ARMY AIR DEFENCE CENTRE KARACHI
SINDH
The Pakistan Army today commissioned the HQ-9P High to Medium Air Defense System (HIMADS) into service with the 4th HIMADS Regiment, Army Air Defense Command. Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa witnessed the commissioning ceremony. The COAS was briefed on the state-of-the-art strategic weapons system by Commander Army Air Defense Command, Lieutenant General Hamood uz Zaman Khan.
The HQ-9P is a Pakistan-specific variant of the HQ-9A medium-to-long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. The CPMIEC HQ-9A is a long-range air defense system, able to engage all types of aerial targets up to a range of 230 kilometers. The two-stage solid-propellant missile used in the system has a maximum speed of Mach 4.2 and a service ceiling of 90,000 feet and features integrated radar for active terminal guidance, as well as thrust vector control. The missile incorporates advanced avionics to ensure a high probability of kill.
A typical HQ-9A battery consists of eight TEL trucks (comprising of 32 missiles ready-to-fire) linked to an 3D C-band mono-pulse planar phased array fire control radar, a Type 305B search radar, a tracking radar, control vehicles and a TWS-312 battery command post. These formations can be expanded, if necessary. It is unclear how many batteries Pakistan has ordered. HQ-9 systems are all-terrain, highly mobile, and able to conduct long distance deployments with shoot-and-scoot capabilities. The system also has multi-target engagement capability across the threat spectrum. The missile also has a limited anti-ballistic missile capability. The HQ-9 missile’s seeker target data is transmitted to the ground control station via downlink. The ground control station calculates the trajectory corrections to enable a successful interception and those corrections are sent back to the HQ-9 missile via an uplink. The HQ-9A air defense system can track as many as 100 airborne targets while engaging 50 of them simultaneously.
Inter Services Public Relations says the “Induction of HIMADS will significantly enhance Comprehensive Layered Integrated Air Defense (CLIAD) shield of aerial frontiers of Pakistan” and that the “HQ-9/P is considered as a strategic long-range Surface to Air Missile (SAM) with remarkable flexibility and precision”.
“Pakistan–China strategic partnership and defense collaboration is a factor of stability in the region”, COAS said during the commissioning ceremony.
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