Rwanda shows off new military hardware amid rising African demand for Chinese arms
- Small central African nation becomes first foreign armed forces known to be equipped with ‘Red Arrow’ anti-tank missiles
Rwanda recently revealed its purchases of powerful Chinese weaponry after the equipment was used in an army training exercise.
Last Tuesday, on the final day of its annual exercises, the Rwandan army displayed its Chinese-made PCL-09 self-propelled howitzer system and its HJ-9A “Red Arrow” anti-tank missiles, photos of which were later released by the military.
PCL-09, under the export name CS/SH1, is one of the main artillery systems used by the People’s Liberation Army and was first commissioned in 2009.
With a 122mm gun-howitzer similar to Soviet D-30 mounted on an SX2150 truck, the system can launch several types of projectiles with a maximum range of 27km (16.7 miles) at a rate of six to eight rounds per minute. It is also equipped with the China-developed Beidou navigation system and data chain.
The HJ-9A is an upgraded version of China’s HJ-9, and has a range of up to 5.5km and it is claimed that its can penetrate steel up to a depth of 1.2 metres.
The Rwandan Defence Force’s use of the HJ-9A is the first known use of the missiles by a foreign country.