HQ-9
Encyclopedia
The HQ-9 is China
’s new generation medium- to long-range, active radar homing
air defence missile
.
Initially an indigenous design with limited capabilities, the HQ-9 missile has undergone a redesign to incorporate Russia
n rocket
technology after the acquisition of S-300 5V55-series missiles from Russia. There are unconfirmed rumors that the HQ-9 uses guidance systems that are similar to those developed in U.S. Patriot missile technology.
The naval HQ-9 appears to be identical to the land-based variant. Its naval type HHQ-9 is equipped in the PLAN Type 052C Lanzhou class destroyer
in VLS
launch tubes.
The land-based HQ-9 system has an anti-radiation
variant, known as the FT-2000 for export. The export designation for air defense version is FD-2000 (with FD stands for Fang Dun [防盾], meaning defensive shield), and its developer China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CPMIEC) first made it public at the Africa Aerospace and Defence Exhibition held at Cape Town
in March 2009. The HQ-9 had also being submitted by CPMIEC for Turkey
's T-LORAMIDS program to acquire 12 long range air defense systems.
each with 8 missiles, totaling 32 rounds ready to fire. These equipments are usually mounted on Tai'an trucks. This basic formation can be expanded into more capable larger formation, with the addition of the following equipment: one TWS-312 command post, one site survey vehicle based on Chinese Humvee, one main power grid converter, additional transporter / loader vehicles with each vehicle housing four missile TELs based on Tai'an TAS5380, one Type 120 low altitude search radar, one Type 305A AESA search radar for full anti ballistic missile capability, and a passive radar against stealth targets.
, has a maximum speed of Mach
4.2. and has a maximum range of 200 km. The thrust vector control (TVC) of HQ-9 is the most obvious visual identification that distinguish it from S300V: TVC of HQ-9 is exposed and thus can be observed from the side, while TVC of S300V is not exposed. The HQ-9's guidance system is composed of inertial guidance plus mid-course uplink and active radar terminal guidance systems.
The system first used a missile in a box-like launcher canted at an angle, just like the MIM-104 Patriot
. However the missile was very large because of China's limited experience with solid-fuel rockets. Due to Russian assistance and technology transfers, the missile and launcher are in their present form, a transporter erector launcher
with missiles inside a cylindrical container.
The missile apparently has a limited anti ballistic missile capability.
. H-200 & SJ-231 FCRs of latter models of KS-1 SAM are also compatible with HQ-9.
To maximize the combat effectiveness of HQ-9, a dedicated FCR for HQ-9 was developed, and it is most commonly seen with HQ-9. Designated as HT-233, this radar is the most advanced FCRs HQ-9 could employ, and it has greater similarities to the MIM-104 Patriot
's MPQ-53 than the S-300's 30N6 (Flap-Lid) series, working in the NATO G-band (4–6 GHz) also as a search and targeting radar. This could be due to an alleged transfer of Patriot technology to China.
The radar can search a 120 degree arc in azimuth and 0-90 degrees in elevation out to 300 km, with a peak power output on 1MW (average 60 kW). The radar is credited as being able to track 100 targets and guides up to 6 missiles to 6 targets, or alternatively, to 3 targets with a pair of missile for each target.
HT-233 is the FCR used by HQ-9 that is closest to AN/MPQ-53: In comparison to earlier H-200 radar used by early models of KS-1 SAM which uses a simple horn instead of lens arrangement, HT-233 radar adopts lens arrangement of AN/MPQ-53. In comparison to SJ-231 radar used by the latest model of KS-1, HT-233 has a thousand more phase shifter on its antenna array, totaling four thousand, as opposed to the three thousand of SJ-231. In contrast, both AN/MPQ-53 & 30N6E radars have ten thousand phase shifters on their antenna arrays respectively. HT-233 radar is mounted on Tai'an TAS5501 10 x 10 high mobility cross country truck, and operates in C-band at 300MHz. When deployed as a search radar TH-233 is fielded at brigade level, while FCR radars deployed would be SJ-212, H-200 or SJ-231. HT-233 is credited with a detection range of 120 km, scanning 360 degrees in azimuth and 0-65 degrees in elevation. It can track 100 targets and designate 50 for engagements.
Type 305B (also known as LLQ-305B) radar is the standard search radar for HQ-9, and it is a development of YLC-2 Radar
. This 3-D radar which has an antenna height of 3.5 meters, and employs sixty 350 mm waveguide feeds. It operates in the S-band at a wavelength of 11.67 cm.
