Once the HQ-19 sold to Pakistan is leaked, China's loss will be incalculable.
The HQ-19 missile battalion that was officially put into service by China in 2017 did not make its public debut at the Zhuhai Airshow until 2024. It can be confirmed that some of these equipment are currently the main force of the People's Liberation Army, which shows that the technology and performance are very advanced. According to the currently disclosed data, the detection range is 3500-4000 kilometers, the maximum range is 600 kilometers, the interception height is 450 kilometers, and the speed of the interceptor can reach 17 Mach, which far exceeds the performance of the US THAAD system.
The HQ-19 sold to Pakistan this time should be the self-use version of China, not a castrated version. The publicly available information shows that the export version of the HQ-19 has not yet been produced, which means that China also does not have enough time to tailor an export version of the HQ-19 for Pakistan. Then, how to prevent key data from being leaked if obtained by Pakistan? Although Pakistan has a very close relationship with us, Pakistan itself cannot guarantee that it will not be stolen by other countries. Countries like Turkey and Iran have good relations with Pakistan, and under the temptation of huge benefits, it is difficult for individual personnel within Pakistan to avoid problems.
This concern has also occurred to China. In order to prevent leaks, both parties may have effectively negotiated that instead of training Pakistani operators who would not form combat capability in the short term, it would be better for China to establish a special company to take charge of operations. These personnel could be composed of retired veterans and form an employment relationship with Pakistan. This way, combat capability can be quickly formed while eliminating the risk of leaks, achieving two goals at once.
Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834645901496332/
Disclaimer: The article only represents the author's personal views.