A screengrab from footage released by the ISPR on 14 October showing a transporter vehicle carrying spare missiles for the HQ-9/P SAM system during a commissioning ceremony held that same day at Army Air Defence Centre Karachi. (ISPR)

The Pakistan Army's (PA's) Air Defence forces have inducted into service a variant of the Chinese-made HQ-9 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, according to a 14 October press release issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani military.

Referred to in PA service as the HQ-9/P High-to-Medium Air Defence System (HIMADS), the weapon entered service in a ceremony held that same day at Army Air Defence Centre Karachi that was also attended by Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

The HQ-9/P can operate as part of an integrated air and missile defence network, meaning that it will be used to “significantly enhance” the ‘Comprehensive Layered Integrated Air Defence (CLIAD)' along Pakistan's frontiers, noted the ISPR.

No information was provided about how many HQ-9/P sets have entered service and whether additional sets are on order.

The HQ-9/P has an engagement range against cruise missiles and aircraft in excess of 100 km with a high “single shot kill probability”, according to ISPR. However, this range is actually thought to be only against aircraft, and the radar cross section required to achieve this range is unknown. Engagement ranges against cruise missiles and similar targets are thought to be much shorter, around 25 km.

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