HJ-10

HJ-10 (HJ = Hong Jian or Hongjian, 红箭, meaning Red Arrow) is a series of indigenously developed and highly classified (as of 2011) Chinese anti-helicopter / anti-tank missiles, they are the primary weapon of the CAIC WZ-10 attack helicopter. Many sources have claimed that this little-known missile is the Chinese equivalent of the AGM-114 Hellfire, although the details of the actual performance of the HJ-10 have yet to be released officially by the Chinese government or other credible sources to confirm such claims. Several derivatives of the HJ-10 have also been developed by China, they are all believed to be in limited service with the Chinese military for evaluation purposes.

Development

The development of the HJ-10 took more than two decades, equal to that of the WZ-10, the platform designed to carry the missile. Some sources have claimed that the development of the HJ-10 benefited from Israeli, Ukrainian and Russian technologies, but according to the official releases of the Chinese government, the system is a completely indigenously developed weapon. Supporters of these claims have used the fact that the prolonged development of the HJ-10 as the evidence of Chinese indigenous development, the Chinese industrial and technological bases were not capable enough in the 1980s and most of the 1990s, which protracted the development time.