ATGMs of the third generation HJ-12

Now the People’s Liberation Army of China is actively receiving ATGMs of the third generation HJ-12, created on the principle of “fire and forget”, but the re-equipment of such a gigantic army (and there is also a militia) does not happen quickly, especially in the troops and in storage there remains a huge number of ATGMs for the HJ-73 ATGM variants with a semi-automatic guidance system.
Apparently for this reason, not so long ago, the modernization of the HJ-73D ATGM began, by equipping them with a new control unit, even more compact than the previous one and also equipped with a thermal imager.

Of course, even the upgraded missiles of the HJ-73D complex, by today’s standards, have insufficiently high speed and range, but on the other hand, the ATGM retains its important feature in the form of compactness, relatively small mass, separation of the control unit from launchers with missiles, which significantly increases the chances on the survival of the operator and the likelihood of catching enemy armored vehicles and infantry in an ambush.

The HJ-12 is a modern, third generation anti-tank missile developed by Norinco. The HJ-12 is a fire-and-forget system utilising lock-on before launch (LOBL) and is capable of being fired within buildings and bunkers due to its soft launch system.

HJ-12 Top Attack anti-tank missile

This weapon is known as China’s first anti-tank missile that can be completely launched and then ignored (shoot and forget). uses above.

The HJ-12 anti-armor weapon system has a total weight of about 22 kg, which includes the missile, launch tube and control unit, etc., and the length of the launch tube is 1.25 meters. This system has a maximum range of 2000 meters when using an anti-tank missile with an infrared guidance head. The maximum range when using a missile with a TV guidance head reaches 4000 meters.

This missile can penetrate 1100 mm homogeneous steel armor, and in addition to destroying armored vehicles, light tanks, it also has the ability to attack targets such as fortifications, shelters, small boats, and low-altitude helicopters, and it can also destroy the main tanks of today’s battlefield. slow