QW-19 Missile

Full Specifications

The QW-19 (Vanguard‑19) enters the modern battlefield as a lightweight yet potent short-to-medium range air‑defense missile — a highly mobile solution aimed at countering low-altitude threats such as UAVs, attack helicopters, cruise missiles, and fixed‑wing aircraft operating at tree‑top heights.

Origins, Purpose & Manufacturer

Developed in China as the next evolution in the “Qianwei” (Vanguard) family of man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), QW‑19 builds on predecessors like the QW‑1 and QW‑18. The system retains the same basic shoulder‑launch concept but incorporates more advanced guidance, fuze, and seeker technologies — reflecting a shift toward addressing modern aerial threats.

The QW‑19 is designed for tactical air defense forces, ideally deployed by infantry, light vehicles, or static ground-launch teams, to defend against low- to medium-altitude aerial incursions and asymmetric threats.

Key Capabilities & Technical Performance

The QW‑19 employs a dual-band passive infrared seeker (detecting both exhaust plume and airframe skin heating) that enhances its anti-jamming performance — a marked improvement over earlier single-band seekers. A composite “trigger + laser proximity” fuze enables the missile to detonate on impact or when it comes within lethal proximity of the target, increasing its effectiveness against small, low-visibility, or agile threats such as drones and cruise missiles.

QW‑19’s launcher tube and missile together weigh about 16.5 kg, making it comparable in portability to other MANPADS such as the U.S. systems. The missile length is roughly 1.526 m, and the launch tube is about 1.576 m long, with a diameter around 71 mm.

Performance specs place its engagement range at approximately 500 to 5,000 meters, with optimal interception altitudes up to around 4,000 meters, and minimum effective altitude lowered to about 15 meters — enhancing capability against ultra-low altitude threats. The missile reaches a flight speed near 600 m/s (some sources suggest up to Mach‑2 class), sufficient to engage fast-moving targets.

Because of these attributes — portability, quick reaction (cold‑start and launch readiness in under ~10 seconds), infrared dual-band guidance, and composite proximity/impact fuze — QW‑19 offers a credible, low-cost air defense layer that is especially suited for modern asymmetric and hybrid threats in tactical theaters.

QW-19 Missile Price

As a Chinese export-design MANPADS, QW‑19 is not offered for direct sale on Western defense catalogs. Its procurement and price for U.S. or allied forces would be subject to bilateral agreements, export controls, and geopolitical considerations. Based on publicly available information, no official U.S. sale price is disclosed.