Moment Russian Gunner Shoots Down Mile-High Chinese Missile During International Army Games
This is the moment a Russian soldier fires a surface-to-air missile directly at a Chinese missile nearly a mile up in the sky during ‘Clear Sky’ war games in China.
In the video, Lieutenant Sergei Maenov is seen firing the Igla-S MANPADS which brings down the Chinese TY-300D missile at an estimated altitude of 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) with a direct hit.
The IGLA-S Man-Portable Air Defence System was developed in 1981 by the Soviet Union as a portable surface-to-air missile system. It has a range of 6 kilometres (3.7 miles), weighs 17.9 kilogrammes (37.9 lbs) and fires a 10.8 -kilogramme (23.12-lb) missile that reaches a maximum speed of 2,327 kph (1,445 mph).
The Chinese military has not released the specifications of the TY-300D missile seen in the footage.
The footage was captured during the ‘Clear Sky’ competition, part of the International Army Games 2021 contest in China.
The International Army Games competition has seen 277 teams from 42 different countries participating in a variety of competitions and testing the ability of their troops and military equipment.
The footage was released by the Russian Ministry of Defence and the bullseye shot earned Lieutenant Sergei Maenov the title of ‘most accurate marksman’ in the Clear sky competition.
The competition comes as Sino-Ruso military ties appear to be strengthening amid their shared antagonism towards the US and concern surrounding the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban.
Wu Qian, a Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman, said following a joint military exercise earlier this month (August) in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region that the two countries were looking to “maintain regional peace and security”.
Zhang Xin, an associate professor at the Center for Russian Studies at Shanghai’s East China Normal University, told RFE/RL: “Both sides are worried about spill over [from Afghanistan] into Central Asia and the new types of security challenges to the region that it could pose.”
He added that China and Russia are not progressing toward “a military alliance in the traditional sense”, but towards a flexible collaboration between their two militaries.
The International Army Games are expected to conclude on 4th September with teams taking part in competitions in 11 different countries including China, Russia, Vietnam and Iran.
