【Military Subplane】Author: Lele
Whether on the battlefield in Ukraine or in the missile war between Iran and Israel, the confrontation of long-range drones, cruise missiles, medium-range ballistic missiles and hypersonic missiles with long-range air defense/anti-missile systems has attracted special attention. Although in most cases, it is the attacker who gets more attention, but the status of the top air defense systems represented by the S-400 and "Patriot" is still rising again and again. Under this wave of the times, the domestic Hongqi-9 finally ushered in a big opportunity.
▲The missile war between Israel and Iran has attracted global attention
The modern medium- and high-altitude air defense system originated from the Soviet-made S-75, and after several decades of evolution, it can be divided into four major factions: the United States, Russia, China and Europe. Among them, the "Aster" series jointly developed by many European countries has good performance, but the range is insufficient, and the application is seriously limited. China's Hongqi-9B surpasses "Aster" in basic data, but it has not been around for a long time, has limited experience, and lacks word of mouth. Therefore, the Russian-made S-400 and the American-made "Patriot" are still the leaders in this field. There is no shortage of examples of the world paying a heavy price in order to obtain these two strategic equipment. One of the most classic is that Turkey does not want the F-400A for the sake of the S-35, and what is even less known is that at that time the United States had already allowed the export of "Patriots" worth $3.5 billion to Turkey. The latter, in fact, was for the S-400, abandoning both the "Patriot" and the F-35A.
▲ Turkey's choice of the S-400 is not a heavy price
If you add in the interruption of the supply of Turkish T-129 Wuzhi engines, F-16 upgrades and follow-up deals, the price of Turkey's choice of S-400 is rare in the world, and the strategic value of a long-range air defense system can also be seen from it. As a matter of fact, although the outside world has always talked about "air defense and air defense, ten defenses and nine air", for the vast majority of countries, the thirst for advanced and mature air defense systems has always existed. Since the beginning of the last century, the appearance of long-range missiles in local wars has been very common, and there are three corresponding ways to deal with them: first, like Russia, which can not only carry out effective defense, but also counterattack with long-range weapons; second, like Ukraine/Israel, can basically achieve effective interception, but the counterattack is ineffective; third, like Iran in the Iran-Iraq war, through long-range weapons countermeasures, with a lose-lose style to force the opponent to give up.
▲ Algeria also procured the S-400
It is very difficult to have both offense and defense, and it is not something that ordinary countries can afford to lose, and it is also quite difficult to produce/purchase long-range weapons on a large scale. Therefore, the most practical and easiest way is to purchase long-range air defense systems and form an air defense network to defend against the enemy. A country like Serbia, which had a very difficult time, also gritted its teeth and bought Hongqi-22 from China. Although its performance is not outstanding, it is also a usable medium- and high-altitude air defense system, and the significance of the air defense network can be seen. In fact, Saudi Arabia, known as the number one buyer of US military equipment, also wanted to purchase S-300/400 from Russia for some reasons, but it did not work out in the end.
▲Delivery of the Hongqi-22 (FK-3) to Serbia
Although the domestic Hongqi-9 came out in the 90s, it actually matured after 2010, and soon planted a big heel in the process of exporting to Turkey. So much so that now when it comes to the Hongqi-9 exit, public opinion is still apprehensive. But in fact, Hongqi-9's foreign trade performance in recent years is okay, and it has developed four buyers: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Qatar. This, of course, is not comparable to the S-400 and "Patriot", but for a domestic long-range air defense system, it is really a good result. The current situation is that the Russian-Ukrainian war and the Iran-Israel conflict have put everyone at risk, but the export of the S-400 is now severely restricted (although the actual war performance is very good), and the price of the "Patriot" has soared, and now only one set of basic combat units costs 1.09 billion US dollars, counting the training, maintenance and the same soaring missile prices, it is impossible to fight without 1.5 billion US dollars. In 2020, the Netherlands spent only $241 million on the purchase of a low-configuration "Patriot-3" to supplement equipment.
▲Now is a rare opportunity for Hongqi-9
In a word, the world is now looking forward to advanced long-range air defense systems, and the demand is far greater than the supply. As a latecomer in this field, Hongqi-9 lacks accumulation, and it would have been difficult to gain the recognition of heavyweight buyers, after all, this kind of strategic equipment has never been a matter of money, but the price that ordinary countries cannot afford to make mistakes. It is only in this state of emergency that it will really become a procurement option for some countries, and not a stepping stone in Turkey. In the coming tide, even if the Hongqi-9B only takes a small part of the market from it, it is also a huge improvement for the domestic long-range air defense system.