HJ-8A
Contents
Description
The HJ-8A (红箭-8A式反坦克导弹) is a ATGM from early 1980s and was introduced to the game in Update "Drone Age" alongside with the Chinese helicopter tech tree.
The second missile of the HJ family of ATGM in service and the "2nd generation" ATGM of PLAGF based on the 302 missiles on 122 medium tanks, although it has a rather slow flying velocity, short range and lesser penetration against later tanks with composite armor; if utilized correctly, it can still make sure the enemy will meet their end with a precise hit on their critical compartments.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
| Missile characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Mass | 11 kg |
| Guidance | Semi-automatic (SACLOS) |
| Maximum speed | 250 m/s |
| Missile guidance time | 16 secs |
| Firing range | 3 km |
| Explosive mass | 1.96 kg TNTeq |
| Armour penetration | 480 mm |
Effective damage
Like most missiles with HEAT warhead, HJ-8A does explosion damage upon hitting the surface of vehicles; it also causes splash damage to internal modules and crews of vehicles, alternatively the sheer explosion itself will cause overpressure damage to very light vehicles.
Comparison with analogues
302- HJ-8's de facto ancestor and shares mostly identical characteristics.
BGM-71- The target that HJ-8s aimed for; but lags behind in most aspects, especially damage and range.
9M17M - Although HJ-8A shines at its speed; both the range and damage is lower to Falanga.
Usage in battles
Due to the fact that it was the first SACLOS ATGM of the PLAGF and the difference in technical development, most of the combat requirements of HJ-8A is rather insufficient for its year of service; let alone the carriers of HJ-8A are at least 8.7. So players might have trouble on playing with the missile with a lesser explosive content and penetration to its counterparts; to make sure making the best use out of this short range, slow-flyer, players have to utilize its carriers (i.e Z-11WA) with excellent mobility to sneak behind enemy lines or covered flanks where enemies need some time to find you. As soon as enemies have spotted you, evade and wait until the battlefield allows you to send off the remaining missiles on existing targets or rearm.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Sufficiently large caliber for an ATGM
Cons:
- Rather slow velocity
- Short range at only 3 km, high risk of being retaliated
- Lesser penetration and explosive to most ATGMs at its tier
History
Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the weapon;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
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- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
