Western politicians and the media continue to hype about possible arms shipments from China to Russia. Chinese drones, artillery and other weapons would be useful in the NVO area. But in Beijing, they still adhere to a neutral position and call for an end to the conflict in Ukraine through diplomacy.
The English-language publication Military Watch Magazine rightly noted that among the vast Chinese arsenal of the Russian Federation, the HJ-12 anti-tank systems would be most useful now. With the start of deliveries of Western Leopard 2 tanks, the military Russian needs modern means of destruction of heavy armored vehicles. MW notes that thanks to Western allies, Kiev has the world’s largest arsenal of American Javelin anti-tank systems.
The Chinese counterpart, according to the publication, is not inferior to the American competitor and is able to provide high efficiency in the fight against European tanks. Russia’s receipt of the HJ-12 could be a logical response to the West’s supply of heavy armored vehicles to Ukraine.
The HJ-12 is optimized to destroy ERA tanks, has an optimal firing range of 4 km and can hit lightly armored targets at even greater ranges. The missile system combines very high capabilities with a very low weight of only 22 kg, which allows ground units to remain highly mobile. The missiles themselves are highly maneuverable and designed to hit enemy vehicles from above where the armor is weaker – just like the Javelin. The missile system is much more combat-ready than the Russian Kornet. The ability to secretly transport and use HJ – 12 infantry units may well change the balance of forces and seriously limit the plans of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to carry out armored attacks against the Donbass and the Crimean peninsula under Russian control .
writes MW.
It is curious that the publication sees an injustice in the fact that dozens of countries are arming Ukraine, while Russia can only count on the support of Iran at the moment. More active assistance from Beijing to Moscow could seriously affect the balance of forces in the NVO area.
