Anza Mk-II MANPADS in Libya

Anza Mk-II (2)

Anza Mk-II Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) have been observed in Libya. A source working with an NGO in Libya, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent me the images featured in this piece. These images were taken in 2011 at arms depots wrested from government control by rebel forces. The Anza Mk-II, developed at the Dr A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories in Kahuta, is a derivative of the Chinese QW-1, first developed in the early 1990s. It was introduced to Pakistan’s armed forces in 1994, and features a slant range of approximately 5km, a maximum engagement altitude of around 4km, and a missile speed of approximately 600m/s. The Anza Mk-II missile features a solid-fuel booster and solid-fuel sustainer motor, weighs 10.68kg, and contains around 550g of High Explosive (HE).

The Anza Mk-II constitutes a greater threat than the SA-7b systems that make up the bulk of MANPADS identified in Libya. Nonetheless, it poses only a moderate danger to modern fighter aircraft. How these missiles ended up in Libya is not clear, with Malaysia being the only known export customer of the system. Anza Mk-I missiles have, however, been recovered by the Indian military from militants in Kashmir.

Anza Mk-II (1)Anza Mk-II missile launch tubes are seen alongside 9K32M (SA-7b) and 9K338 (SA-24) tubes in a captured arms depot. 

The Federation of American Scientists has some more information, here

3 comments

  1. May we see them in some time Malí?

  2. the name Anza is really peculare because it means Nannie (female goat)
    maybe its based on a funny Arabic story
    it goes like this:
    a man driving a care met a hitchhiking Bedouin
    while driving him along the way they see in a distance something dark
    they start arguing about the identity of the unknown dark thing
    the Bedouin says with utmost assurance while admonishing the man for doubting the words of a Bedouin in his milieu and that city dwellers should know better that the dark thing is an Anza(a Nannie)
    after approaching it a little the dark thing fly in the sky and appears now as a black crow
    the man says to the bedouin that you got it wrong, to this the bedouin replied “Its a flying Anza!!”
    maybe the Pakistani found this funny so they named their MANPAD “Anza”
    to shoot down these Unknown Flying Anzas down

  3. predator · · Reply

    ye ooper jo tasweer main hai>,,,,ye such main indian force ney kashmiri mujaheedeen se pakrey hain?…pleaase koi sacha jawab dedein…….

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