China Reverse Engineered Ukrainian Supersonic Cruise Missile “Bliskavka”

China’s Guangdong Hongda Blasting Co Ltd presented HD-1A missile that shares striking similarities to the Ukrainian-made Bliskavka (“Lightning”) supersonic cruise missile.

The company unveiled a mock-up of its new missile system at the Airshow China 2021 in Zhuhai. It looked like a clone of Bliskavka missile designed by Ukrainian defense contractor Yuzhnoye, Defence Blog reported.

HD-1A is reportedly designed to destroy both ground and sea targets. It is said to provide precision strikes and fire support, including coastal defense and channel blockade. It can also destroy well-protected targets, such as communications and command centers, military bases, military infrastructure and enemy naval ships.

“It is a new weapon system capable of guaranteeing strategic deterrence and performing tactical precision strikes,” the company said.

The Chinese HD-1A consists of a missile, launch system and integrated support system. It has been developed for use in missions aimed at destroying high-quality, well-protected targets, such as communication and command centers, air forces bases, maintenance centers and infrastructure.

As a Chinese clone, the Ukrainian missile has air intakes on both sides of the missile that suggest it is a ramjet-powered missile. In general, the design of both missiles is very similar but has a number of differences.

Bliskavka was first unveiled at the Zbroya ta bezpeka-2019 (Arms and Security-2019) military exhibition in Kiev, Ukraine. 

© 2021, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.