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Although Qatar deployed 11 Patriot missile companies around Doha, they did not fire a single shot in the air strike launched by Israel on the 9th and did not play a defensive role at all. The outside world speculates that this may be because the United States banned the use of US weapons from the use of US weapons due to its partiality with Israel.
Photo: Patriot positions outside Doha
However, no matter what the reason is, this air strike has made Arab countries in the Middle East understand that as long as it faces Israel, all US weapons are not allowed to be used. In view of this, some Arab people have begun to call for: "We cannot rely too much on American weapons and equipment, and we cannot put eggs in a basket."
In terms of air defense and anti-missile, the Arab people also noticed the latest Hongqi-9C air defense missile exhibited by China in the 9/3 military parade. The design and positioning of the missile are similar to the American Patriot 3MSE. They both take into account aerodynamic targets in the atmosphere. However, the main design idea is an air defense missile with the end-of-domain anti-missile missile. The missile can also be combined with the Hongqi 9B with stronger anti-cruising missile capabilities, forming an anti-aircraft and anti-missile dual-air defense system with extremely wide interception envelopes.
Picture: Red Flag 9C in the Military Parade
The Navy displayed the naval version of the Hongqi-9C, the Navy version of the Haihongqi-9C, in this 9/3 military parade. Compared with the land-based version, it mainly has an additional booster at the tail, and the design of the main bullet is the same. It can be seen that the head position of the missile is the same as the interceptor of the American Patriot 3MSE. It has a circle of small side-push rockets arranged along the body of the missile. They are mainly ignited when the missile approaches the target, providing correction force for side-pushing.
Picture: The sea-base version of the Hongqi 9C has added boost, with side-pushing rockets on the head
Photo: Patriot 3MSE's side-pushing rocket
Because the anti-missile interception heights of Patriot 3MSE and Hongqi 9C have reached 30,000 to 40,000 meters, the atmosphere at this height is relatively thin, and the aerodynamic rudder used by conventional air defense missiles has very low rudder effect at this height and cannot complete large overload correction, so a miniature side-pushing rocket is needed to be arranged on the head of the missile to help the missile correct its flight direction. This design allows the anti-missile interception height of Hongqi 9C can significantly exceed that of Hongqi 9B and other air defense missiles that rely on aero rudder correction, making it more suitable for anti-missile combat.
At present, among the long-range strike weapons of the Israeli Air Force, in addition to subsonic air-launched cruise missiles such as Delira and Popeye, they have been equipped with air-launched tactical ballistic missiles in recent years. For example, the air-launched version of LORA land-based tactical ballistic missile Air LORA.
Picture: LORA tactical ballistic missile vehicle-mounted launch
Originally, LORA was a single-stage solid-fuel campaign tactical ballistic missile launched vertically on-board vehicle, with a maximum range of 430 kilometers. It uses inertial guidance and GPS correction, and the strike accuracy is 10 meters.
After the F-16I and F-15I fighters are mounted on air-fired, they can eliminate the stage of climbing from the ground when they are launched at high altitude, and can reduce fuel consumption by 20% to 30%. At the same time, the initial kinetic energy of the missile can be given to the flight speed of the fighter and the environment with low high altitude resistance. Therefore, the range of the LORA ballistic missile after being changed to air-fired can be greatly improved. The outside world calculates that its maximum range of air-fired can be increased from 430 kilometers launched on the ground to about 600 kilometers.
Photo: Air-launched LORA tactical ballistic missile carried by fighter jets
With the assistance of air refueling aircraft, the strike range of Israeli Air Force fighters carrying air-launched LORA missiles can basically cover the entire Middle East. Not only do important cities such as Doha, the capital of Qatar, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi, the UAE, are within their range of attacks.
So for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and other countries, there are real needs for anti-aircraft tactical ballistic missiles and anti-aircraft.
This is exactly in line with the mission envelope of the Hongqi-9B and Hongqi-9C, the air defense and anti-missile combination. These two missiles adopt a common launch design and are compatible with the same set of firepower units, forming a complete interception envelope of "medium and low altitude anti-aircraft anti-cruising missile + medium and high altitude anti-ballistic missile". Among them, Hongqi 9B focuses on intercepting aerodynamic targets such as enemy fighter jets and cruise missiles, while Hongqi 9C focuses on intercepting ballistic missile targets that are attacking at high altitude.
Photo: Red Flag 9B and C co-frame model exhibited at the Air Force Museum
According to the performance of the US Patriot 3MSE, the end anti-missile performance of the Red Flag 9C should be similar to that of it, or stronger, that is, it is enough to intercept medium-range ballistic missiles with a range of 1,000 to 2,000 kilometers at the end. Therefore, for Israel's air-launched ballistic missile with a range of 600 kilometers, the Red Flag 9C can handle it completely. Even if Israel develops new medium-range ballistic missiles in the future, the Red Flag 9C can still deal with it.
In addition, more importantly, China will not have too many political conditions in foreign trade weapons and equipment like the United States, but will strictly abide by international treaties and consensus, especially weapons used for legitimate self-defense, and there will be basically no restrictions.
In general, this Israeli air strike against Qatar should sound a wake-up call to countries in the Middle East. Although they will not abandon US weapons and equipment after the air strike, and will still import US weapons systems in the future. However, while paying protection fees for US weapons, they are likely to simultaneously seek truly available equipment from other countries. This is indeed a good opportunity for new equipment such as my country's Red Flag 9C to enter the international market.
