HQ-17
Red Flag 17 is a "Tor-M1" with Chinese Charateristics Under Modern Conditions. However, unlike the "Tor-M1" system, Hongqi-17 also adds an identification friend or foe array, modern electronic equipment, new all-terrain launch vehicles, and data with other Chinese weapon systems on the basis of the electronically scanned array radar. The internal control room of the Hongqi-17 medium and low-altitude air defense missile internal space is larger than the Tor-M1. The interior of the Tor-M1 is very narrow. The HQ-17 uses a large number of LCD screens and simplified control buttons. The Tor-M1 display is also the older CTR monochromatic display.
The Hongqi 17 air defense system integrates radar, missiles and guidance stations in the same armored vehicle, and uses vertical cold bomb launches. It can deal with air targets with a speed of 700 meters per second, 12g overload, and an attack distance of 12KM. Each vehicle is loaded with 2 missile modules, and each missile module consists of a transport launch box and 4 9M331 missiles. The missile's engine is a single-chamber two-stage thrust solid rocket motor; the missile is guided by radio commands.
The heavy brigade air defense unit of the PLA is guided by four HQ-17 air defense missile launch vehicles, one company command vehicle with a ZSD-89 armored transport vehicle chassis, and two NG -80 vehicles. The truck chassis is composed of ammunition delivery vehicles, 2 loading vehicles with NG-80 chassis, and 3 support vehicles, which have strong multi-target combat capabilities.
The front and benchmark models of the Hongqi-17 are the famous Soviet-made 9?331 "Tor-M1" divisional field combat. Air defense system, this type of air defense system includes the following parts. The first is the 9A331 detection and launch integrated vehicle. A single vehicle can carry 8 9M331 missiles. The total mass of the launch-storage barrel packaging is about 930 kg. The missile has high reliability and can be stored continuously for ten years from the factory without maintenance. maintenance.
The second is the company-level launch command vehicle. Since the near-side radar used by the 9A331 tank has a maximum detection range of about 25 kilometers, the "Tor" company needs to obtain the near air information and the far air information provided by the superior during operations. Information, the company command vehicle is responsible for processing and analyzing the received upper-level air situation information, and assigning targets to the four 9A331 combat vehicles it belongs to, The third is the maintenance and support unit, including multiple ammunition transport vehicles, loading vehicles, etc. Generally, one ammunition transport vehicle can transport enough ammunition for one 9A331 tank to launch another round of ammunition.
In general, the complete system of the 9?331 "Tor-M1" air defense system has a high degree of compactness and automation. Compared with the HQ-7B, HQ-6D and other field air defense systems previously installed by the army, it can be directly When the marching state is turned into a combat state, there is no need to expand and open the queue. The response time is particularly outstanding. The overall performance is not much better than similar Western systems. It is indeed a rare field air defense system.
China purchased 35 sets of Tor-M1 missiles between 1996 and 1999 and soon began to copy them. At the end of the 1990s, due to the urgent need to prepare for the military struggle against Taiwan, China imported two air defense regiments of the "Door" M1 field air defense system from Russia, and prioritized the installation of missiles from the original Nanjing Military Region, the 1st Army and the 31st Army Air Defense Brigade. The regiment became the first batch of field air defense missile protective umbrellas of the Chinese Army.This type of missile has been installed and has been valued and affirmed by the Chinese Army's field air defense forces in previous military exercises and operations.
Although the development of this system has long been known, a large number of troops were deployed only in 2011-2012. In fact, the time taken by the Chinese industry to reproduce a missile system that is not new to Russia is almost the same as the time taken by Russia to create an upgraded version. Although some Chinese media have reported that the HQ-17 missile system is an "upgraded version" of the Tor-M1, it is hard to say that the degree of upgrade is substantial. Perhaps, in terms of combat effectiveness, the system China has obtained is several times behind that of the new Russian missiles. Moreover, the amount of money saved by China's refusal to purchase production licenses is also dubious. After all, the years of hard work of Chinese engineers and workers cost quite a lot.
After the Chinese Army obtained the 9?331 "Tor-M1" system, it made key adjustments and performance enhancements on the basis of the original system. The overall performance of the Hongqi-17 system has not only reached the level of the original "Tor", but even achieved "Blue is better than blue", reaching or even surpassing the latest Russian "Tor-M2" system. Compared with the original system, the Hongqi-17 has mainly adjusted the following sub-systems.
One is the detection and command unit on the 9A331 tank. The original "Tor-M1" has three situational awareness systems on the launch vehicle. The first is a close search radar using a parabolic antenna. The radar has a maximum detection range of 25 kilometers and can simultaneously process 48 targets and track 10 of them. The second is a fire control radar with a phased array antenna, which uses the Ku band to implement radio command guidance for the missile, and the pencil beam width is about 1°. Finally, there is a CCD TV camera, which is used as a backup method to search for targets when the nearby radar is jammed.
