Following its first disclosure in China’s Tibetan military region a short while ago, the HJ-12 (Red Arrow-12) anti-tank missile equipped to another Chinese unit was recently unveiled on the drill ground.
With the first appearance of this new man-portable anti-tank missile to its reappearance, it not only confirms the confirmation of the Chinese army’s use of the HJ-12 anti-tank missile, but also means that this type of missile may be gradually and massively installed in the PLA forces, further enhancing the anti-tank capability of Chinese infantries.
The official WeChat account of China’s elite 78th Group Army, which is under China’s Northern Theater Command, released an article yesterday about a fire company of the third battalion of a synthetic brigade of the army that organized outstanding enlisted soldiers who joined the army last year as junior instructors to help guide new recruits.
The article describes that Private Zhou Pengfei was demonstrating the anti-tank missile firing preparation action, while Private Wu Hongzhi was watching intently. It is worth mentioning that the full set of weaponry of the HJ-12, including the missile launch control device carried by the officer and soldier, was publicly revealed this time.
As China’s first anti-tank missile that can be completely launched and then ignored, the HJ-12 (Red Arrow-12)’s biggest feature is that it adopts a forget-after-launch and top-attack mode.
The HJ-12 anti-tank weapon system weighs about 22 kg in total, including the missile, launch tube and control unit, etc. The launch tube is 1.25 meters long. The system has a maximum range of 2,000 meters when using an anti-tank missile with an infrared guidance head; the maximum range doubles to 4,000 meters when using a missile with a television guidance head.
The missile can penetrate 1,100mm homogeneous steel armor, and in addition to destroying ground tank armor vehicles, it also has the capability to strike targets such as bunker fortifications, small boats, and low-altitude helicopters, and is capable of destroying any tanks currently in service in the world by top-attack mode.