Author: Rainbow Kursk
On May 1, Serbia unveiled the Chinese FK-3 surface-to-air missile system in a high profile.
According to reports, in order to be able to transport the FK-3 surface-to-air missile system to Serbia, 22 sorties of Y-20 strategic transport aircraft were even used, so that the world can once again see the increasingly powerful long-range strategic mobility capability of our army. Serbian President Vucic said Chinese friends gave the best price.
Pictured: FK-3 surface-to-air missile system on a tilting launcher, with the Russian-made "Armor" short-range air defense system escorting it on one side.
The FK-3 surface-to-air missile system is a foreign trade export version of the Hongqi-22 surface-to-air missile system. It is reported that a set of FK-3 air defense missile systems includes 6 4-part launch vehicles, 1 warning radar vehicle, 1 target indication, search and fire control radar, 1 command vehicle, as well as technical maintenance vehicles and mechanical maintenance vehicles.
The missile has a range of 5-100 kilometers, uses oblique launch, the radar can track 12 targets, and can launch attacks on the 6 most threatening of them, known as China's "Patriot" missile.
Picture: The FK-3 surface-to-air missile with a tilted launcher is very different from the vertical launch of the mainland's medium- and long-range surface-to-air missiles.
The Hongqi-22 surface-to-air missile system is another medium- and long-range surface-to-air missile system developed after the Hongqi-9, which is based on the Hongqi-12 missile.
The missile has an operational oblique distance (range) of 5 to 100 kilometers, an altitude of 50 to 27,000 meters, and a composite guidance system of radio command + semi-active radar seeking, and a full-course command dual-mode guidance system. It can operate all-weather, can fight in complex electromagnetic environments, mainly used for regional, important and field air defense, intercepting various fixed-wing aircraft, cruise missiles, tactical air-to-ground missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and other targets. One fire unit (battalion) uses a fire control radar to guide 12 missiles to intercept 6 targets.
Photo: The Hongqi-22 missile, first unveiled at the 2016 Zhuhai Airshow, uses a tilted launch similar to the Patriot.
The Hongqi-22 missile launcher adopts a tilt launch method, which is different from the vertical launch method of the Hongqi-9, and is more like the inclined launch mode of the American "Patriot", and because the radio command + semi-active radar guidance method it uses is also the same as the PAC-2 "Patriot" missile, it is also known as China's "Patriot" missile, which is larger and better than the PAC-2 "Patriot" missile (maximum range of 80 kilometers) in terms of missile range and other indicators.
Photo: The Hongqi-22 missile exits with the designation FK-3 surface-to-air missile.
Although the Hongqi-22 is a medium-range surface-to-air missile, its firing altitude reaches 27,000 meters, which is much higher than the 18,000 meters of the Hongqi-9 long-range surface-to-air missile, which is a killer for the US military's high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles. This is also the main reason why the HQ-22 is mainly used to replace the Hichu-2 surface-to-air missile system, which also reached an altitude of 27,000 meters and successfully shot down a number of U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.
As everyone knows, among the aerial targets laid down by our surface-to-air missile units since new China, the most numerous are enemy strategic reconnaissance planes flying at an altitude of more than 20,000 meters. For example, the Chinese "old friend" U-2 reconnaissance aircraft has a practical lift limit of 24,384 meters; the world's fastest manned strategic reconnaissance aircraft, the SR-71 "Blackbird", has a maximum lift limit of 30,500 meters; the RQ-4 "Global Hawk" unmanned strategic reconnaissance aircraft currently used by the United States has a practical lift limit of 20,000 meters; and the practical lift limit of the future TR-X stealth strategic reconnaissance aircraft has also reached 21,000 meters.
Photo: The U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flew at an altitude of nearly 25,000 meters.
Of course, the latest Hongqi-9B long-range surface-to-air missile has also greatly improved its altitude of fire, raising the altitude to 30,000 meters, which can basically cover the height of all practical fighters.
Serbia has complex homeland air defense needs like us, but the expensive Hongqi-9B obviously can't afford it, so the Faw-22 is much cheaper! After the arrival of the FK-3 surface-to-air missile system, it has become serbia's most advanced medium- and long-range, medium- and high-altitude surface-to-air missile system, undertaking an important node task of homeland air defense, and for Serbia, it is also specially purchased from Russia to purchase the advanced "armor" S1 short-range artillery integration system deployed near the FK-3 surface-to-air missile system, specifically to protect this high-value target, so that it is protected from the threat of low and slow targets such as unmanned aerial vehicles!
Photo: The new version of the Hongqi-9B and Hongqi-22 missiles have a firing height of 30,000 meters and 27,000 meters respectively, which are a sharp weapon against ultra-high-altitude targets.