ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army said on Monday that it had completed the induction training of FM-90 air defe­nce missile system recently imported from China.

Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif witnessed the firing of the FM-90 air defence missile system near Karachi.

“The exercise marked the culmination of the induction training of the new system,” ISPR said in a statement.

The new system was handed over by China to Pakistan almost a week before the March 23 parade, where it was exhibited by Pakistan Army.

Exported by China’s National Precision Machin­ery Import & Export Cor­poration, FM-90 is the export version of Chinese missile HQ-7B, which is a Chinese clone of the French Thales/Thomson CSF Crotale SAM.

The military described the new surface-to-air missile system as an “all-weather missile that has the capability to engage aerial target, including cruise missiles, drones and air-to-surface guided missiles”. It is further said to be capable of operating under “adverse electronic counter measures (ECM) environments”.

The system that can simultaneously engage multiple targets flying at low or very low altitude, the Inter-Services Public Relations said, would enhance Pakis­tan’s air defence capability “both in range and accuracy”. “This would enable our army to thwart any threat at extended short-range air defence system (SHORAD) regime,” an article on the missile in the military’s magazine Hilal said.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2015

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