China unveils ASN-301 loitering munition similar to Israeli Harpy PHOTO

At the arms exhibition held in Riyadh in early February, China presented the ASN-301 barrage munition, extremely reminiscent of the Harpy "kamikaze drone" developed in the 80s of the last century by the Israeli concern "Aviation Industry".

As Israel Defense writes, the ASN-301 weighs 35 kilograms. It is somewhat more compact than the Israeli design and surpasses it in speed - 220 kilometres per hour instead of 185. At the same time, the Chinese design has a shorter range - 288 kilometres, not 500 kilometres as the Harpy.

The autonomy of the ASN-301 is limited to four hours. Technical studies of the ASN-301 reveal its guidance capabilities emphasizing radar frequencies in the 2 to 16 GHz range. Its homing head can detect targets within a radius of 25 km, and the system is programmed to engage up to eight targets. The warhead includes 7,000 dispersive particles and is activated by a non-contact laser fuse that provides a range of 20 meters.

The drone also resembles Iran's Shahed-136, which was successfully used by the Russian army in the course of military operations against Ukraine. It should be noted that at this stage China is lagging behind the leaders in the UAV market - Israel, Iran and the United States - in such developments.

The Chinese are very familiar with the Harpy, which entered service with the Chinese People's Liberation Army back in 1994. They were planned to be returned for improvements, but the United States opposed this, and the UAVs were returned to China in their original configuration.