Type 120 (also known as LLQ-120) radar is the low altitude search radar, it is a telescoping radar with an antenna height of 2.3 metres folded, and 7 metres unfolded, using a feed network of sixteen 230mm wave guides. It rotates at a maximum of ten revolutions per minute, and operates in the L-band at a wavelength of 23.75 cm.
Type 305A (also known as LLQ-305A) radar is another search radar for HQ-9 system. This AESA radar is designed maximize the anti-ballistic capability of HQ-9, and it resembles Thales
Ground Master 400 AESA radar. Very little info is released about this radar other than it can also act as FCR.
Although Type 305 radars are effective against stealthy targets such as F-22 or F-35, full stealth target such as B-2 is difficult to detect. YLC-20 passive radar was conceptually based on KRTP-91 Tamara passive sensor
, incorporating experience obtained from documentation acquired during the abortive attempt to procure six Czech VERA passive sensor
s. YLC-20 passive radar was first revealed in 2006.
DWL002 passive radar is the development of earlier YLC-20, incorporating Kolchuga passive sensor
, four of which were sold to China. Like its predecessor YLC-20, DWL002 is also developed by China Electronics Technology Corp. (CETC).
Comparable systems
Related lists
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
’s new generation medium- to long-range, active radar homing
Active radar homing
Active radar homing is a missile guidance method in which a guided missile contains a radar transceiver and the electronics necessary for it to find and track its target autonomously...
air defence missile
Missile
Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...
.
Initially an indigenous design with limited capabilities, the HQ-9 missile has undergone a redesign to incorporate Russia
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are the military services of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union. On 7 May 1992 Boris Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the Russian Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet Armed Forces troops on the territory of the RSFSR...
n rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
technology after the acquisition of S-300 5V55-series missiles from Russia. There are unconfirmed rumors that the HQ-9 uses guidance systems that are similar to those developed in U.S. Patriot missile technology.
The naval HQ-9 appears to be identical to the land-based variant. Its naval type HHQ-9 is equipped in the PLAN Type 052C Lanzhou class destroyer
Lanzhou class destroyer
The Type 052C destroyer is a class of destroyer built by the People's Republic of China. It features an Active Electronically Scanned Array radar system with four statically-mounted antennas for 360-degree coverage...
in VLS
VLS
VLS may refer to:*Vapor-Liquid-Solid method, a method to grow nanocrystal*Vermont Law School, an institution of higher learning.*Vertical Launching System*Von Luschan's chromatic scale a scale for detirmining skin colour....
launch tubes.
The land-based HQ-9 system has an anti-radiation
Anti-radiation missile
An anti-radiation missile is a missile which is designed to detect and home on an enemy radio emission source. Typically these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communication can also be targeted in this manner.- Air-to-Ground :Most ARM designs...
variant, known as the FT-2000 for export. The export designation for air defense version is FD-2000 (with FD stands for Fang Dun [防盾], meaning defensive shield), and its developer China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CPMIEC) first made it public at the Africa Aerospace and Defence Exhibition held at Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
in March 2009. The HQ-9 had also being submitted by CPMIEC for Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
's T-LORAMIDS program to acquire 12 long range air defense systems.
Design
The most basic formation of a HQ-9 batteries consisted of one Type 305B search radar, one tracking radar, one 200kW Diesel generator truck, and eight TELsTransporter erector launcher
A transporter erector launcher is a vehicle with an integrated prime mover that can carry, elevate to firing position and launch one or more missiles. Such vehicles exist for both surface-to-air missiles and surface-to-surface missiles...
each with 8 missiles, totaling 32 rounds ready to fire. These equipments are usually mounted on Tai'an trucks. This basic formation can be expanded into more capable larger formation, with the addition of the following equipment: one TWS-312 command post, one site survey vehicle based on Chinese Humvee, one main power grid converter, additional transporter / loader vehicles with each vehicle housing four missile TELs based on Tai'an TAS5380, one Type 120 low altitude search radar, one Type 305A AESA search radar for full anti ballistic missile capability, and a passive radar against stealth targets.
Missile
Similar to the Russian S-300V, the HQ-9 is a two-stage missile. The first stage has a diameter of 700 mm and the 2nd stage 560 mm, with a total mass of almost 2 tons and a length of 6.8m. The missile is armed with a 180 kg warheadWarhead
The term warhead refers to the explosive material and detonator that is delivered by a missile, rocket, or torpedo.- Etymology :During the early development of naval torpedoes, they could be equipped with an inert payload that was intended for use during training, test firing and exercises. This...
