HQ-9 vs S-300

The HQ-9 is China’s primary long-range domestic surface-to-air missile.

Outwardly, it seems similar to the S-300, using large flat face radars and a large missile that vertically launches out of a canister.

But since the Sino-Soviet split in the 1950s, China didn’t receive that much assistance in surface-to-air missile development from the Soviet Union. Is the HQ-9 just an evolution?

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South Korea: Duty-free shops still reeling from THAAD impact

In mid-March, China banned the sale of group tours to Seoul in retaliation against the installation of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in southeastern South Korea, which Beijing sees as a security threat. The move has dealt a harsh blow to local duty-free shops, as Chinese tourists were their main customers.

Industry leader Lotte Duty Free saw its sales fall 6.6 percent on-year to 2.6 trillion won ($2.3 billion) during the January-June period, with its operating income nose-diving 97 percent to 7.4 billion won. The company posted an operating income of 37.2 billion won in the first quarter, but it plummeted to an operating loss of 29.8 billion won in the second quarter.

¿What means THAAD?

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down short, medium, and intermediate range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase (descent or reentry) by intercepting with a hit-to-kill approach.

THAAD was developed after the experience of Iraq's Scud missile attacks during the Gulf War in 1991. The THAAD interceptor carries no warhead, but relies on its kinetic energy of impact to destroy the incoming missile. A kinetic energy hit minimizes the risk of exploding conventional warhead ballistic missiles, and the warhead of nuclear tipped ballistic missiles will not detonate on a kinetic energy hit.

¿What means Scud?

Scud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The term comes from the NATO reporting name "Scud" which was attached to the missile by Western intelligence agencies.

The Russian names for the missile are the R-11 (the first version), and the R-17 (later R-300) Elbrus (later developments).

The name Scud has been widely used to refer to these missiles and the wide variety of derivative variants developed in other countries based on the Soviet design.

US Nuclear Missiles: So aged as ignored

The Minuteman is no ordinary weapon: This missile can hit the enemy across the globe, as quickly as you could have a pizza delivered to your doorstep.

The “Big Sticks,” as some call the 60-foot-tall Minuteman III missiles, are just plain old. But the Air Force asserts with pride that the missile system, more than 40 years old and designed during the Cold War to counter the now-defunct Soviet Union, is safe and secure.

¿Safe and secure? Mmm... The Minuteman has indeed been updated over the years and remains ready for launch on short notice, but the items that support it have grown old. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the Air Force will find $50 million in this year’s budget to make urgent fixes, and will invest an additional $350 million in improvements over the coming five years. Even that, she said, is unlikely to be enough and more funds will be sought.

Since its initial deployment in 1970, the Minuteman III missile itself has been upgraded in all its main components. But much of the rest of the system that keeps the weapon viable and secure has fallen on hard times. One example is the Huey helicopter fleet, which escorts road convoys that move Minuteman missiles, warheads and other key components. It also moves armed security forces into the missile fields in an emergency, even though it’s too slow, too small, too vulnerable to attack and cannot fly sufficient distances. And It’s also old: The seven Hueys flown daily at Minot were built in 1969. The yearly cost of keeping them running has more than doubled over the past four years, according to Air Force statistics – from $12.9 million in 2010 to $27.8 million last year. “Obviously we need a new helicopter, based on the mission,” said Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, who as commander of 20th Air Force is responsible for the operation, maintenance and security of the full fleet of Minuteman missiles.