Key Factors
- Images on Chinese language social media present an HQ-17 air protection system in camouflage matching Algerian gear, with Chinese language sources saying it’s for Algeria.
- Neither Algeria nor China’s CASIC has confirmed a sale, and the amount and supply date stay unknown.
A Chinese language HQ-17 short-range air protection system painted in camouflage matching Algerian navy autos has appeared in pictures shared extensively on Weibo, with Chinese language sources claiming the system is headed to Algeria.
The pictures had been highlighted by an OSINT protection account, which famous that the camouflage sample matches the paint used on a lot of Chinese language-made weapons already in Algerian service. The opposite sources acknowledged a small risk that the autos belong to an export order for a rustic in Africa’s Sahel area that makes use of related camouflage. It additionally stated stories that Algeria operates the HQ-17 had circulated earlier than.
The HQ-17 is a Chinese language growth of the Russian Tor-M1, a cellular system that detects, tracks and fires on low-flying threats from a single car. China purchased 27 Tor-M1 techniques from Russia in two contracts in 1996 and 1999, then developed its personal model. CASIC constructed it to shoot down plane, helicopters and drones in addition to cruise missiles, guided bombs and air-to-surface missiles.
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Every launch car carries its personal radar and eight missiles, so it may struggle with out assist from different items, although it may additionally take focusing on knowledge from separate surveillance radars. The Chinese language model makes use of an electronically scanned radar designed to withstand jamming. The missile reaches Mach 3 and may interact targets between 1.5 km and 20 km (1 to 12 miles) away, at altitudes as much as 10 km (33,000 ft).
The Individuals’s Liberation Military Floor Power operates the tracked HQ-17 and the wheeled HQ-17A, which rides on a 6×6 truck and may fireplace whereas transferring. China first confirmed an export model, the FM-2000, on the 2018 Zhuhai Airshow and cleared a variant known as the HQ-17AE for export in 2021. The HQ-17AE can information 4 missiles towards 4 targets on the similar time. Serbia operates the HQ-17AE, and the system has additionally been reported in Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan.
Algeria runs one of many largest air protection networks in Africa, constructed on each Russian and Chinese language gear. Its long-range layer reportedly consists of Russian S-300PMU-2 and S-400 techniques alongside the Chinese language HQ-9, with Russian Buk-M2 techniques at medium vary. Algeria has additionally fielded Chinese language CHL-906 digital warfare autos, which its Ministry of Nationwide Protection confirmed throughout an train within the nation’s southwest.
A brief-range system such because the HQ-17 would sit on the backside of that community, defending items and key websites from drones, helicopters and incoming missiles that get previous the longer-range layers.