, has a maximum speed of Mach
Mach number
Mach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...
4.2. and has a maximum range of 200 km. The thrust vector control (TVC) of HQ-9 is the most obvious visual identification that distinguish it from S300V: TVC of HQ-9 is exposed and thus can be observed from the side, while TVC of S300V is not exposed. The HQ-9's guidance system is composed of inertial guidance plus mid-course uplink and active radar terminal guidance systems.
The system first used a missile in a box-like launcher canted at an angle, just like the MIM-104 Patriot
MIM-104 Patriot
The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations. It is manufactured by the Raytheon Company of the United States. The Patriot System replaced the Nike Hercules system as the U.S. Army's primary High to Medium...
. However the missile was very large because of China's limited experience with solid-fuel rockets. Due to Russian assistance and technology transfers, the missile and launcher are in their present form, a transporter erector launcher
Transporter erector launcher
A transporter erector launcher is a vehicle with an integrated prime mover that can carry, elevate to firing position and launch one or more missiles. Such vehicles exist for both surface-to-air missiles and surface-to-surface missiles...
with missiles inside a cylindrical container.
The missile apparently has a limited anti ballistic missile capability.
Radars
To reduce the cost, the HQ-9 is designed to be flexible enough to employ a wide range of radars, both the search/surveillance/acquisition radar and the tracking/engagement/fire control radar (FCR).Fire control radar
Many FCRs of other Chinese SAM can be used for HQ-9, such as FCR used in KS-1 SAM, SJ-212, itself an enlarged and improved version of the SJ-202 fire control radar (FCR) used in HQ-2JHQ-2J
HQ-2J or Hongqi-2 are anti-aircraft missiles mounted on the Type 77 transporter launcher. It is an upgraded version of the HQ-2 system. The HQ-1/HQ-2 are developed from the Soviet S-75 Dvina SAM system...
. H-200 & SJ-231 FCRs of latter models of KS-1 SAM are also compatible with HQ-9.
HT-233 Radar
To maximize the combat effectiveness of HQ-9, a dedicated FCR for HQ-9 was developed, and it is most commonly seen with HQ-9. Designated as HT-233, this radar is the most advanced FCRs HQ-9 could employ, and it has greater similarities to the MIM-104 Patriot
MIM-104 Patriot
The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations. It is manufactured by the Raytheon Company of the United States. The Patriot System replaced the Nike Hercules system as the U.S. Army's primary High to Medium...
's MPQ-53 than the S-300's 30N6 (Flap-Lid) series, working in the NATO G-band (4–6 GHz) also as a search and targeting radar. This could be due to an alleged transfer of Patriot technology to China.
The radar can search a 120 degree arc in azimuth and 0-90 degrees in elevation out to 300 km, with a peak power output on 1MW (average 60 kW). The radar is credited as being able to track 100 targets and guides up to 6 missiles to 6 targets, or alternatively, to 3 targets with a pair of missile for each target.
HT-233 is the FCR used by HQ-9 that is closest to AN/MPQ-53: In comparison to earlier H-200 radar used by early models of KS-1 SAM which uses a simple horn instead of lens arrangement, HT-233 radar adopts lens arrangement of AN/MPQ-53. In comparison to SJ-231 radar used by the latest model of KS-1, HT-233 has a thousand more phase shifter on its antenna array, totaling four thousand, as opposed to the three thousand of SJ-231. In contrast, both AN/MPQ-53 & 30N6E radars have ten thousand phase shifters on their antenna arrays respectively. HT-233 radar is mounted on Tai'an TAS5501 10 x 10 high mobility cross country truck, and operates in C-band at 300MHz. When deployed as a search radar TH-233 is fielded at brigade level, while FCR radars deployed would be SJ-212, H-200 or SJ-231. HT-233 is credited with a detection range of 120 km, scanning 360 degrees in azimuth and 0-65 degrees in elevation. It can track 100 targets and designate 50 for engagements.
Search radars
Several search radars are discovered to be associated with HQ-9, including anti-ballistic radars and anti-stealth radars.Type 305B radar
Type 305B (also known as LLQ-305B) radar is the standard search radar for HQ-9, and it is a development of YLC-2 Radar
YLC-2 Radar
The YLC-2 radar is a three-dimensional main guidance and surveillance radar developed by the Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology....
. This 3-D radar which has an antenna height of 3.5 meters, and employs sixty 350 mm waveguide feeds. It operates in the S-band at a wavelength of 11.67 cm.
