The mystery of China's Hongqi-29 is gradually being unveiled.

This high-end weapon system, known as the "Dual-Barrel Star Hunter," was publicly displayed during a military parade rehearsal, drawing significant attention from the international military community.

Hongqi-29 is a new generation of defense and anti-satellite system specifically designed for low-orbit satellites and high-value space targets. Its emergence marks a new phase in China's aerospace combat capabilities.

Different from traditional air defense missiles, Hongqi-29 is not just an additional layer of defense; it directly establishes an operational link from the ground to space, enabling China to have a routine capability to conduct anti-satellite strikes in low orbit.

It uses a large six-axis mobile launch vehicle with a dual-tube design, allowing each vehicle to carry two high-performance kinetic kill vehicles. Combined with phased array radar, Tiangong tracking and control network, and optical observation stations, it can monitor and lock onto low-orbit satellites in real time.

This means that, when necessary, China can actively disable satellites over a battlefield, leaving the opponent blind in a local area.

The emergence of Hongqi-29 will form a layered defense together with systems such as Hongqi-9, Hongqi-19, and FK-3000, gradually shifting from pure defense to active control of low-orbit space.

American Missile

Currently, there are almost no comparable competitors for Hongqi-29 globally.

Although the United States has high-performance interception systems such as SM-3 and GMD, these weapons were originally designed to intercept ballistic missiles, not low-orbit satellites.

In 2008, the United States used SM-3 to shoot down the失控 satellite USA-193, proving its temporary anti-satellite capability. However, this was a temporary software modification and a dedicated window mission, which could not be deployed on a regular basis.

Although GMD can reach an altitude of 2000 kilometers, it has very few numbers, high costs, and fixed deployment, existing only in small quantities in Alaska and California. It cannot serve as a regional anti-satellite warfare tool.

Russia's S-500 theoretically has the capability to counter low-orbit satellites, but due to limitations in radar systems, early warning networks, and funding issues, it has only a small number of equipment, with strategic defense properties exceeding tactical use.

In comparison, Hongqi-29 is the world's only specialized, routine, and systematized low-orbit anti-satellite weapon.

On one hand, its dual-missile design significantly increases firepower density; on the other hand, China's complete aerospace perception system provides Hongqi-29 with higher information support and target calculation capabilities.

This soft and hard integrated combat system means that Hongqi-29 is embedded in a vast aerospace combat network, achieving near-second response from detection, tracking to interception.

This is why, although the United States has a higher single-missile altitude, in terms of routine anti-satellite capability in low orbit, Hongqi-29 is the only operational solution globally.

Russian Air Defense Missile

The biggest technical highlight of Hongqi-29 is its point-kill function, meaning it has the precise ability to hit any specific satellite.

Low-orbit satellites travel at about 7.5 km per second. Even a one-second calculation error may cause the interception to deviate by several kilometers.

However, Hongqi-29's guidance and attitude control system has broken through this bottleneck, using high-precision radar locking and multi-mode composite guidance, combined with micro-thrust attitude control engines on the missile body, allowing the interceptor to make high-speed micro-adjustments in a vacuum close to the target, achieving extremely high precision.

This means that Hongqi-29 can selectively eliminate high-value nodes in the battlefield, such as backbone satellites in the U.S. Starlink, tactical data relay satellites, and drone swarm control satellites, without wasting missiles to blindly attack large satellite constellations.

More importantly, China's complete Tiangong tracking and control system and optical surveillance network can provide Hongqi-29 with accurate orbital data in real time, enabling it to strike accurately within the window period.

Tactically, this means that Hongqi-29 can create communication black holes in hotspots such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, causing the U.S. Starlink, drones, and fire control networks to all fail.

Strategically, this point-kill capability is more effective than destroying thousands of satellites on a large scale, as it can make the opponent's most critical nodes fail without creating a large amount of space debris.

This is the biggest difference between Hongqi-29 and the U.S. SM-3 and Russia's S-500: others can occasionally hit, while you can hit anytime; others can only cover a corner of the battlefield, while you can precisely hunt stars as needed.

Starlink Simulation

For China, the emergence of Hongqi-29 is a direct blow to the U.S. strategy of building a "Space Island Chain."

Over the past decade, the U.S. has gradually formed a low-orbit communication and perception ring centered on Starlink and the U.S. low-orbit multi-purpose combat architecture, aiming to provide the U.S. military with continuous, high-bandwidth battlefield data links within the first island chain and its extension.

Once this "Space Island Chain" is completed, U.S. fleets, drone swarms, and fire control units will achieve second-level connectivity, almost eliminating blind spots within the battlefield.

However, the emergence of Hongqi-29 makes this plan collapse without even needing to be attacked.

Through the point-kill capability of Hongqi-29, China can cut off Starlink in the battlefield, forcing the U.S. tactical internet to fail.

More importantly, Hongqi-29 is backed by China's broader aerospace combat system: in the future, it will extend to medium orbit, cooperating with directed energy weapons, laser anti-satellite technology, and microwave suppression, forming a multi-layered strike capability from low orbit to high orbit.

This not only changes the balance of power in the space competition between China and the U.S., but also allows China to redefine the rules of high-intensity conflicts in the future.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7543089730498396726/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author. Please express your opinion by clicking the [Up/Down] buttons below.