<Kanwa News Jan 06, 2004> Under the guidance of the strategy
of "taking control of the air with land-based weapon systems", China
has taken drastic actions in recent years in such areas as domestic
and imported air defense weapons. The Air Force version of HQ9 long-
range air defense missile has already made appearance on China's
Central Television Station (CCTV). It seems that the weapon system is
ready to enter service in the combat units of the Air Force. HQ9 has
four parallel launching tubes whose physical shape is very close to
that of S300PMU1.
Besides, a reliable military industry source told Kanwa at an
exclusive interview that China is going to purchase another batch of
S300PMU1 systems with some of the PMU2 technology this year.
Currently there are a total of 8 S300PMU/PMU1 systems deployed in the
Chinese Air Force, each of which is carried by 6 launching vehicles.
China has been trying to obtain PMU2 for four years, yet due to
China's own successful development of HQ9 as well as Russia's
political concerns, plus the extremely high price, the whole system
has not yet delivered to China up till the present time.
S300PMU2 uses brand new 3D 64N6E2 (64N6E1 for S300PMU1) automatic
medium-high altitude search radar which is capable of detecting
medium-high altitude targets in the air with a range of 300km. The
purpose for China's importing more S300PMU1 64N6E missiles is that it
aspires to obtain the S300PMU2 radar and commanding system.
Meanwhile, in the last few years, China has stepped up its pace of
developing the Air Force version HQ9. An unconfirmed news from China
says part of the HQ9 project is co-disposed in the combat forces with
S300PMU1 as this may reduce the actual number of 64N6E missiles to be
imported. The navy version HQ9 will be installed on two Type
052C "Chinese Aegis" destroyers. Recent television images indicate
the Chinese Air Force S300PMU1 has been frequently involved in
maneuvering exercises along the railway lines, aiming at further
expanding air-defense coverage. <Kanwa News>