Serbia unveils Chinese-made FK-3 air defence system

A battery of the Chinese-made FK-3 air defence system was among the Serbian Armed Forces’ (SAF’s) new equipment shown at the Štit (Shield) 2022 military power demonstration at Batajnica air base on 30 April.

The China Jiangnan Space Industry FK-3, the export variant of the HQ-22 medium- to long-range semi-active radar homing/radio-command guidance air defence system retains the domestic version’s top speed of Mach 6, although its range of 50 m to 100 km is significantly shorter than the Chinese HQ-22’s maximum range of 170 km.

Serbia ordered the FK-3 in 2019 and its components were delivered to Batajnica on 9–11 April by six People’s Liberation Army Air Force Y-20A transport aircraft.

The FK-3 will serve with the 2nd Air Defence Missile Battalion of the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence’s (RV i PVO’s) 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade, mainly to protect the capital, Belgrade, but also the strategically important cities of Novi Sad, Niš, and Kragujevac.