Pakistan Army has officially received new LY-80 ground-to-air defence missile system on Sunday, that was reported by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa was chief guest at the Induction Ceremony of LOMADS, held at Army Auditorium here on Sunday, according to Inter Services Public Relations press release.

LY-80 is a Chinese mobile Air Defence system, capable of tracking and destroying variety of aerial targets at longer ranges, flying at low and medium altitude.
The COAS said that LY-80 LOMADS increases response capability to current and emerging air defence threats.

Earlier, on arrival, the COAS was received by Lieutenant General Muhammad Zahid Latif Mirza, Commander Army Air Defence Command.

The Pakistan Ministry of Defence Production disclosed that the armed forces had ordered six LY-80 (also named HQ-16) surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems from China for $373 million U.S. in fiscal year 2014-2015.

The LY-80 is a Chinese-made ground-to-air defence missile system. The LY-80 is able to engage aerial targets at high altitude; the mid-range LY-80 is also able to intercept very low-flying targets at a distance of up to about 40 kilometers.

The missile itself carries a 70kg warhead and is guided by a semi-active radar-homing (SARH) seeker (which will work in conjunction with the SAM system’s tracking and guidance radar).

The LY-80 missile can hit targets of an altitude from 400 to 10,000 meters.

This system also introduced in the Chinese armed forces in September 2011.  The missile is also used as a vertically-launched naval SAM in the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).