For more than 30 years, the HQ-2 anti-aircraft missile systems, together with batteries of 37-100 mm anti-aircraft guns and J-6 and J-7 fighters (copies of the MiG-19 and MiG-21), formed the basis of the air defense forces of the People's Liberation Army China. During the Vietnam War, the HQ-2 air defense system was repeatedly fired at by American unmanned reconnaissance aircraft BQM-34 Firebee, which flew into the airspace of the PRC. In 1986, in the border area, an anti-aircraft missile was shot down by a MiG-21 of the Vietnamese Air Force, which was making a reconnaissance flight. However, by the mid-80s, even taking into account the adoption of deeply modernized options for service, it became clear that the Chinese clones of the C-75 no longer meet modern requirements and the potential for improving the HQ-2 is practically exhausted. But the repeated attempts to create its own air defense system in the PRC have not been crowned with success. Even technical support from Western countries and significant investments allocated for research and development did not help. Until the end of the 90s, Chinese specialists could not independently create a medium and long-range air defense system capable of fighting promising combat aircraft and cruise missiles.
In the late 70s, on the basis of design solutions implemented in the serially built HQ-2 air defense system, simultaneously with work on the HQ-3 long-range complex with a liquid-propellant rocket, a multi-channel HQ-4 anti-aircraft complex with a solid-propellant missile was developed, which does not require refueling with liquid fuel and an oxidizer. … It was assumed that the HQ-4 in the hardware part will have much in common with the HQ-2 air defense system, which will make it possible to use solid-fuel missiles as part of the complexes already in service. However, the Chinese chemical industry was unable to create a solid fuel formulation with acceptable characteristics. And the experimental multi-channel guidance station turned out to be too cumbersome, and the level of its reliability did not inspire optimism. After analyzing the reasons for the failure, the Chinese leadership decided to start designing a mobile complex with solid-propellant missiles, shorter in length, but larger in diameter than the missiles used in the HQ-2 air defense system. Initially, it was assumed that the KS-1 air defense system with launchers based on off-road trucks will have a high degree of continuity with the HQ-2. In particular, it was planned to use the existing control equipment on the new radio command missiles, and the missile guidance to the target was to be carried out using the SJ-202В CHP, which was part of the HQ-2J air defense system.
Due to the lack of experience and the weakness of the Chinese radio-electronic and chemical industry, the development of the KS-1 air defense system with solid-propellant missiles, intended to replace the outdated HQ-2, was unacceptably delayed. According to Chinese data, the creation of the KS-1 was completed in 1994. However, the first version of this anti-aircraft complex was never adopted for service in the PRC, and there were no orders for it from foreign buyers. Approximately 35 years after the start of development in 2009, the first air defense systems with the "internal" designation HQ-12 (for export KS-1A) were delivered to the PLA air defense forces. This complex, although it retained the external features of the early modification, already has little in common with the HQ-2J. The entire HQ-12 element base was transferred to solid-state electronics, and the SJ-202В guidance station was replaced by a multifunctional radar with AFAR H-200. As part of the HQ-12 air defense system, not radio command ones, but missiles with a semi-active radar seeker are used.
A typical battery of the HQ-12 complex includes a missile detection and guidance radar, six launchers on which a total of 12 ready-to-use missiles and 6 transport-loading vehicles with 24 missiles are available. Although the HQ-12 air defense system was officially adopted for service, the pace of its production is not high. Several divisions are deployed deep in the territory of the PRC, in addition, the buyers of the export modification are Myanmar, Thailand and Turkmenistan. In terms of range and height of defeat, the HQ-12 approximately corresponds to the HQ-2J. But its advantage is the use of solid-propellant missiles and great fire performance. At the same time, the complex, created according to the templates of the 70s, is morally outdated, and therefore has not received wide distribution.
Based on the information published in Chinese sources and materials of Western military experts, it clearly follows that at the moment the air defense system of the PRC is in the stage of large-scale rearmament. If in the past the most important Chinese objects were covered by the long-range S-300PMU / PMU1 / PMU2 air defense systems purchased in Russia and their own HQ-2 in an approximate proportion of 1/5, then in the last 5-7 years, first-generation liquid-propellant missile systems are being actively replaced by their own multi-channel systems with vertical launch HQ-9A and HQ-16.
