• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Hongjian-73 / HJ-73 anti-tank missile - 2020

The Hongjian-73 anti-tank missile (HJ-73), is a product of China imitating the former Soviet Union AT-3 (Sager) anti-tank missile. The design was finalized in 1978. The Hongjian-73 series missiles are the second-generation anti-tank missile weapon systems designed by China. They are mainly used to attack enemy tanks and other armored vehicles within a distance of 100 meters to 4000 meters. With the renewal of foreign tank protection technology, the Hongjian 73 warhead has been redesigned without losing the opportunity to continuously improve its armor-breaking power, so that the Hongjian 73 missile can last forever. So far, the Hongjian 73 warhead has been finalized production and the models under development are: prototype, A, E(C), B, and large-caliber models.

The whole munition is divided into two parts: the warhead compartment and the carrier compartment. When used, the two cabins are connected together by a quick hook; a tracer tube is installed at the root of the wing on the upper left of the projectile for observation and aiming during flight; the warhead includes a hood, a projectile, and a combined charge And electric -5 fuze and other components. The carrier includes the engine, control components, wing device and tracer tube.

The function of the warhead is to use the explosion of the shaped charge to form a metal jet of the copper charge cover to break the armor. The deployment of Red Arrow 73 follows the principle of centralized use. In offensive and defensive warfare, it is usually based on squads (the anti-tank missile squad is composed of 8 people, divided into 2 combat teams, one shooter, two erectors, one guard, and the shooter carries The remote control device, the erection personnel each carry one missile, a group of two.), platoon as a unit. As a secret weapon against the Soviet t-62 tank at that time, its development greatly enhanced our army’s anti-armor capabilities.

In the 1960s , Sino-Soviet relations were tense, and the threat from northern China became more and more serious. After the Zhenbao Island incident , there was an urgent need to improve the lack of individual anti-tank capabilities. In 1972, samples of Soviet-made 9K11 anti-tank missiles were obtained from North Korea. In August of that year, the Beijing Institute of Technology decomposed and mapped them. In 1973, they obtained the second batch of samples from Romania.

In July 1973, the "737" anti-tank weapon professional meeting was arranged in cooperation with the Beijing Institute of Technology according to the needs of the situation. The four factories in the four provinces of Shaanxi 844, Shanxi 304, Liaoning 724, and Jilin 524 were competing in parallel. Respectively imitated, and the leading organizations were established by the provincial defense industry offices . In April and May 1977, in addition to the Shaanxi factory, samples from the factories in the other three provinces entered the national shooting range for design finalization tests, but there were still some technical problems to be solved. The design was finalized in 1978 and named "Hongjian 73". From February 1979 to 1980, the "Hongjian 73" of the three factories in Shanxi, Liaoning and Jilin passed the design finalization test.

After the "Red Arrow 8" infrared semi-automatic guidance technology made significant progress in 1979, in 1979, Jilin 524 Factory (Jiangbei Machinery Factory) proposed the application of infrared guidance technology to the "Red Arrow 73" plan, and began to develop the vehicle Launched the semi-automatically controlled "Red Arrow-73A". It adopts optical sighting, infrared tracking, pyrotechnic infrared light source to indicate the missile's flight trajectory, infrared goniometer measures the missile's azimuth, the control system calculates and issues instructions to correct the missile trajectory through the wire. At the end of 1984, the factory appraisal was completed at the test base, and the performance of the missile weapon system reached the predetermined tactical and technical indicators.

"Red Arrow-73" is China's first-generation anti-tank missile weapon system with visual tracking, three-point guidance, manual control, and wire transmission instructions. It can attack tanks, armored targets or bunkers within a distance of 500 meters to 3000 meters. The missile has a diameter of 120 mm, a length of 854 mm, a wingspan of 393 mm, and a weight of 11.3 kg. Line control guide method, range of 3km, thickness of armor piercing 400mm. When the range is 400-600 meters, the hit rate is about 60%, and the hit rate can reach more than 90% for the target of 600-3000 meters.

