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Belgrade. China has supplied advanced anti-aircraft system HQ-22 to Russia’s ally Serbia later this week. China did this deal very secretly. It is believed that China supplied these weapons to Western countries, including America, seeing them busy in the Ukraine War. Some time ago, Western countries had expressed concern over the arms being given to Serbia. They had claimed Ukraine war. Meanwhile, supplying weapons to a country like Serbia can threaten the peace and security of the region.
According to media reports, six Y-20 cargo planes of the Chinese Air Force landed at the Belgrade airport in the early hours of Saturday, through which the HQ-22 surface-to-air missile system was allegedly supplied to the Serbian army. Pictures have surfaced of Chinese cargo planes carrying military equipment landing at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport.
The presence of China’s Y-20 cargo planes in Europe has been termed as a new development. The Ministry of Defense of Serbia has not given any response to the question asked in this regard. Relations between China and Serbia go back a long way. China has helped Serbia since the time of the civil war, while its relations with the US are strained.
How dangerous is China’s HQ-22?
China’s HQ-9 is a medium and long range surface to air missile defense system. The HQ-22 is an upgrade of China’s old HQ-2 missile. HQ-22 is manufactured by Jiangnan Space Industry of China. This company, also known as Base 061, is a part of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited. China first publicly demonstrated this missile system as an improved version of the FK-3 at the 2016 Zhuhai Airshow.
The AQ-22 has a range of 170 kms.
The HQ-22 missile system has a range of 170 km. The weight of this missile is 300 kg and the length is seven meters. One of its missiles can attack with a warhead of up to 180 kg. Solid fuel rocket motor is used in HQ-22. Semi-active radar homing and radio command guidelines are used to show the direction of this missile.
