The Ethiopian civil war is expanding! The missile position was broken by the rebels, and a Chinese ballistic missile was seized

 On November 4, 2020, a civil war broke out between the Ethiopian government and the "Tiren Front". After more than 20 days of war, on November 28, the Ethiopian Prime Minister and the Chief of Staff of the National Defense Forces stated on social media that the Ethiopian army has fully controlled the capital of Tigray State. However, the leader of the "Tiren Front" claimed that the fighting would continue.

Recently, a group of photos of Chinese-made A200 long-range guided rockets and M20 campaign tactical-grade ballistic missiles seized by government forces from the "Tiren Front" army have been circulating on Twitter.

 

The M20 ballistic missile is a new type of Chinese foreign trade missile. It can be traced back to China's Dongfeng-12 tactical ballistic missile project, which was converted to a foreign trade model after the project fell.

The M20 missile is a single-stage solid missile, which can fly in the atmosphere at high speed throughout the entire range. It has strong penetration capabilities. It adopts a full-range guidance method and has high hit accuracy. The missile can be launched together with A series rockets and is equipped with multiple warheads. It has a high ratio, good maneuverability, easy use and maintenance, a range of 290 kilometers, a strike progress of 30 meters, a terminal speed of Mach 6, and the ability to change orbit at the terminal.Why are Chinese-made ballistic missiles in the hands of local forces like the "Tiren Front"?

 

In September last year, the domestic situation in Ethiopia became more tense. One of the most populous and powerful countries in Africa finally fell into a civil war.

On November 4, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed ordered the military to launch a military offensive against Tigray State in the northern part of the country, on the grounds that the armed forces in the region launched an attack on federal government forces and "crossed the last red line." It is worth noting that Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.

Tigray Region is located in the northern part of Ethiopia. The population of this region accounts for 5% of the total population of approximately 110 million in the country, but it is richer and more influential than other larger regions in the country, and has a well-trained army.

Before Ahmed came to power in 2018, the "Tiren Front" has been the main force of the Ethiopian ruling coalition. However, since Ahmed announced political reforms, the Tigray People's Liberation Front felt marginalized and left the Ethiopian ruling coalition in 2019. In 2020, the International Crisis Organization concluded that the Tigray People's Liberation Front had 250,000 fighters.

 

There are four major military bases in Ethiopia located in four directions, southeast, northwest, and the most complete and equipped northern military base is in Tigray State.

After the start of the war, the "Tiren Front" announced that the National Defense Forces stationed in Tigray State had been under the command of the "Tiren Front". Moreover, many senior officers in the Egyptian army are Tigray, so the Chinese-made M20 ballistic missiles in the hands of the "Tiren Front" are probably obtained from this base.

However, it can be seen from the picture that this M20 was not used, only A200 long-range rockets were used.

 

 

The Ethiopian army has repeatedly purchased weapons and equipment from China. The Ethiopian army has about 140,000 people, equipped with a large number of T-54/55 medium tanks, more than 300 T-72 tanks purchased from Ukraine, and a batch of Chinese-made ZSD-89 Tracked armored transport vehicles and ZSL-93 wheeled armored transport vehicles, as well as the US-made M113 armored transport vehicles.

 

The Ethiopian army is also equipped with 18 Chinese-made PLZ-45 155mm self-propelled howitzers, 17 American M109 self-propelled artillery, 25 Chinese-made 63-type 107mm wheeled rockets, 250 Soviet-made D-30 howitzers and 158 Soviet-made BM-21 hail rocket launcher. In addition, we learned from this incident that the Ethiopian army is actually equipped with Chinese-made A200 long-range fire and M20 ballistic missiles.