The Chinese language Folks’s Liberation Army 73rd Group Army of the Japanese Theatre Command has re-equipped with a brand new enhanced variant of the HQ-16 lengthy vary air defence system, the HQ-16F, which was first unveiled in 2022. The deployment is important due the proximity of the unit, based mostly in Fujian province, to the Taiwan Strait, which is a number one potential hotspot for potential hostilities, and as a result of very appreciable functionality advances which the system now offers. The deployment follows gross sales of U.S. HIMARS rocket artillery and ATACMS ballistic missiles to the Republic of China Armed Forces based mostly on Taiwan Island, which stay in a state of civil conflict with the Chinese language mainland. The institution of a Joint Firepower Coordination Centre by the Republic of China Ministry of Nationwide Defence in late January noticed U.S. personnel completely stationed on the facility in Taipei to supervise planning and potential use of native missile forces, which has been thought-about an imminent risk to mainland Chinese language territory. It early February it was confirmed that ATACMS ballistic missiles had been being thought-about for deployment simply 16 kilometres from the mainland coast.
The HQ-16F makes use of missiles which are slimmer and nearly tailless, and has a a lot improved 160 kilometre most vary making it the primary HQ-16 variant that may be thought-about an extended reasonably than a medium vary system. To place this in perspective, the HQ-16 and HQ-16A have a variety of 40 kilometres, and the HQ-16B and HQ-16C each have a variety of 70 kilometres, or lower than half the vary of the brand new variant. The brand new system makes use of strapdown inertial midcourse navigation with energetic/semi-active terminal steering to enhance its anti-jamming efficiency and anti-saturation assault functionality. The place prior variants of the HQ-16 used passive electronically scanned array radars for steering, the subsequent technology HQ-16F makes use of an energetic electronically scanned array radar.
Dealing with the specter of ballistic missile assaults, the Chinese language Folks’s Liberation Army has developed a multi-layered anti-missile community that’s broadly regarded to be the world’s most succesful, and which was constructed round a variety of superior and complementary belongings deployed each on land and at sea. In September 2025 it was confirmed that the brand new HQ-29 anti-ballistic missile system had entered service, which is the world’s solely cell system with the flexibility to shoot down intercontinental vary ballistic missiles aside from the Russian S-500 and A-235. The HQ-19 has supplied a second excessive tier anti-missile functionality under the HQ-29, broadly corresponding to that of the American THAAD system, which is perfect for intercepting intermediate vary ballistic missile assaults. The HQ-16 is a decrease tier system throughout the community, and seems to have a big diploma of overlap with the lengthy ranged HQ-9 in its position.
