China has developed an amphibious version of the HQ-13 short-range air defense system by integrating its missile launcher and radar suite onto the Type 05/ZBD-05 amphibious chassis. The vehicle is intended to provide continuous low-altitude air defense for Chinese Marine Corps units during island landing operations, including potential actions in the Taiwan Strait.

On November 9, 2025, Sugar_wsnbn revealed that China has developed an amphibious short-range air defense system, which merges the missile launcher and radar package of the new HQ-13 air defense system with the chassis of the Type 05/ZBD-05 amphibious infantry fighting vehicle. This new variant of the Type 05 was likely created to protect Chinese landing forces from helicopters, drones, and cruise missiles during amphibious operations that could occur in a Taiwan conflict scenario. This also marks the first confirmed case of China integrating a short-range air defense system directly onto a fully amphibious combat vehicle chassis.

As production scales and field trials will likely follow this revelation, we can expect the amphibious HQ-13 to be deployed within the PLA Navy Marine Corps and potentially within amphibious combined-arms brigades. (Picture source: X/Sugar_wsnbn and Weibo)

This new variant of the HQ-13 was likely created to accompany the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Marine Corps during island landing operations and protect them from helicopters and drone attacks during the most vulnerable phases of amphibious operations, a probable scenario if China tries to invade Taiwan. The HQ-13 air defense system, produced by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Eighth Academy, is a relatively recent self-propelled short-range surface-to-air missile system designed for mobile protection of maneuvering units. Its export version, the FB-10A, has been displayed at international defense exhibitions and has reportedly been supplied to foreign clients, while also appearing in conflict zones such as Sudan. The HQ-13 entered PLA service from at least 2023, within the 72nd Group Army’s 90th Light Combined Arms Brigade, as confirmed through video material from the CCTV-7 defense channel.

The HQ-13 is said to be able to intercept low-altitude aerial targets, including helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, subsonic cruise missiles, and guided munitions. Publicly available data for the FB-10A indicate a range of 1 to 17 kilometers and an engagement altitude between 20 and 7,500 meters, supported by a radar detection range of up to 50 kilometers. The missile uses a hybrid guidance system combining midcourse radio command and terminal infrared imaging, ensuring engagement capability under degraded electronic conditions. The HQ-13 can operate autonomously or as part of a larger networked air-defense formation, employing its own electro-optical sensors, radar, and command vehicles to coordinate multi-vehicle engagements across a formation.

Early HQ-13 configurations were installed on the Dongfeng Mengshi 6×6 armored vehicle, typically carrying two to eight vertically mounted launch canisters and featuring a compact rotating radar and electro-optical sensor system on the roofline. The Mengshi-based system introduced a modular approach combining independent radar search, command vehicles, and ammunition resupply trucks within one battalion-level air defense network. The export model, FB-10A, was also used for foreign evaluations and reportedly achieved operational success during engagements against Turkish-made UAVs in Sudan, where a unit attributed to the Rapid Support Forces was documented firing the system. The HQ-13 is believed to retain all core missile and radar components from the export variant, but with slight modifications to improve mobility, autonomous tracking, and electronic counter-countermeasure resilience to enhance survivability of maneuver elements against small UAV swarms, cruise missiles, and precision-guided bombs during dispersed operations.

The Type 05 amphibious vehicle, designated ZBD-05 in its infantry fighting configuration and ZTD-05 when equipped with a 105 mm gun, serves as the chassis foundation for the amphibious HQ-13. Developed by Norinco for the PLA Marine Corps, the Type 05 features an aluminum alloy hull with hydrodynamic shaping and retractable water jets, allowing planing speeds of up to 30 km/h on water and land speeds of approximately 65 km/h. Weighing around 26 tonnes and powered by a 1,500 hp diesel engine, the Type 05 platform provides sufficient mobility for high-speed amphibious assaults launched from amphibious dock ships and landing platforms. The hull’s design permits transition from displacement to gliding motion during amphibious transit, significantly reducing exposure time during coastal approach under hostile fire.