This system was advanced in the 1980s, but it has fallen behind since entering the new century. Therefore, when the Chinese Army developed the Hongqi-17 system, it simply replaced the proximity search radar with a new phased array radar antenna for situational awareness. It has doubled in an instant, and the performance of the fire control radar and photoelectric detection system has also been upgraded to varying degrees, which is basically a "reborn" improvement.
The second is the 9M331 air defense missile equipped with 9?331. In fact, the performance design of the original Soviet missile is quite excellent. The missile adopts a duck-style overall aerodynamic layout with differential rudder surface control. The whole projectile is divided into the electrical system part on the missile and the solid rocket motor part. The total length of the bomb is 2.9 meters, the diameter is 230 mm, and the launch mass is 165 kg, of which the warhead mass is 15 kg. It is designed with high-energy explosive fragments. After the explosion, it can fly out about 2000 fragments weighing 3 grams.
The mass of the dual-thrust solid rocket motor is 98 kilograms, including 71 kilograms of propellant. It adopts the wall-to-wall casting mode and uses the HTPB high-energy solid propellant. The maximum distance of the missile’s maximum kill zone against tactical aircraft targets is about 12 kilometers, and the high boundary of the kill zone is about 6 kilometers. When dealing with tactical missile targets, the data of these two kill zones will shrink to about 6 kilometers. The high boundary is about 5 kilometers, but for the expansion of the division-level battle corps or brigade-level advanced tactical corps, these far and near high and low kill zone data are sufficient.
When China's military developed the Hongqi-17 air defense system, it improved the autopilot, proximity fuze, and solid rocket motor of the 9M331 missile, adjusted the missile’s route shortcuts, and made the Hongqi-17 air defense missile more efficient. It has a greater improvement than the original Soviet-made missiles.
However, the vertical launch of the Hongqi 17 missile also has a disadvantage, that is, the missile's range is increased. For the advantages and disadvantages of the missile's vertical launch system, interested netizens can search for the missile's vertical launch system using the headline search. After the missile is launched vertically, it needs to rise to a certain height to accumulate enough energy to turn, which expands the missile's range.
With the tactical performance of the entire system, the field air defense missions undertaken are basically obvious. From the analysis of the main tactical tasks of the army-level field air defense, a field air defense system such as Hongqi-17 mainly undertakes the following tasks. The first is to cover the important combat resources and main combat nodes in the brigade-level battle area, such as the basic brigade command post, the battle artillery positions associated with the brigade, the assembly areas and attack departure points of the tanks and armored vehicles of the combined battalions.
The second is to implement air defense cover for the entry route of the second echelon of the brigade to ensure that the second echelon can quickly move into the main attack direction. The third is to cover the safety of transportation hubs such as the area behind the advanced tactical corps, entry routes, and important supply channels. The fourth is to combat enemy airborne and air-raid troops that are trying to carry out airborne or airborne landings in the tactical depth of the campaign. The fifth is to strike and stop the enemy's reconnaissance activities of tactical reconnaissance aircraft and armed helicopters in the front and tactical depth.
In terms of specific military force utilization modes, the combined brigade air defense battalions will make full use of multiple combat modes to form a regional air defense cover group, a direct air defense cover group, and a mobile air defense cover group, and implement full frontal and full depth on the brigade battle area. The cover will also be supported by units such as air defense command, air reconnaissance, and electronic countermeasures organized by the brigade air defense battalion and support battalion.
Among them, the regional air defense cover group will undertake the establishment of air defense corridors, cover the first echelon battalion to implement combat tactical maneuvers, and establish air fire control zones at the front of the battle area to ensure the freedom of movement of the brigade's main battle groups.
The direct air defense cover group will directly cover important brigade-owned operational nodes, including important units such as the brigade artillery battalion, brigade support battalion, and the basic brigade command post; the mobile air defense cover group is mainly responsible for covering the area behind the brigade-level corps and the main army opening. The safety of entry routes, main supply channels, etc.
In terms of the configuration principle, the cover range between the air defense groups should be as close as possible to each other, and strive to form an integral air-to-air fire control net on the brigade battle area, while in the defensive campaign, the cover range of the regional air defense group is general. Do not exceed the first echelon battalion, while ensuring control of the enemy's airspace for about 10 to 20 kilometers.
In the offensive campaign, the brigade-level regional air defense cover group positions will be deployed appropriately, and the first echelon will open a breakthrough, the second echelon will enter the battle, and the second echelon will be accompanied by a deep offensive. To put it simply, the main task of Hongqi-17 is to cover the first echelon battalion of the brigade, cover the safety of the brigade artillery battalion and the basic brigade command post, and may be mixed with the PGZ-09 dual 35mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. Form a mixed air defense group to jointly undertake the combat tasks of the main battle area of ??the cover brigade, the main offensive front, and the main route of the reserve team.
the "Hongqi"-17 adopts a crawler chassis, which is expensive and has a slower maneuvering speed. It is mainly used to equip our army's heavy-duty Mechanized divisions and heavy synthetic brigades, and our army currently has a large number of medium-sized fast anti-synthetic brigades all using wheeled chassis, and there is an urgent need to equip medium and short-range field air defense missiles to support division/brigade-level field air defense umbrellas.
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