Long-Range Air Defense / Lower-Cost Backbone

HQ-22

HQ-22 / FK-3

Road-mobile long-range air-defense missile system

System Status
Active
Updated 2026-03-28
FK-3 export designation
Key Specifications
Range Reported
100-170 km class across reviewed public sources, depending on domestic versus export designation
Altitude Verified
Up to 27 km in official Serbian FK-3 service descriptions
Radar Reported
Institutional analysis identifies an H-200 engagement radar and JSG-100 acquisition radar; official Serbian service descriptions confirm a battery built around launchers, radars, a command vehicle, and support vehicles
Interceptors
HQ-22 / FK-3 interceptor family
Mobility Road-mobile battery architecture with TELs, radars, command vehicle, and support vehicles; official Chinese training imagery shows missile loading onto launch trucks
Operators Reported
China operational; Serbia FK-3 in service since 2022; Thailand reported in institutional analysis
Procurement & Transfer Activity
2019-11-07

Chinese official military coverage said HQ-22 had been successively commissioned in the PLAAF ground-air-defense force

Verified
2022

Serbian MOD later stated that FK-3 entered Serbian service in 2022

Verified
2024-12-30

Serbian MOD published an official FK-3 capability profile including 100 km range, 27 km altitude, and 6-target / 12-missile engagement claims

Verified
Strengths
  • + Official Serbian service descriptions support a real exported long-range air-defense capability rather than a paper-only marketing system
  • + Institutional analysis frames HQ-22 as a lower-cost long-range layer that can supplement more advanced systems such as HQ-9
  • + Official Serbian material supports strong multichannel engagement wording around 6 targets and 12 missiles simultaneously
Limitations
  • - Reviewed public range figures diverge materially between official Serbian FK-3 service descriptions and wider institutional domestic-HQ-22 estimates
  • - Radar architecture is better documented in institutional analysis than in the reviewed official-source set
  • - Reviewed official sources do not support a stronger live-card ballistic-missile-defense claim or precise interceptor-subvariant naming