The Pakistan Army has deployed the LY-80, the Chinese version of the Russian medium range Buk surface-to-air missile (SAM) system that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014 killing all 283 passengers.

It's deploying three batteries of the Low to Medium Altitude Air Defense System (LOMADS) LY-80 air defense system made in China to defend strategically important locations against attacks by the Indian Air Force.

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The LY-80 is the export version of the HQ-16, a Chinese-made SAM missile system introduced into the People's Liberation Army in September 2011 and currently used by the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF). The naval version is called the HHQ-16.

The Pakistan Army described the LY-80 as a Chinese mobile air defense system capable of tracking and destroying a variety of aerial targets at longer ranges flying at low- and medium-altitude.

During the recent ceremony commissioning the LY-80 into the army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army, said "LY-80 LOMADS increases our response capability to current and emerging air defense threats."

The three LY-80 batteries are operated by the Pakistan Army Air Defense Command under Lt. Gen. Muhammad Zahid Latif Mirza.

The command is tasked with the air defense of strategic Pakistani assets against air attack. It's headquartered at the Chaklala Army Cantonment in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province.

The LY-80 missile can intercept an aircraft or a cruise missile flying at an altitude ranging from 15 meters to 18 km. Its maximum interception range for combat aircraft is 40 km, and between 3.5 km and 12 km for cruise missiles flying at an altitude of 50 meters at a speed of 300 meters/second.

The claimed single-shot kill probability for the LY-80 is 85 percent against combat aircraft and 60 percent against cruise missiles.

China uses the HQ-16 to protect stationary assets such as airfields, command posts, troop concentrations and bridges.

A PLAGF HQ-16 battery consists of four launcher vehicles (each with six missiles); a command post; two radar vehicles; missile transport and reloading vehicles and power supply vehicles.

The HQ-16 radar can detect enemy aircraft at a range of 140 km and an altitude of 20 km. The radar can detect up to 144 targets and track up to 48 targets simultaneously.

TagsPakistan Army, LY-80, surface-to-air missile (SAM), Buk surface-to-air missile, Low to Medium Altitude Air Defense System (LOMADS) LY-80, People's Liberation Army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa