Six Chinese military planes in Europe would have made headlines before the war in Ukraine, but they’re now attracting even more attention, landing on Saturday to deliver a stockpile of HQ22 SAM missiles ordered by Serbia in 2019
Six large Chinese military aircraft over the skies of Europe made headlines even before the war in Ukraine. They’re attracting even more attention now, in “suspicious times” and because the squadron flew in formation from China to Serbia, a nation historically close to Russia.
The aircraft, the Y20 transport aircraft, landed at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Civil Airport on Saturday to deliver a shipment of HQ22 SAM missiles (surfacetoair missiles) ordered by Serbia in 2019. The United States in 2020 They tried to dissuade the Serbian government from buying it, warning them that if they really want to join the European Union and other Western alliances, they should also deploy defense systems that meet Western standards.
A controversial shipment, therefore, is the Chinesemade HQ22 missiles arriving in the heart of the unstable Balkan region. The HQ22 is a groundbased air defense weapon system: it can be used against aircraft, helicopters, drones, ballistic and cruise missiles. They have a range of 170 kilometers and can hit targets up to 27 kilometers high. Military experts compare them to American Patriots and Russian S300s (although these Russian surfacetoair missiles have longer range and more advanced technology than China’s).
The Serbian government of President Aleksandar Vucic has voted in favor of UN resolutions condemning the Russian attack on Ukraine, but does not support the international sanctions plan against Moscow.
In Beijing, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “Cooperation projects between China and Serbia have nothing to do with the current situation (in Ukraine, ed.)”. The Y20 fleet “delivered military supplies on a regular basis”.
The Chinese Air Force’s Y20 cargo ships had been used to transport the famous masks and ventilators for Covid19 intensive care medicine in 2020, but in this health campaign they flew in droplets and droplets, never in such impressive formations. This time they gave a tremendous show of their strength.
It is possible that the Beijing Air Force wanted to send a signal of strength and their ability to mount an airlift for the transport of any type of material over a very long distance. “The Warzone”, an online magazine specializing in military issues, planned the flight to Belgrade. The Chinese Y20s flew 100 kilometers apart, the route taking them over two NATO countries: Turkey and Bulgaria, which apparently allowed them to traverse their airspace. Photos taken by Serbian enthusiasts at the civil airport in Belgrade revealed another detail: some of the Chinese freighters had removed the covers from their devices for “chaff & flare,” the countermeasures used by military aircraft to fool the plane’s infraredguided optical sensors from missiles when flying in a “hostile environment”.
April 11, 2022 (change April 11, 2022 | 12:24)
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