So, in the vicinity of Beijing, all the HQ-2 air defense systems located closer to the coast, at the moment, are almost completely replaced by modern anti-aircraft missile systems. At the same time, the old positions, where the Chinese versions of the "seventy-five" were previously deployed, are being reconstructed, and hangars are being built nearby that can accommodate and protect from the weather larger elements of long-range anti-aircraft systems: self-propelled launchers, guidance and lighting stations, as well as control cabins.
Several divisions of the modernized HQ-2J survived to the north-west and south of the Chinese capital, but apparently these complexes will not remain in service for long, and they will soon be completely replaced by modern multi-channel anti-aircraft systems with solid-propellant missiles.
In 2018, notes were published in the official print media of the PLA, which talk about the decommissioning of obsolete air defense systems. At the same time, photographs are presented in which Chinese military personnel are preparing anti-aircraft missiles and a guidance station for removal from the position.
Although the HQ-2 air defense system in the PRC is gradually being phased out, they continue to remain in service in a number of countries. Unlike the Soviet S-75 anti-aircraft complex, the geography of HQ-2 deliveries was not so wide. Until 2014, the Chinese clones of "seventy-five" guarded the skies of Albania, which became a NATO member in 2009. In the mid-80s, two missile and one technical battalion HQ-2A were transferred to Pakistan. Now one Chinese-made anti-aircraft missile system is deployed to a position near Islamabad. Given the close Sino-Pakistani cooperation, it can be assumed that Pakistani air defense systems in the 90s were upgraded to the HQ-2J level.
Within the framework of Chinese military assistance in the 70-80s, several HQ-2 divisions equipped with JLP-40 air target reconnaissance radars and JLG-43 altimeters were delivered to North Korea. At the same time, the leader of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung, managed to simultaneously receive military assistance from both China and the Soviet Union. So the last Soviet complexes S-75M3 "Volga" were sent to the DPRK in 1986. For a long period of time, Soviet-made "seventy-fives" and their Chinese clones were on alert in parallel. At the moment, the DPRK has more than two dozen S-75 and HQ-2 air defense systems. Historically, the main part of the HQ-2 air defense system in the DPRK was deployed near the border of North Korea and China and covered the transport corridors connecting these countries.
However, on the basis of publicly available satellite images, it can be concluded that the launchers of the North Korean S-75 and HQ-2 air defense systems are not constantly equipped with missiles. Which, most likely, is due to the limited number of air-conditioned missiles at the disposal of the DPRK air defense forces.
The largest operator of the HQ-2 air defense system outside the PRC has become the Islamic Republic of Iran. Before the Islamic Revolution, which overthrew Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1979, Iran was one of the closest allies of the United States. Thanks to friendly relations with Western countries and the availability of significant financial resources obtained from oil exports, the Shah's Iran purchased the most modern weapons of Western production. In the second half of the 70s, the American company Raytheon supplied 24 batteries of the MIM-23 Improved HAWK air defense system, and the British Matra BAe Dynamics delivered the Rapier short-range air defense system. Western experts helped to link these anti-aircraft weapons into a single system. The Rapier air defense systems received from the UK with the help of the SuperFledermaus OMS were combined with the Oerlikon GDF-001 anti-aircraft 35-mm machine guns. However, the Iranian Shah tried to maintain friendly relations with the Soviet Union. In the 60s and 70s, the following were received from the USSR: anti-aircraft self-propelled guns ZSU-57-2, towed 23-mm twin ZU-23, 37-mm machine guns 61-K and 57-mm S-60, 100-mm anti-aircraft guns KS -19 and MANPADS "Strela-2M".
However, after the overthrow of the Shah and the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran, relations with Western countries were hopelessly ruined, and the Soviet Union, after the start of the Iran-Iraq war, chose to refrain from supplying modern weapons to Iran. In these conditions, after repressions and the flight from the country of a significant part of qualified Iranian specialists trained in the military institutions of the United States and Europe and the use of a significant part of the ammunition by the mid-80s, the Iranian air defense system fell into decay, and a significant part of the available anti-aircraft systems and radars needed repair. Faced with a shortage of qualified technical personnel, the Iranian authorities were forced to return the old personnel to service and begin repairing the failed equipment on their own. At the same time, the problem of lack of spare parts was solved in several ways. The Iranian industry began to manufacture parts that could be made on site, and the most complex electronic components, anti-aircraft missiles and their individual components were attempted to be illegally purchased abroad. So in the early to mid-80s, a number of spare parts and missiles for the American air defense system "Hawk" were secretly acquired in Israel and the United States. The US CIA financed the subversive activities of the Nicaraguan Contras with illegally obtained funds. After this became public, a scandal erupted in the United States, leading to serious political complications for the Ronald Reagan administration, and the channel of illegal supplies was cut off.
