CSA-41 (FM-80) Iranian Short-Range Air Defense Missile System
CSA-41


Iran imports many of their military weapons and equipment from Russia and China. The CSA-4A is a export model of the HQ-7 (FM-80) Chinese Short-Range Air Defense Missile System. The HQ-7 SAM is used by PLA and PLAAF for short-range air-defense. At some PLAAF bases, the HQ-7 is deployed in hardened shelters. The PLA has mounted the HQ-7 on towed trailers. The HongQi 7 (HQ-7) short-range air defense missile system has been developed in China in the 1980s. It is a reverse engineered copy of the French Crotale. Sometimes it is referred as Sino Crotale. In 1978-1979 China imported some of the Thomson-CSF Crotale systems for evaluation. These where both land-based and ship-based versions. Some French R-440 Sea Crotale systems were purchased and installed on the Chinese warships. Eventually China reverse engineered this system. First Chinese clone of the ground-based version was produced for testing in 1983. In 1986-1988 it was approved for production. The HQ-7 was also deployed by the Chinese air force and protected the air bases from air attacks. Since 1989 the HQ-7 was proposed for export customers as the FM-80.