escobar
Brigadier
Could be this unidentified launcher (with two missile tubes) seen at Korla base 1/16/2021, few weeks before the 2/4/2021 official missile intercept test.
PLA Anti-Air Missile (SAM) systems
- Thread starter FORBIN
- Start date
more & more is emerging...
So we have
HQ-26 (~PAC 3 MSE/SM-6) - 8 tube,
HQ-19 (~ THAAD) - 6 tube,
HQ-29 (~S-500/PL-19 Nudol) - 2 tube, &
PC-19/DN-3? - single tube
(long range ASAT, based on KZ-1)
So we have
HQ-26 (~PAC 3 MSE/SM-6) - 8 tube,
HQ-19 (~ THAAD) - 6 tube,
HQ-29 (~S-500/PL-19 Nudol) - 2 tube, &
PC-19/DN-3? - single tube
(long range ASAT, based on KZ-1)
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Whats a long range ASAT missile? Is it that it could target satellites in higher orbits or what?
Yes. Think of it as a small space launch vehicle that puts an intelligent payload - optical/infrared camera with thrusters (EKV) - into a suborbital trajectory with a very high apogee, sufficient to reach most if not all satellites in LEO.
The SM-6 (particularly Block 1B) is way bigger than the PAC-3 MSE, though?
Besides, the HQ-29's missile tubes (and its TEL) looks to be quite longer than those of the S-500. The cancelled KEI seems to be closer in dimension to the HQ-29.
In the meantime, hopefully China will field SM-3 (and better yet, GPI) equivalent(s) soon.
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antiterror13
Brigadier
Is it HQ-26 roughly equivalent to American SM-3 ?
It is pretty reasonable to assume it has some capability in that ballpark. It's much closer in design to THAAD-ER than THAAD and thus has significantly more range and, more importantly, divert velocity to deal with hypersonic gliding targets. What makes hypersonic missiles hard for ABM/ATBM systems to deal with is their ability to maneuver a great deal (comparative to the kill vehicle) cross-range. That capability is built in the two-stage designs of THAAD-ER and HQ-19.
The placard at Zhuhai describes the HQ-19 as being able to intercept hypersonic missiles.