AIN Online:
The Royal Thai Army (RTA) has displayed the Chinese KS (KaiShan)-1C surface-to-air missile (SAM) system that it has acquired in the past two years. It is also going ahead this year, with the purchase of vertical launch (VL) MICA air defense missile systems from MBDA. Until now, the RTA operated only short-range anti-aircraft guns such as the Oerlikon GDF-007, and man-portable missiles such as the Thales Starstreak.
The KS-1C was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Cooperation (CASIC) and is the improved version of the KS-1A. It has an increased range, to 70 km from 50 km, and engagement altitude to 27 km from 24 km. The RTA KS-1Cs are fired from twin launch-rails mounted on a Chinese-made 6×6 truck.
The Chinese SAM system is paired with the H-200 phased-array engagement radar, which has detection range of up to 120 km. At the time of development, the H-200 was China’s first phased-array air defense radar, and many likened the display and concept of operation to those of the American Patriot AN/MPQ-53 system. Chinese literature highlighted that the H-200 radar is able to direct six KS-1 missiles to intercept three to six incoming targets.
