Non-Subscriber Extract
Upgraded Chinese KS-1 SAM revealed
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| 09 January 2001 |
Yihong Zhang JDW Correspondent
Beijing
Additional reporting Christopher F Foss JDW Land Forces Editor
The
China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CNPMIEC)
is upgrading the KS-1 low- to high-altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM)
system to the enhanced KS-1A standard. The KS-1 SAM was developed some time ago to supplement the older CNPMIEC HY-2 (Hongqi-2) SAM that entered People's Liberation Army (PLA) service in 1967 and is similar in many respects to the Russian Almaz S-75 (NATO designation: SA-2 'Guideline') family.
It is believed that the KS-1 SAM entered service around 1996 and is known to have been offered on the export market, although there are no known export sales.
The
PLA currently deploys two versions of the KS-1, static and semi-mobile.
The latter consists of a 6 x 6 cross-country truck on the rear of which
is mounted a turntable with two KS-1 SAMs in the ready-to-launch position.
A typical battery would consist of one radar and guidance station and four
launchers with eight missiles ready to fire and 18 in reserve. The original
radar, the SJ-202, was similar in some respects to that used in the HY-2
SAM with guidance of the radio command type. The original version of the
KS-1 missile weighed 900kg at launch and has a maximum speed of 1,200m/sec
with a minimum range of 7,000m and a maximum range of 42,000m. It can engage
targets travelling at a maximum speed of 750m/sec and manoeuvring at a maximum
of 4.5g at an altitude of 1,640ft to 82,000ft. The new version of the KS-1 SAM features a trailer-mounted phased-array radar that is very similar to the one used by the US Raytheon Systems AM/MPQ-53 Patriot SAM system.
Analysts speculate that China has acquired this technology from abroad, perhaps from Israel, which has had a number of undisclosed programmes with China, including aerospace, armoured vehicles and missiles as well as their associated subsystems.
Other sources have claimed that the exterior features of the new search/track radar are actually something between AN/MPQ-53 and that used with China's recently acquired Russian Almaz S-300-PMU1 (SA-10D 'Grumble') SAM system.
The new radar is claimed to enable the KS-1A system to engage up to three targets at once.
The missile has also been improved by upgrading the dual thrust solid-propellant motor and it now has a maximum stated range of up to 50km and a maximum effective altitude of 88,560ft. It is not known whether the high-explosive fragmentation warhead of the missile with its radio-frequency proximity fuze has been improved.
It is understood that key parts of the upgraded KS-1A SAM have already been completed with the current research and development activities mainly directed for future research and technological applications.
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| Scale models of the trailer-mounted phased-array radar used in the latest version of the KS-1 SAM system and the self-propelled version with two missiles in the ready-to-launch position (Source: Y Zhang) |