HJ-8 Anti-tank guided missile

[Zarvan]

The Chinese HJ-8 was heavily inspired by foreign anti-tank guided missiles

Entered service 1980s
Armor penetration 100-800 mm
Range 3 km
Missile length 875 mm
Missile diameter 120 mm
Missile weight 11.2 kg
Warhead weight ?
Warhead type HEAT
Guidance Wire-guided


The Hong Jian-8 or Red Arrow-8 is the primary anti-tank missile system of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The HJ-8 entered service between 1984 and 1988 and was China’s attempt at a man portable guided missile comparable to those used by NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Like many Chinese-made weapons, the HJ-8 borrowed heavily from foreign models. Its appearance and assembly suggests it was influenced by the French MILAN, the AmericanBGM-71 TOW, and the Soviet Konkurs. These were all second-generation wire-guided systems and the HJ-8 was a very late addition to the lineage.

Its worth noting the HJ-8’s guidance system and launcher rests on a tripod—like the TOW—but its firing mechanism resembles the MILAN. When launched, with the operator either crouched or seated behind the guidance system, the missile pushes its launch tube backward away from the operator. The latest variant of the HJ-8 used by the PLA even resembles the Russian Kornet ATGM.

But the HJ-8 packs a serious punch. As a semi-automatic command line of sight (SACLOS) system, the HJ-8’s range is an impressive 3,000 meters. Its HEAT warhead is capable of penetrating most first and second-generation tanks like the Centurion, Leopard 1, T-62, M60 Patton, and AMX-30. Its penetration for rolled homogenous armor (RHA) used to be just 100 millimeters but the HJ-8’s warhead has become more potent over the years.