QianWei 1 Shoulder-Fired Air Defence Missile

The QianWei 1 (or Vanguard 1 in its export name) is the second-generation shoulder-launched, all-aspect IR-homing, 'fire-and-forget' air defence missile developed by 119 Factory (also known as Shenyang Hangtian Xinle Ltd.) of China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (CASIC) based in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. The missile was first revealed during the 1994 Farnborough Air Show. The state-own weapon exporter China Precision Machinery Import and Export Company (CPMIEC) claimed that the missile had surpassed the U.S. FIM-92A Stinger in maximum effective range, target seeker tracking capability, and warhead power. The missile has also been produced by Pakistan under license as Anza MK-2.

The QianWei 1 appears to be based on the Russian 9K310 (NATO codename: SA-16 Gimlet) incorporated some features of the U.S. FIM-92A Stinger. The missile was designed to engage jet and propeller-driven aircraft and helicopters from all aspects. The missile is normally fired on the gunner’s shoulder, but can also be operated on tripod, or vehicle-/ship-mounted launcher. The missile can be deployed together with the anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) to form a multi-layer air defence system. If necessary, the missile can also be modified into a lightweight air-to-air missile to be fired from helicopter.

The QianWei 1 system consists of the missile, reusable launcher tube, and battery/coolant unit. The 5km-range missile is powered by a solid rocket engine, with a booster projecting the missile from the launcher tube and accelerating it to the cruising speed, and the main motor keeping the missile fly to the target. The ignition of the main motor is time-delayed until the missile is out of a safe distance to avoid the blast damage to the gunner.

The QianWei 1 is operated by a two-man team. The gunner carries the missile and assistant detect the target. Once a target is visually detected, and assistance selects a suitable location for launch and also removes the end cap from the front and rear of the launcher. The gunner then activates the battery and the coolant, cooling the IR seeker to the operating temperature. The gunner then tracks the target until the missile locks onto the target, indicated by both a flashing light and an audio tone. The missile is fired and later the IR seeker is activated to guide the missile to the target.

The QianWei 1 entered the PLA service in the late 1990s, and its technology was exported to Pakistan for a co-production under license. The QianWei 1, or its Pakistani-made copy Anza MK-2, reportedly shot down a MiG-21 and a MiG-27 of the Indian Air Force during the 1999 India-Pakistan conflict at Kargil.

QianWei 1M

The QianWei 1M was first revealed in the 2002 Zhuhai Air Show. Claimed to be a third-generation shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile, the QianWei 1M is slightly heavier than the QianWei 1, weighting at 18kg for the entire system. The missile features an improved IR seeker with enhanced countermeasures capability and better capability in engaging low-flying missiles in comparison to the QianWei 1. Also, the original iron sight on the launcher tube was replaced by an optical sight, possibly with day/night vision.

QianWei 1A

The QianWei 1A jointly developed by 119 Factory and Xi’an Tianwei Electronic System Engineering Ltd. was based on the QianWei 1, but added with a man-portable target acquisition radar (weight: 30kg; range: 15km). The launcher tube of the QianWei 1A was also added with a LCD module. The target radar is linked to 4~6 QianWei 1A firing units via cable or wireless connections. The target information is directly displayed on the gunner’s LCD module, thus increasing the combat effectiveness by forming an integrated air defence network.

QianWei 11 (QianWei 1G)

The QianWei 11 (original designated QianWei 1G) is a development variant of the QianWei 1 specifically designed to engage terrain hugging cruise missiles, while still retaining the capability of engaging low-flying aircraft. A new combined impact and proximity fuse is developed to provide better capability against cruise missiles. The QianWei 11 is similar to the basic variant QianWei 1 in size and weight.

QianWei 18

The QianWei 18 is the further improved variant featuring an enhanced dual band infrared seeker is developed so that the target is not only tracked via the exhaust heat, but also the temperature difference of the skin of the target. These improvements provided better capabilities against terrain hugging cruise missiles at supersonic speed.

Specifications

System length: 1.532m
System weight: 16.5kg (QW-1); 18kg (QW-1M); 16.9kg (QW-11)
Missile length: 1.526m
Missile diameter: 0.071m
Missile launch weight: N/A
Propulsion: Single-stage solid rocket
Operating altitude: 0.03~4km
Operating range: 0.5~5km
Max speed: 600m/s
Guidance: Cooled InSb passive infrared homing seeker
Warhead: 0.57kg HE fragmentation
Weapon reaction time: 10 seconds
Battery life: 50 seconds

Last update: 20 February 2009