For countries with a limited defense budget, the problem of air defense becomes difficult to solve:
Its meager air force cannot afford to protect the airspace, while mid- to long-range anti-aircraft missiles are as expensive as fighters
Therefore, having a true mid-range air defense system at an affordable price is important for these countries
The market for anti-aircraft weapons has changed, when Chinese manufacturers launched a line of low-cost air defense missiles Kai Shan 1 (KS-1)
Kai Shan 1 is the export version of the Hóng Qí 12 high-altitude medium-range air defense missile system (HQ-12)
researched and manufactured by Jiangnan Aviation Industry Company in 1967
The KS-1 program was started in the 1980s, to replace the Hóng Qí 2 missile complex (HQ-2)
a reverse-engineered copy of the Soviet S-75 Dvina
Due to reasons which have not been publicly disclosed, the KS-1 did not enter military service in China when development was completed in 1994
A likely reason was the poor manuvering capability of the missile
It could only engage targets with a 5g manoeuvring capability, making the KS-1 largely ineffective for defending against new-generation combat aircraft
In 1998 the Zhuhai Airshow saw the first public display
KS-1 initially using the traditional dual-mounted fixed transmitters and launchers very similar to the old-fashioned HQ-2
At the same time, the KS-1 system used the missiles developed from the HQ-2 missile's second-stage
but the new missile was equipped with a single-chamber solid fuel engines
This launcher could be mounted on a 6x6 truck to increase system mobility or be emplaced in the standard fashion
A typical HQ-12 air defense missile consists of the following components:
air target detection radar, a target tracking and missile guidance station, four double launchers and 18 reserve missiles
The radar-guided missile HQ-12 is mainly used to deal with fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters
The HQ-12 uses a solid propellant, dual-mounted missile detachment weight 886 kg
capable of striking flying targets at 0.5 to 25 km altitude, horizontal range of 7 to 42 km, the maximum flight speed of 1200 m/sec
The anti-aircraft missile is 5.6 meters long, 0.4 meter in diameter, and weighs 900 kilograms
The missile launching weight is 900 kilograms
The KS-1 system uses the SJ-202 acquisition radar and a phased-array engagement radar system, similar to the HQ-2
KS-1 system is equipped with China's first self-developed 3D Phased Array Radar -- SJ-202
which can track six targets and guide six missiles on one of three attacks from time to time
The maximum search distance of 115 kilometers, the maximum tracking distance of 80 kilometers
The latest updated version is KS-1A. It is rated as roughly equivalent to the US MIM-23 HAWK, except it was designed to engage missiles as well as aircraft
It is the first Chinese SAM to adopt an indigenous planar passive phased array engagement radar
designated the H-200, which can simultaneously track multiple targets over 100 km away
It can guide six missiles to three targets at the same time
The new radars substantially improve the systems performance over the original KS-1
The KS-1A, which has greatly improved minimum altitude and range, has already been developed and first appeared at the sixth Zhuhai airshow in 2006
It was rumored that this improvement also increased its ability to engage targets maneuvering at a higher g force
Due to the long development process, combined with the technical scandals
it became difficult to equip the HQ-12 air defense missile system in the People's Liberation Army
On the other hand, due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Chinese quickly acquired S-300 long-range anti-aircraft missile complexes
and later successfully copied them under the name Hong Ky 9 (HQ-9)
In China, HQ 12 only plays a complementary role to HQ 9
The new direction for the KS-1 is for export customers
Myanmar has become the first customer of KS-1A, with seven batteries of KS-1A and locally made KS-1M
Following Myanmar, Turkmenistan became the second customer
Thailand is the latest customer of the KS-1, and the first customer of the improved version of the KS-1C
The contract was signed in September 2016, and deliveries were made in early 2017