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Ukraine has managed to obtain Chinese-made FN-6 man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), most likely from the black market in the Middle East.
A photo showing Ukrainian troops with a FN-6 somewhere in the special military operation zone first surfaced online on November 19. One the same day, footage showing the MANPADS being used against what was said to be a Russian cruise missile appeared.
The FN-6 is a third-generation passive infrared homing MANPADS developed by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
The system is one China’s most advanced MANPADS offered on the international market. It is specially designed to engage low-flying targets, with a range of six kilometers and a maximum altitude of 3.8 kilometers.
The FN-6 made its first appearance in the Middle East in Syria back in 2013. At the time, rebels fighting now-former President Bashar al-Assad received an unspecified number of MANPADS of this type through a complex covert scheme, reportedly involving Sudan, Qatar and Turkey. At least two military helicopters and a fighter jet were shot down using the system.
Quickly afterward, the system popped up in Iraq, where it was used by ISIS to take down a military helicopter, then in Lebanon, where one MANPADS was seized by security forces from an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, and Libya with the Libyan National Army.
Unverified reports suggest that Ukraine was able to acquire the FN-6 from Sudan. The MANPADS first appeared with the Sudanese Armed Forces all the way back in 2007.
Ironically, since the start of the civil war in Sudan, the main user of the system in the country has been the Rapid Support Forces, which the Kiev regime dispatched its special forces to fight when the conflict first broke out in 2023 claiming that it was backed by Russia’s Wagner Group. Of course all of these accusations turned out to be false.
The main support for the paramilitary group, including the FN-6 and other Chinese-made weapons, is reported to be coming from the United Arab Emirates.
Of course, Ukraine is not the first area outside the Middle East where the FN-6 made a surprise appearance recently. Just last year, the Kachin Independence Army in Minamar used the MANPADS to take down a fighter jet. It was speculated that the system came from the China-backed United Wa State Army.
The ability to purchase such advanced MANPADS from the black market is concerning, and the fact that such sophisticated weapons are already finding their way from the Middle East to Ukraine, whose black market mainly exports to Europe, is very worrying to say the least.
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