Serbia unveils Chinese-made FK-3 air defence system

Serbia's Chinese-built FK-3 air defence system will be integrated with other RV i PVO assets, including the Pantsyr S1 SPAAGM system. (Serbian MoD)

A battery of the Chinese-made FK-3 air defence system was among the Serbian Armed Forces' (SAF's) new equipment shown at the Štit (Shield) 2022 military power demonstration at Batajnica air base on 30 April.

The China Jiangnan Space Industry FK-3, the export variant of the HQ-22 medium- to long-range semi-active radar homing/radio-command guidance air defence system retains the domestic version's top speed of Mach 6, although its range of 50 m to 100 km is significantly shorter than the Chinese HQ-22's maximum range of 170 km.

Serbia ordered the FK-3 in 2019 and its components were delivered to Batajnica on 9–11 April by six People's Liberation Army Air Force Y-20A transport aircraft.

The FK-3 will serve with the 2nd Air Defence Missile Battalion of the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence's (RV i PVO's) 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade, mainly to protect the capital, Belgrade, but also the strategically important cities of Novi Sad, Niš, and Kragujevac.

Nenad Miloradović, assistant minister for material resources in the Ministry of Defence, said that Serbian FK-3 crews have already completed training in China, including firing at and hitting very low and fast flying targets at ranges of 97 km. He also announced that Serbia would have a highly-integrated and layered air defence system comprising existing and modernised as well as new radars by the end of 2023. Serbia is procuring 22 Thales Ground Master 200 multimission medium-range and Ground Master 400 long-range radars.