Type 102 radar
Type 120 (also known as LLQ-120) radar is the low altitude search radar, it is a telescoping radar with an antenna height of 2.3 metres folded, and 7 metres unfolded, using a feed network of sixteen 230mm wave guides. It rotates at a maximum of ten revolutions per minute, and operates in the L-band at a wavelength of 23.75 cm.
Type 305A radar
Type 305A (also known as LLQ-305A) radar is another search radar for HQ-9 system. This AESA radar is designed maximize the anti-ballistic capability of HQ-9, and it resembles Thales
Thales
Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor, and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition...
Ground Master 400 AESA radar. Very little info is released about this radar other than it can also act as FCR.
YLC-20 passive sensor
Although Type 305 radars are effective against stealthy targets such as F-22 or F-35, full stealth target such as B-2 is difficult to detect. YLC-20 passive radar was conceptually based on KRTP-91 Tamara passive sensor
Tamara passive sensor
Tamara was the third generation Czechoslovak electronic support measures system that used measurements of time difference of arrival of pulses at three or four sites to accurately detect and track airborne emitters by multilateration. Tamara's serial numbers were KRTP-86 and KRTP-91 and it...
, incorporating experience obtained from documentation acquired during the abortive attempt to procure six Czech VERA passive sensor
VERA passive sensor
VERA -VERA passive radiolocator is an electronic support measures system that uses measurements of time difference of arrival of pulses at three or four sites to accurately detect and track airborne emitters....
s. YLC-20 passive radar was first revealed in 2006.
DWL002 passive sensor
DWL002 passive radar is the development of earlier YLC-20, incorporating Kolchuga passive sensor
Kolchuga passive sensor
The Kolchuga passive sensor is an ESM system developed in Ukraine. Its detection range is limited by line-of-sight but may be up to for very high altitude, very powerful emitters...
, four of which were sold to China. Like its predecessor YLC-20, DWL002 is also developed by China Electronics Technology Corp. (CETC).
Variants
- FT-2000 - Anti radiation version that was the first model of HQ-9 family being completed.
- HQ-9 - TVMTrack-via-missile“Track-via-missile” refers to a missile guidance technique which combines features of semi-active radar homing and radio command guidance.-Explanation:TVM guidance requires a radar ground station and a missile with a radar receiver...
version SAM. - HHQ-9 — Naval version.
- HQ-9A — Upgraded version, first tested in 1999 and service entry in 2001. Chinese sources claim that the HQ-9 family of systems employ much newer computing technology than imported Russian S-300PMU/PMU1/PMU2 systems, because HQ-9 is developed more than a decade later, thus allowing it to incorporate advancement in microelectronics. Due to the superior computing capability for signal processing, data processing and guidance support, this missile can have an optional semi-active radar homing (SARH) mode, because more info can be processed on board the missile itself.
- HHQ-9A — Ship-borne naval version of HQ-9A. Eight 6-cell vertical launch silos, of cylindrical shape and using "cold launch" method, mounted on the Type 052C destroyer (48 missiles in total).
- FD-2000 - First revealed in the 8th Zhuhai Airshow, the export version of HQ-9, providing extra anti-stealth capability by incorporating YLC-20 passive sensor as an option.
- HQ-9B — reportedly tested in February 2006. According to Jane's Information Group, this missile has a dual seeker that incorporates both SARH & imaging IR mode
- HQ-9C - Currently under development, incorporating active radar homing mode.
See also
- Surface-to-air missileSurface-to-air missileA surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
Comparable systems
- S-300P
- MIM-104 PatriotMIM-104 PatriotThe MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations. It is manufactured by the Raytheon Company of the United States. The Patriot System replaced the Nike Hercules system as the U.S. Army's primary High to Medium...
- AsterMBDA AsterAster is a family of surface-to-air missiles manufactured by Eurosam, a European consortium consisting of MBDA France, MBDA Italy and the Thales Group .-Overview:The Aster family was developed to perform three distinct missions:...
- NASAMSNASAMSNASAMS is a distributed and networked medium to long range air-defence system. NASAMS was the first surface-based application for the AIM-120 AMRAAM and the first surface-to-air missile system in the western world with active radar guidance...
Related lists
External links
- HQ-9 / FT-2000 SAM Sinodefence
- Naval HQ-9 SAM Sinodefence
- HQ-9 Missilethreat.com
- The HQ-9 SAM System: A Site Analysis October 27, 2007