Hongjian 73 has several models: basic type, B, C, etc. (has been developed to E type). In the 1980s, the Hongjian 73C was developed. It uses optical sighting, infrared tracking, and semi-automatic control guidance. The power supply uses a 30-volt nickel-cadmium battery , which can continuously launch more than 30 missiles on a single charge. The missile can effectively attack various armored targets such as tanks within a distance of 400-3000 meters in an environment where natural light and infrared light interfere. It can also be used to destroy firepower points and various light field fortifications.

Red Arrow 73A is a vehicle-mounted type. An infrared radiation source and a TV goniometer are added to the missile. The guidance mode is changed from manual manual control to infrared tracking semi-automatic control. After the missile is launched, the shooter presses the aiming "cross" on the target, and the missile automatically flies along the line of sight until it hits. Armor piercing power increased to 180 mm/68 degrees. It is launched in sequence by a quadruple-mounted type 86 tracked infantry fighting vehicle , and 8 ammunition is prepared. The improved A-type bomb hit rate can basically reach about 90%. As a rule, the actual performance of this missile is very backward, the hit rate is extremely low, due to the use of hand-controlled tracking guidance, the ability of shooters to demand higher, there have been the Middle East war battlefield statistics, each launch of 100 AT-3 "Seg" missiles, only a few missiles hit.

China's first-generation improved Red Arrow-73B anti-tank missiles are suitable for single-soldier, ground launch or vehicle launch. Mainly used to attack tanks and armored vehicles, but also to destroy firepower points and simple field fortifications. In May 1983, on the basis of the "Hongjian-73A", the infantry group began to develop the "Hongjian-73B" carried by the Jilin Jiangbei Machinery Factory. The chief designer was Jia Guichen. Improve the anti-interference ability, realize the digitalization of the guidance system, improve the control accuracy, and reduce the volume of the control box. The power of the warhead is increased to a vertical penetration depth of 760 mm. The design was finalized in 1988. The PLA unit's equipment is named "Red Arrow 73-1". In 1990, it won the first prize of National Science and Technology Progress and the special prize of Ministry of Weaponry Industry. The projectile has a diameter of 120 millimeters, a weight of 11.7 kilograms, a range of 3000 meters, and can break steel armor 180 millimeters. It adopts optical aiming and tracking, wire transmission instructions, and infrared semi-automatic guidance. The improved system retains the manual operation function. The full weapon system consists of missiles, launchers and ground control equipment.

The principle of the Hongjian- 73C anti-tank missile and the Hongjian-73B anti-tank missile is basically the same, but it uses a follow-up launcher. During the tracking of the target, the launching rail and the sight are synchronized, so that the launching direction and the aiming direction are always maintain consistency, thereby expanding the missile's attackable area and improving combat effectiveness. Red Arrow 73C was improved on the basis of Type B (ATF-07A), and was designed and finalized in 1993. The secondary warhead charge of the tandem warhead is enlarged, the structure is optimized, and the power is improved; the rocket engine is improved to increase the flight speed when the missile is increased in weight; the guidance method of optical sighting, infrared tracking, and semi-automatic control is adopted, and the infrared thermal imager is added Improve the night combat capability; improve the anti-jamming capability of the TV goniometer; use the follow-up launcher to realize the linkage of the missile and the sight; switch to the new integrated circuit, the new nickel-cadmium battery pack, and the ground guidance equipment is compatible with all previously equipped missiles Kind. The C-type armor piercing power reaches 280 mm/68 degrees. It can effectively attack various armored targets such as tanks within a distance of 400-3000 meters, and can also be used to destroy firepower points and field fortifications.

The D-type has a tandem shaped charge warhead. In order to overcome the forward shift of the center of gravity, four small wings are added to the cone behind the tandem warhead.

The mission of the Hongjian-73 anti-tank missile is to destroy enemy bunker firepower points. The Hongjian-73B missile is an improved model of the Hongjian-73 anti-tank missile. An infrared goniometer is added to the guidance system , and the manual control line guidance is changed to infrared semi-active tracking guidance, thus becoming a quasi-second generation anti-tank missile.

The biggest advantage of the missile is that it can use infrared semi-automatic guidance, but also retains the original Hongjian-73's hand control and guidance capabilities. The warhead's armor-piercing power has been greatly improved, and the static armor- piercing power has been increased from 500 mm to more than 850 mm. The dynamic armor-breaking power has been increased from 150 mm/65 degrees to 180 mm/65 degrees, and it has the ability to penetrate the front main armor of the T-72 tank, with a hit rate of 90%.