Since the United States and the Soviet Union refused to supply high-tech weapons, the Iranian leadership turned to China for help. The cooperation turned out to be mutually beneficial. Iran gained access, albeit not the most modern, but fully combat-ready weapons, and Iranian oil was supplied at a discounted price to China, which experienced significant economic difficulties in the early 80s as payment for the supplied equipment, weapons and ammunition.
In the mid-80s, the first group of the Iranian military went to the PRC, which was to master the HQ-2A air defense system and Chinese radars. Chinese-made anti-aircraft missile systems were deployed deep in Iranian territory, and were used to cover defense enterprises and oil fields. Shortly before the cessation of hostilities, Iran received a batch of modernized HQ-2Js. According to information published in Western sources, by the end of 1988, a total of 14 battalions of HQ-2A / J medium-range air defense missile systems were delivered to Iran. According to Iranian data, Chinese-made air defense systems managed to shoot down several Iraqi MiG-23B and Su-22. A couple of times, fire was unsuccessfully opened on Iraqi MiG-25RB supersonic reconnaissance bombers, which were also involved in the bombing of oil fields.
After the end of the Iran-Iraq war, military-technical cooperation between Iran and China in the field of air defense continued. Thanks to Chinese support in the second half of the 90s, Iran began its own production of Sayyad-1 anti-aircraft missiles intended for use in the Chinese HQ-2J air defense systems.
According to the information published in the Iranian media, the firing range of the Sayyad-1 missiles has been increased to 60 km, which significantly exceeds the controlled flight range of the original Chinese-made missiles. At the same time, Iran has developed its own fragmentation warhead weighing 200 kg for Sayyad-1 missiles. According to unconfirmed information, part of the modernized missiles, in the 21st century, was equipped with a cooled IR seeker, which is used in the final section of the trajectory, which increases the likelihood of hitting a target.
Simultaneously with the development of the production of anti-aircraft missiles, overhaul and modernization of the existing HQ-2J air defense systems, at the Isfahan Technological University on the basis of the YLC-8 station (the Chinese version of the P-12 radar), a Matla ul-Fajr meter-range radar with a detection zone of up to 250 km was created. Later, the radars Matla ul-Fajr-2 and Matla ul-Fajr-3, with a detection range of 300 and 400 km, were adopted by the radio engineering units of the Iranian air defense.
However, the understanding that anti-aircraft systems with missiles and guidance equipment built on the basis of technical solutions laid down in the late 50s were hopelessly outdated, became the reason for the refusal to further improve the HQ-2 air defense system. Liquid missiles and a guidance station, poorly protected from modern electronic countermeasures, can be relatively effective in a local conflict against the aviation of countries that do not have modern RTR and electronic warfare equipment. However, given that the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia are considered the main opponents in Iran, the outdated Chinese-made air defense systems are unlikely to be effective against the air attack weapons at the disposal of these states.
In addition, air defense systems with liquid-propellant missiles have always been much more complicated and more expensive to operate than complexes with solid-fuel missiles. The increased danger when refueling and draining fuel and oxidizer requires the use of skin and respiratory protection equipment and strict adherence to technology and fire safety measures. In this regard, after the deployment of modern Russian-made anti-aircraft missile systems S-300PMU2 and the start of production of its own medium-range air defense systems, over the past few years, the number of HQ-2J air defense systems in Iran has significantly decreased.
The S-75 anti-aircraft missile system, the first versions of which appeared 60 years ago, largely predetermined the path of development of the air defense forces and had a significant impact on the course of local conflicts in the 20th century. Although the S-75 air defense system and its Chinese analogue HQ-2 already largely do not meet modern requirements, as of 2018, these complexes remained in service in Vietnam, Egypt, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, North Korea, Pakistan, Syria and Romania. However, due to the development of a resource, high cost, complexity of operation, as well as unsatisfactory noise immunity, "seventy-fives" and their Chinese clones will soon be replaced on alert by more advanced anti-aircraft missile systems.
