Recently, with the tension in the Middle East, the Israeli army fired multiple missiles into Syria, claiming to have destroyed missiles, drones and other advanced weapons at Iran’s military bases, causing a lot of damage to Syria.
Syria stated that after several Israeli missile strikes in the early stage, the Russian-made S-300, S200, SA11, and Pantsir-S1 air defense missiles equipped by the Syrian air defense forces did not play a role in the face of Israeli airstrikes, and they became even more vulnerable. Israel even didn’t have to use F-35 stealth fighter, only F-16I “Thunder” fighter can break through the Syrian air defense network and launch a precise strike against any targets in Syria.
According to military account “Crazy Warfare”, if Syria wants to change the situation, the country must upgrade its national defense air system. There are many deficiencies in the Russian-made air defense missiles, instead, the Chinese Hongqi (HQ) series of air defense missiles should be preferred.
The Russian-made defense system has always occupied a place in the world’s air defense field, especially as Iran purchased the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile system since 2018 and regards it as a treasure. This air defense system has a lot of electronic equipment and a fast counterattack speed. A battalion can control a large area of airspace. It is very difficult for the enemy to destroy all of them. Coupled with strong maneuverability and random interception, it can be transferred within minutes after launching the missiles.
So why has Syria repeatedly suffered air defense failures? The Syrian military summarized several fatal problems of Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles: the backwardness of the electronic system leads to poor anti-jamming capabilities, the effective range is too different from the actual performance, and the system’s degree of automation is low.
Although the Syrian military is equipped with more advanced air defense system like S-300, the United States bought the most advanced S-300 air defense missile system then as early as 20 years ago from Belarus, thereby obtaining key data for this system.
And S-300 has been exported to many countries, Georgia, India, West Germany, Cyprus, Ukraine, Greece, Egypt and other countries have got or are about to have S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems. Therefore, western countries can obtain S-300’s designated radar and core electronic equipment. Such researches have caused that the S-300 air defense system has no secrets. The Israeli Air Force naturally knows all the data of S-300, which can optimize the interference intensity of specific frequency bands and directly suppress S-300’s search radar, making it ineffective.
In contrast, China’s HQ-9 air defense missile appears more reliable. China’s HQ-9 has been developed since the 1980s. It is China’s domestic weapon system for limited anti-tactical missiles, and a variety of models have been developed.
At present, the Chinese Navy and Air Force have begun to use the new-generation HQ-9B anti-aircraft missiles. Compared with the HQ-9A, the range and interception capabilities of HQ-9B have been greatly enhanced. According to related reports, the Chinese army is also developing the new-generation HQ-9C missile, of which the range is likely to exceed 400 kilometers, and has low-end antimissile capabilities.
The HQ-9 export version – FD-2000 land-based air defense missiles are equipped with more advanced detection and fire control radar electronic equipment, and has a high degree of automation. Its maximum search distance is more than 120km, the tracking distance of fighter targets is 90km, and the beam scanning range is horizontally 120 degrees and vertically 65 degrees, it can be connected to the brigade-level command center, can track up to about 100 air targets at the same time, and assign 50 of them.
The HQ-9 series has strong technical and tactical confidentiality, and the Israeli Air Force has not mastered the parameters of the HQ-9 air defense missile and cannot suppress it in a targeted manner. FD2000 has been exported to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and in HQ-9’s Turkish air defense missile bidding test, it has created a record of 9 consecutive hits, which is superior to the S400 and the Patriot.
It is reported that Syria currently plans to comprehensively discuss the replacement of old air defense missiles such as S-200 and Sam-6. If HQ-9 and S-300 are used for long-range air defense missions, the combination of the two air defense missiles can prevent Israeli fighters from suppressing at the same time, and short-distance air defense could be conducted with Pantsir-S1 missile gun system.
