PLA Anti-Air Missile (SAM) systems
- Thread starter FORBIN
- Start date
The LY-70 SAM system.
Would be neat if there is a picture of the entire missile. Unlike the FM3000, it appears to have long body fins, so the design is like a mini HQ-16. I wonder if there will be a naval version.
I do personally feel this image (alongside some previous images) is already telling us 90% of what a clean image of an entire missile would tell us.
The missile mockup shown doesn't have a booster. It has all moving rear fins and fairly long mid body strakes, all of which are hinged very close to the body. The rocket motor section is slightly wider than the nose section.
Actually, the overall layout is VERY much similar to the ESSM one. Though of course there are small differences.
ESSM's rear fins are smaller, also hinged.
Its strakes are longer, but smaller and fixed.
And of course the block 2 ESSM has the nose section of same width as the rest of the body.
I guess in a sense LY70 missile is also VERY similar to the LY80 missile as well.
Similar rear fins, though the LY70 has longer and smaller strakes, which don't seem to be hinged. And the front body is of the same diameter as the rocket engine.
Curiously, the strakes bit on LY80B is more similar to what we see on LY70. While those too seem to lack hinges, and aren't as large as LY70 ones, they are shorter and perhaps positioned more like these on LY70.
It's hard to get any real measumrents, of course.
But if we do manage to get them one day, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that LY70
and LY80 have a LOT in common. That LY70 is basically a slightly scaled down LY80. Possibly even that it uses very similar rocket motor, but one pushing more compact electronics/seeker/warhead. And of course there should be some tradeoff in performance due to hinged surfaces which likely require a heavier and sturdier construction.
As for quadpacking, IF the LY70 missile indeed does share diameter with LY80, at 0.34 m body diameter, plus hinges, plus clearance, we're likely looking at some 0.4 m, give or take, per missile.
I wonder what the guidance method of the LY-70 is. To me it seems command guidance with a rotating radar acting both as a search radar and a tracking radar with staring ability, providing command updates to the missile. This way it can omit a dedicated tracking radar making the system very compact and the missile not needing an expensive seeker.
This system reminds me of the Iranian '9th Dey' SAM and if the above is true it wouldn't surprise me if the LY-70 is one of the many Chinese-Iranian radar/SAM collaborations. (With the Chinese providing most of the know-how and work)
Or it could just be a coincidence.
This system reminds me of the Iranian '9th Dey' SAM and if the above is true it wouldn't surprise me if the LY-70 is one of the many Chinese-Iranian radar/SAM collaborations. (With the Chinese providing most of the know-how and work)
Or it could just be a coincidence.