Its suspension and transmission systems are engineered for rapid land-to-sea transitions, maintaining traction and stability under shifting load conditions. The vehicle family includes command, reconnaissance, and fire-support variants that share over 70% component commonality, ensuring simplified logistics across the amphibious brigade structure. This shared foundation enables the installation of combat modules such as the HQ-13 air defense system without major structural redesigns or loss of amphibious performance. But integrating the HQ-13 on the Type 05 chassis must have required balancing radar and launcher weight distribution to preserve hydrodynamic efficiency and buoyancy. It seems that the vehicle’s radar mast can retract into the upper deck for transit across water, minimizing air resistance and wave impact, and extend again for engagement upon reaching the shore.

The sealed launcher compartments and sensor housings prevent saltwater ingress, while electronics are likely insulated to withstand high humidity and corrosion. This configuration allows the vehicle to retain its water-jet propulsion and achieve similar planing characteristics to standard ZBD-05 variants. Operationally, the amphibious HQ-13 will likely provide a continuous low-altitude defense from the sea phase through the beachhead, enabling it to accompany the first landing waves that could include ZTD-05 amphibious assault guns and ZBD-05 infantry fighting vehicles. The amphibious HQ-13’s ability to move in formation ensures that marines and armored vehicles remain protected from attack helicopters, loitering munitions, and low-flying drones as they advance inland. The adaptation also introduces a certain flexibility to operate either as a ship-to-shore escort asset or as a static coastal air defense system once disembarked.

Tactically, the amphibious HQ-13 could help China to establish an air defense bubble directly aligned with the operational tempo of amphibious landing forces. Traditional amphibious formations historically relied on shipborne naval air defenses or slower towed systems once ashore, leaving landing craft exposed during the transitional phase. The new variant fills that vulnerability by embedding short-range air defense within the landing formation itself, reducing response time against aerial threats. Each launcher functions as a self-contained fire-control unit, capable of identifying, tracking, and engaging up to six aerial targets simultaneously within a reaction time of about 13 seconds. The system’s radar vehicle and optical sensors provide overlapping coverage, enabling cooperative engagement capability through encrypted datalinks. In a typical deployment, four radar vehicles and sixteen launcher vehicles could cover a brigade front of approximately 15 km by 10 km in depth, maintaining protection for assault elements and logistic convoys.

The amphibious configuration also enhances shoot-and-scoot capability, allowing the system to relocate immediately after launch to avoid counter-battery or loitering-munition retaliation, a feature increasingly critical in modern drone-dense battlefields. The development of an amphibious HQ-13 also aligns with China’s broader doctrine of integrating more and more multi-layered air and missile defense systems across maneuver and amphibious units, to create resilient formations capable of independent action under conditions of electronic warfare and contested airspace. By equipping amphibious brigades with autonomous SHORAD coverage, the PLA increases the survivability of its landing forces and maintains operational tempo under adversary air pressure. The amphibious HQ-13 also complements other Chinese air defense systems, such as the HQ-9B and HQ-22, which provide high-altitude, long-range protection, and the SWS3 35 mm gun-missile hybrid, which forms the close-in defense tier. Together, these systems form a layered integrated air-defense network that spans from the strategic to the tactical level.

The amphibious HQ-13’s modular approach, based on standardized electronics and missile architecture, supports simplified production and field maintenance, fitting into the PLA’s push for scalable, networked defense assets suitable for expeditionary or island defense missions. Strategically, the amphibious HQ-13 provides a new operational capability for Chinese forces in littoral and island chain environments. It enables seamless integration of short-range air defense into amphibious task forces deployed across the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, enhancing protection for naval and marine elements during joint operations. The reliance on established Type 05 and HQ-13 infrastructure reduces industrial complexity and accelerates readiness for series production. In addition to domestic use, the amphibious HQ-13 configuration could be adapted for export under the FB-10A lineage for nations requiring amphibious short-range air defense platforms suited for island defense or coastal security.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.