The People's Liberation Army (PLA) will be equipped with a new land-based, mobile missile system firing Poly Defence's CM-501GA precision-guided missile and CM-501XA loitering munition.

This 6x6 armored pickup truck carries 16 missile containers (Picture source: Army Recognition)

A Chinese source said that the new missile system could be fired from either a 6x6 armoured pickup truck or from the CSK181 series of mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles. However, the vertical position of the 12 missile containers at the back of the 6x6 pickup truck (see picture here above) as appearing at IDEX 2019 in Abu Dhabi, last February, is puzzling.

The 2 m-long CM-501GA is a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) missile capable of engaging both stationary and moving targets at a distance between 5 and 40 km. The missile, which has a diameter of 180 mm and weighs over 100 kg, carries a 20 kg, high-explosive (HE) blast fragmentation warhead. Its propulsion system is believed to be based on a solid-propellant rocket motor.

The missile uses a combined TV/imaging infrared (IIR) seeker for terminal guidance. It is presumed some form of inertial navigation system (INS), or INS aided by a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), is used for the non-terminal guidance phases. The manufacturer claims the missile has a circular error of probability (CEP) of less than 1 m when striking stationary targets, and a hit probability of more than 90% when striking moving ones.

The 2 m-long CM-501XA loitering munition, which is stated to have an endurance of more than 30 minutes, is designed to engage stationary and moving targets at distances greater than 70 km. According to the manufacturer, the square-section (230×230 mm) munition also weighs more than 100 kg and is armed with a smaller 8.5-kg HE blast fragmentation warhead.