Algeria confirms acquisition of another Chinese electronic warfare sys…

Chief of Staff General Saïd Chengriha inspects forces after an exercise, including trucks with the antennas associated with the CHL-906's multifunction radar jamming and ELINT stations. (Algerian Ministry of National Defence)

The Algerian Ministry of National Defence (MND) released a photograph on 9 May confirming it has acquired the CHL-906 electronic warfare system made by China's ELINC.

The photograph showed Chief of Staff General Saïd Chengriha inspecting troops after an exercise in the 3rd Military Region, which is headquartered at Béchar, close to the Moroccan border. The line-up included three trucks, two of which had the antennas associated with the CHL-906's multifunction radar jamming and electronic intelligence (ELINT) stations, both in travel configuration.

ELINC says the ELINT station is used to intercept and track radar radiation with a frequency of 0.1–40 GHz, while the multifunction radar jamming station can disrupt airborne radars out to a range of around 250 km.

The third truck could not be seen clearly but may have carried another component of the CHL-906 system, which can also include long-range radar jamming, millimetre-wave radar jamming, and passive radar sensor stations.

The components were lined-up next to the S-300PMU2 long-range surface-to-air missile system that supported the 40th Mechanised Infantry Division during the exercise. ELINC says the CHL-906 is designed to support air-defence systems.

A photograph emerged on social media in January showing a CHL-906 multifunction radar jamming station being lifted on to or unloaded from a ship that some observers claimed was destined for Algeria. It was unclear where the photograph was taken, and the component's camouflage pattern was not a standard Algerian one, although it matched the one on the CHL-906 components seen in the exercise.

Algeria was already known to operate the Chinese-made DWL-002 ELINT system. Janes