Talking about the Chinese HQ-2 air defense systems, one cannot fail to mention the tactical missile created on the basis of the air defense missile system, designed to destroy ground targets. As you know, before the termination of military-technical cooperation with the Soviet Union, a small number of R-11FM single-stage liquid-propellant SLBMs were delivered to China along with the diesel-electric missile submarine of Project 629. Although in the USSR there was a land mobile modification of this R-11M missile, with a launch range of up to 170 km, in the PRC during the years of the “Great Leap Forward” they did not begin to create its own operational-tactical missile on its basis. Until the early 90s, the PLA did not have its own operational-tactical missile system. Devoted in the mid-50s, Soviet ballistic missiles R-2 with a launch range of about 600 km were produced in China under the designation DF-1 (Dongfeng-1 - East Wind-1). However, this rocket, which was a development of the R-1 (Soviet copy of the German V-2), ran on alcohol and liquid oxygen and could not be stored for a long time in a filled state and by the beginning of the 60s it was hopelessly outdated. In the first half of the 80s, in connection with the development of a resource, it was decided to convert part of the Chinese anti-aircraft missiles used as part of the HQ-2 air defense system into operational-tactical ones. Within the framework of the Project 8610 design and development project, a DF-7 (Dongfeng-7) ballistic missile with a launch range of up to 200 km was created on the basis of the missile defense system. Due to the use of a compact inertial guidance system, it was possible to free up an additional internal volume and install a more powerful high-explosive fragmentation warhead. The acceleration characteristics of the rocket have increased due to the use of a more powerful solid-propellant booster of the first stage. Apparently, the OTP DF-7 was used in very small quantities in the PLA, and most of the obsolete HQ-2 air defense missile systems were shot at firing ranges during control training launches or converted into air targets. According to information published in Western sources, operational-tactical missiles DF-7 under the designation M-7 were exported to the DPRK, Pakistan and Iran. According to Global Security experts, it was not the missiles themselves that were mainly transferred to these countries, but technical documentation and at a certain stage some details that made it possible to quickly remake the existing missiles into OTR.
So, according to American data, the first 90 OTR M-7 arrived in Iran in 1989. In 1992, Iranian enterprises began mass production of the missile, designated Tondar-69. According to the resource Missiles of the World, as of 2012, Iran had 200 Tondar-69 missiles and 20 mobile launchers. Iranian officials said that this missile has a launch range of 150 km and a KVO of 150 m. However, such accuracy is unattainable for a missile with a primitive inertial control system.
The use of a missile as part of an operational-tactical complex, which is not much different from an anti-aircraft missile, reduces the cost of production and maintenance, and facilitates training of personnel. But at the same time, the effectiveness of such a weapon is highly questionable. The missile carries a relatively light warhead that is not powerful enough to effectively engage protected ground targets. Large dispersion from the aiming point makes its use justified only for large areal targets located in the frontal zone: airfields, transport hubs, cities and large industrial enterprises. At the same time, the separating first solid-propellant stage during a missile flight over the location of its troops can be dangerous. Preparing a rocket with a liquid propellant engine for combat use is a rather complicated process. Since transportation of a fully fueled rocket over long distances is impossible, the oxidizer is refueled in the immediate vicinity of the launch site. After that, the rocket from the transport-loading vehicle is transferred to the launcher. It is clear that the rocket battery, which includes bulky conveyors and tanks with flammable fuel and a caustic oxidizer that ignites flammable substances in the frontal zone, is a very vulnerable target. Currently, the Tondar-69 missile system clearly does not meet modern requirements, its combat and service-operational characteristics are unsatisfactory.
In 2015, the Yemeni Houthis and units of the regular army fighting on their side, presented a new tactical missile, the Qaher-1. According to information released by the Al-Masirah TV channel, the new missile has been converted from the SAM used in the S-75 air defense system. From 1980 to 1987, South and North Yemen received 18 C-75M3 Volga air defense systems and 624 B-755 / B-759 combat missiles. It was reported that the work on the modification of the missiles was carried out by the department of the military industry of the army and people's committees. Western experts believe that the Yemeni Qaher-1 is modeled after the Iranian Tondar-69, and it was from Iran that the onboard control equipment, contact fuses and topographic reference devices were supplied.
In 2017, Yemeni television showed footage of Qaher-M2 missiles. The declared launch range of the Qaher-M2 is 300 km, which, according to expert estimates, can be realized by introducing a more powerful launch booster and reducing the mass of the warhead to 70 kg. In total, the Houthis launched up to 60 Qaher-1 and Qaher-M2 missiles against the positions of the Arab coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia. The most famous incident involving this type of missile was the attack on the Khalid bin Abdulaziz airbase in Asir province in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The Saudis said that most of the Yemeni OTR was intercepted by Patriot air defense systems or fell in desert areas. In turn, the Iranian news agency FARS reported: "The shelling inflicted significant losses on the Saudi army."
