Cambodia Shows Off the New Shoulder-fired Missile QW-3 and THS311

18 Mei 2025

Induction of QW3 manpads and TS311 Smart Hunter radar to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (all photos: Sao Do)

The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces recently revealed for the first time the integration of the QW3 shoulder-fired air defense system and the Chinese-made TS311 Smart Hunter air defense command and control system into the national air defense force.

The event was held at the headquarters of the Guard Command in  Krang Chek with the participation of many high-ranking officials,  including Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Armed Forces General Hun He.

Cambodia has conducted training to transfer the state of combat readiness from the installation of the equipment to the firing of the missile. The missile is known as QW3, a version in the family of the surface-to-air missile manufactured by the Shenyang 119 factory in the early 90s, based on the technology of the 9K38 Igla shoulder-launched missile system. The missile was first introduced at the  Farnborough Air Show in 1994.

According to the manufacturer the missile is designed for the mission of intercepting aerial targets including UAVs helicopters and possibly including cruise missiles there are up to 10 improved versions have been developed, most of them weigh about 16 kg with the 10 kg bullet length 1.44 m multi-layer effective 5.000m with a 2kg warhead effective firing altitude 2.500 m speed 750 m/s shoulder-fired missile version QW3 and Cambodia bought from China is equipped with a semi-active laser guidance system instead of a passive infrared guidance mechanism, so the QW3 missile is declared to be able to attack ground targets when needed, for example, as an anti-personnel missile.

In the Southeast Asian region, in addition to Cambodia, Indonesia has also become a customer of the shoulder-fired missile QW3 and QW19, of which the QW-19 increases the firing altitude from 2.500 to 4.000 m,  equipped with a digital seeker enhancing the guidance ability to destroy targets when aiming semi-directly. 

Interestingly, the QW3 missile equipment of Cambodia also includes a command and control station air defense THS311. This system acts as a command platform providing real-time situational awareness and fire control enabling coordinated target acquisition and engagement.

Simply put this belt has the ability to alert early detect the direction of the target thereby putting the shoulder-fired missile force into a state of combat readiness coordinate engagement, and enemy identification.

Of course the shoulder-fired missile complexes QW3 can still operate independently with the ability to independently aim and fire.

In general QW3 is a shoulder-fired missile complex considered to be relatively modern, completely comparable to shoulder-fired missiles in the world such as Russia's Igla, and America's Stinger especially its use of a semi-active laser guidance mechanism will disable infrared countermeasures by heat-smelling then the fighter camera helicopter can only depend on the ability its own maneuverability to counter.

Of course there are always advantages and disadvantages of the mechanism semi-active laser guidance with shoulder-fired missiles, although it eliminates the system defence by thermal decoys, it comes at the expense of the fire-and-forget capability of the infrared homing head in terms of the principle of the semi-active laser path, the gunner 

will have to continuously shine a beam of laser radiation on the target, the missile after leaving the launch pad will follow the beam of radiation response to track the target.

It means if the beam from the launcher cannot catch the target the missile will lose control or in the case of the maneuvering aircraft out of range the laser beam overlaps the missile will also lose control.

Different from the infrared head, after now the launcher will take care of the self-guided head the rest the gunner can leisurely shoot always another missile so the semi-active laser guidance mechanism is not favored by many defense industry when developing shoulder-fired missiles today.

Apart from the QW3 recorded only two types of shoulder-fired missiles in the world that use the semi-active laser guidance mechanism including the fastest shoulder-fired missile complex in the world Star Streak of the United Kingdom, a unique missile in addition to the guidance mechanism. 

It is also a rare shoulder-fired missile using a kinetic warhead including three steng arrows to attack the target with the collision mechanism this is also a shoulder-fired missile the fastest in the world with a speed of more than mach 3, the firing altitude is also among the highest in the world, up to 7.000 m, and the effective range is from 300 m to 7.000 m. 

And the Swedish RBS70 shoulder-launched missile system, actually called the RBS70 shoulder-launched missile, weighs more than 80 kg, so the gunner cannot carry it on his shoulder but only sits on his shoulder with a support system attached to a massive aiming system. 

The RBS70 is probably the longest-range shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile in the world, with a firing range of 250 m to 9.000 m, and a firing altitude of 5.000 m. 

Back to the air defense arsenal, Cambodia, in addition to the QW3, is also known to use at least two other shoulder-launched missiles from China, including the FN6 and FN16 shoulder-launched missiles, which are low-altitude anti-aircraft missiles using third-generation passive infrared seeker technology developed by China High-Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CPMIEC).

Produced since the 2000s FN6 was developed at the same time as the Vanguard QW3 series of exported missiles but unlike the QW3 series FN6 uses the third-generation infrared guidance system with a digital infrared device capable of resisting interference from thermal decoys solar energy ground-based radiation source the missile's pyramid-shaped warhead is equipped with four infrared sensors allowing the missile to attack targets from any direction with a hit probability of 70%.

The entire system weighs 16 kg, with the missile section 1.49 m long and 72 m in diameter equipped with a single-stage adhesive-fuel rocket engine allowing a direct attack speed of 360 m/s and 300 m/s in mode pursue. The FN6's attack range reaches from 500 m to 6000 m, altitude from 150 m to 3.500 m. In addition to the FN6, Cambodia is also equipped with an improved version in 2008 called the FN16, which improves its jamming resistance with an ultraviolet guidance system.

Both the FN6 and FN16 have a system to discriminate enemies, it is worth mentioning that the FN6 missile has successfully been used in combat in some markets in 2013.

The FN6 was first used to shoot down a Mi-8 transport helicopter in the Syrian civil war on 18 May 2013. The FN6 was used by Syrian rebels to shoot down a Syrian Air Force MiG-21 fighter in the war on terrorism in Iraq in 2014. The FN6 was used by rebels to shoot down a Mi-35 attack helicopter and a Bell 407 of Iraq. 

The third shoulder-fired missile that Cambodia bought from China is the HN5 is the first generation of shoulder-fired missiles produced by China in the mid 70s on the basis of learning the technology of the 9K32 Chenla 2 missile or NATO also known as SA7 missile, HN5 multi-range from 800 m to 4.400 m firing altitude 2.500 m using a simple passive infrared guidance mechanism.

According to some sources, Cambodia has in hand 1.000 of this type purchased in 1992, in addition, they have purchased more than 200 FN6 and FN16 missiles and more than 400 QW3 missiles.

Most of Cambodia's current low-altitude air defense missile force is formed from Chinese weapons technology China clearly reflects the deep and extensive cooperation between the two countries in the military field in a related development on the 14 months the two countries conducted the largest joint exercise ever with 900 Chinese soldiers and 1,300 Cambodian soldiers lasting until 28 months the exercise codenamed Golden Dragon 2025 is expected to use a variety of transports including tanks armored helicopters, warships,  UAVs, and combat robots. A 25,000-ton Chinese amphibious ship arrived at the new Riem military port, completed in 12 months carrying heavy weapons.

(Sao Do)