Europe’s First Hypersonic Ballistic Missiles: Serbian MiG-29s Fighters Integrate Chinese Armaments For Revolutionary Firepower Boost

Images showing a Serbian Air Force MiG-29 fighter aircraft flying with two Chinese-supplied CM-400AKG ballistic missiles indicate that the service has become become the second foreign operator of the missile type, with the procurement revolutionising the previously very limited strike capabilities of the aircraft. The missile’s speed, which can exceed Mach 6, makes Serbian MiG-29s them the first fighters in Europe with hypersonic strike capabilities. The CM-400AKG is an air-to-ground missile based on the SY400 rocket, and has a 910 kilogram weight, allowing two to be carried by even very light fighters such as the JF-17, for which it was originally designed. Conflicting reports indicated an engagement range of between 240 kilometres and 400 kilometres, potentially depending on the variant. The missile type uses inertial navigation, satellite navigation, and passive radar guidance, and can also be equipped with an infrared/television seeker. 

Serbia inherited a small number of MiG-29 fighters from the Yugoslav Air Force, and received further fighters as aid from Belarus and Russia in the 2000s and 2010s. It is notable that no other fighter types in Europe have integrated air-to-ground missiles capable of operating at hypersonic speeds, including U.S. Air Force fighters deployed to bases across the continent. Although the Russian Aerospace Forces has been reported by local sources in 2025 to have integrated hypersonic air-to-ground missiles, possibly based on the Zircon cruise missile, onto its Su-57 fifth generation fighters, this remains unconfirmed. Serbia’s MiG-29s integrate radars that are several generations behind the cutting edge, which has seriously limited their air-to-air combat potentials, with the integration of the CM-400AKG considerably improving their combat potentials to compensate for their other shortcomings. As missiles are fired using targeting data provided by offboard sensors, the age of the MiG-29’s own radar will not affect performance. 

It was previously speculated that the Serbian Defence Ministry may have intended to retire the Air Force’s MiG-29s, as the Ministry was reported in April 2024 to have finalised a deal to procure Rafale fighters from France. Rafales sold to Serbia are to be significantly downgraded, with their primary air-to-air missile type, the Meteor, not being offered to the country. The selection of the Rafale was considered to have been very heavily influenced by political factors and Belgrade’s plans for further integration into the European Union. European pressure has been a primary factor limiting defence procurements from Russia, including procurements of S-300 or S-400 long range air defence systems which were previously planned, and while the country has also faced considerable pressure not to procure Chinese armaments, this is considered a less objectionable decision in Europe due to the much greater intensity of the European Union’s conflict with Russia. The Chinese HQ-22 air defence system was thus selected as an alternative to the S-300 and S-400, representing a major landmark in the previously limited defence ties between the two countries.

The CM-400AKG is reported to have been used by the Pakistan Air Force to strike Indian forces in May 2025, causing multiple casualties, although this remains unconfirmed. When combined with the MiG-29’s ability to take off from short or makeshift airfields, allowing them to disperse and making them highly challenging to neutralise from the air, the missile provides an asymmetric means of challenging NATO forces in the event of a new regional conflict. NATO members have widely recognised the independence of the Kosovo region as a separate state, which is internationally recognised including by the United Nations as part of Serbia, with this territorial dispute being a primary hotspot for potential conflict. The decision to modernise the MiG-29s with the new Chinese missiles indicates that the aircraft are likely to be kept in service for the foreseeable future, and may lead the Serbian Defence Ministry to finance further procurements of the aircraft from Russia’s vast surpluses. The missile’s integration may also attract attention from other operators of the MiG-29, such as Algeria, Myanmar, Belarus, and Turkmenistan, leading them consider a similar procurement from China to enhance their own fighters.