 launcher is made on a four-axle Taian TA-5380 chassis and externally resembles the Russian S-300PS.
In total, an anti-aircraft missile division can have up to nine self-propelled launchers, but usually there are six. Thus, the ready-to-use ammunition load is 24 missiles. The HT-233 fire control radar is capable of simultaneously tracking up to 100 targets and firing at 6 of them, targeting 2 missiles at each.
According to advertising data announced during aerospace shows and weapons exhibitions, the first modifications of the HQ-9 air defense system used a rocket weighing 1300 kg, with a warhead mass of 180 kg. The maximum missile speed is 4,2 M. The firing range of the improved HQ-9B complex exceeds 200 km. The export version of the HQ-9P (FD-2000), delivered to Pakistan, has a firing range of 125 km. Height reach – up to 25 km. According to the developer, the system is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles within a radius of up to 25 km. Deployment time from the march is about 6 minutes, reaction time is 12-15 seconds.
Elements of the HQ-9R air defense system were demonstrated at a military parade held in Islamabad on March 23, 2022.
It is not known how much Pakistan paid for the HQ-9R divisional kit, as well as for anti-aircraft missiles and personnel training. But on the foreign market, China is asking for more than $400 million for this complex and related services. It is possible that, taking into account the close political, economic and military ties, Chinese air defense systems are supplied to Islamabad at a large discount or on credit.
Indian authors covering China-Pakistan defense cooperation write that Beijing is interested in strengthening the combat capabilities of the Pakistani air force and air defense. In this regard, we can expect new Chinese-made air defense systems to appear in Pakistan in the future.
To be continued ...
Articles from this series:
Pakistan air defense system. Radar airspace control equipment
Pakistan's air defense system: anti-aircraft machine gun and artillery installations
Legacy of the Afghan War: Pakistani MANPADS
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