The Red Arrow-73B missile is still used as infantry firepower and continues to serve in the Army and Marine Corps. However, its combat missions have changed. The main targets are no longer enemy main battle tanks, but armored vehicles and enemy bunkers. Trenches and other fixed fortifications.

During the Sino-Vietnamese border conflict in the 1980s, the first actual combat attack was recorded on July 2, 1985. A missile company of the 67th Army used to attack two battalions and company command posts of the Vietnamese army 2100 meters away from the forward position, launching four missiles. All hit the target.

China has made a radical improvement to the Red Arrow-73 missile, and in the 1990s it made large-scale improvements to the shortcomings of the Red Arrow-73 missile guidance system, its backwardness, complex operation and low hit rate. Performance is even higher than the international second-generation anti-tank missiles, coupled with cheap, easy to use, so by the PLA's favorite and international arms trade.

The new Red Arrow-73 improved missile has been named the AFT-07 missile. Red Arrow-73 improvement as one of the key transformation projects of the army equipment at that time, has been highly valued by the military, one after another developed A/B/C/D and other four improved models. One of the most important improved models is the AFT-07B, which was established in 1993 and exported as the Red Arrow-73D. The missile uses a series combat unit with a front cone, which can break down the reaction armor of enemy tanks, and the force of the armor can reach 280 mm/68 degrees, and the power of the static armor when hit vertically by more than 800 mm. The improved AFT-07 missile uses the TV CCD angler, uses CCD angler to measure and track missile flight error, can convert optical images into digital signals, can ignore the infrared radiation emitted by infrared jammer, can resist any infrared jammer, thus fundamentally solving the problem of weak anti-jamming capability of the second generation anti-tank missile, and achieving the world leading level in the guidance system.

Although the Red Arrow-10, Red Arrow-12 and other missiles compared to the more advanced Red Arrow-10, the Red Arrow-73 missile's anti-tank capability is completely under the wind, but the Red Arrow-73 still has some of the characteristics that make the army love, such as its small size, light weight, than the Red Arrow-10, Red Arrow-12 more suitable to hang on the existing combat vehicle turret. And the Red Arrow-73 is very simple in terms of use steps, or guidance methods, compared to the Red Arrow-10's TV command guidance, Red Arrows-12 active guidance and other ways to be simple and rough.

The Red Arrow-73 missile still occupies this position firmly in the position of the Chinese infantry combat vehicle vehicle anti-tank missile, and it can often be seen to be prominently mounted outside the turrets of various types of infantry fighting vehicles. The exception is the 04/04A tracked infantry combat vehicle, which meets the needs of anti-tank warfare by equipping a 100 mm musketeer to fire anti-tank-guided artillery.

Considering that the Red Arrow-73 missile is only an emergency anti-tank weapon equipped with an old walker and is used in special cases for anti-tank operations or strike bunkers, it is not necessary to have a particularly good anti-tank capability. Coupled with the low price of the Red Arrow-73, these characteristics, advantages make the Red Arrow-73 series missiles can long-term in the Chinese military equipment sequence has a place. Given the Chinese military's frugality and other advantages, the Red Arrow-73 missile series will still have a military career in the future.

China's Red Arrow-73 anti-tank missile is also very cheap, there is information that the export price of a Red Arrow-73 missile is about $8,000, the price of self-use will be much lower. According to 2014 U.N. arms control agency documents, China exported 100 Red Arrow-73D anti-tank missiles to South Sudan, including 1,200 missiles, 100 Red Arrow-73D launchers, 200 batteries, nine training simulators, and spare parts, worth $15 million. Each red arrow with 12 missiles is only $150,000, that is, assuming a unit price of $50,000 for launch control guidance, each Red Arrow-73D is only $8,000, equivalent to the price of a domestically produced high-performance 125 mm tank gun armor-piercing bomb.

Thanks to the fact that the military industry has turned the old high-end and sophisticated things to the price of cabbage, it has become a very powerful weapon against future opponent's other land warfare equipment except the main battle tank.