Chinese air to air missiles

latenlazy

Brigadier
Just so people know, 星海 called the graphic in #308 "mostly incorrect and out of date". He also declined to elaborate.
There have been some murmurs in the last two years about new motors that can take PL-15 sized missiles into the 200-300 km range. That might be what he meant.
 

Klon

Junior Member
Registered Member
Just so people know, 星海 called the graphic in #308 "mostly incorrect and out of date". He also declined to elaborate.
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Summary of IISS on Chinese AAMs addresses range. However, cooperative guidance, trajectory programming, energy management (dual-pulse rocket, throttleable SDR), terminal phase maneuverability (lateral jets/aerodynamic surfaces coupling) of LRAAMs should also be paid attention to.
 

Klon

Junior Member
Registered Member
On pages two and three of this
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pb19980515 comments on Chinese AAM. As directly posting the machine translation would be quite ineffective in this case, I'd appreciate it if someone could translate and summarize the key points.
 

SinoSoldier

Colonel
On pages two and three of this
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pb19980515 comments on Chinese AAM. As directly posting the machine translation would be quite ineffective in this case, I'd appreciate it if someone could translate and summarize the key points.

The diagram of the FC-31 holding six AAMs (2016 Zhuhai Airshow) depicts the variant of the PL-12 with folded fins.

The photo of the J-20 carrying four missiles in its internal bay apparently shows the PL-15, which is classified as a "medium-long-range" air-to-air missile. PB mentions that a new medium-long-range anti-radiation missile (YJ-XX) exists as well, and four of those can be carried internally by the J-20.

The PL-15 folded-fin variant is still in tech demonstrator phase and not yet in service.
The new YJ-XX anti-radiation missile has a range of 180 km, can attack AWACS and sea-based radars, and will be equipped by both the J-20 and the navalized J-XX.

PL-15 has a two-way datalink.
 

latenlazy

Brigadier
The diagram of the FC-31 holding six AAMs (2016 Zhuhai Airshow) depicts the variant of the PL-12 with folded fins.

The photo of the J-20 carrying four missiles in its internal bay apparently shows the PL-15, which is classified as a "medium-long-range" air-to-air missile. PB mentions that a new medium-long-range anti-radiation missile (YJ-XX) exists as well, and four of those can be carried internally by the J-20.

The PL-15 folded-fin variant is still in tech demonstrator phase and not yet in service.
The new YJ-XX anti-radiation missile has a range of 180 km, can attack AWACS and sea-based radars, and will be equipped by both the J-20 and the navalized J-XX.

PL-15 has a two-way datalink.
So...does a folding fin version of the PL-15 means we should eventually see the J-20 be able to mount 6 PL-15s? (I don’t have time today to dig through that thread).
 

jobjed

Captain
So...does a folding fin version of the PL-15 means we should eventually see the J-20 be able to mount 6 PL-15s? (I don’t have time today to dig through that thread).
There's no guarantee the folding-fin PL-15 will enter service according to pb. The PL-15 is a different class of missile compared to the PL-12/AIM-120, there's no shame in carrying four. If the J-20 needed to carry six MRAAMs, it can always carry six folding-fin PL-12s.
 

jobjed

Captain
The new YJ-XX anti-radiation missile has a range of 180 km, can attack AWACS and sea-based radars, and will be equipped by both the J-20 and the navalized J-XX

This new ARM is also based on the PL-15, which is why the J-20 and next-gen carrier fighter can fit four of them.

The FC-31's main weapons bay is as big as the J-20's despite being a shorter aircraft because its engines are also significantly shorter so SAC managed to find space to squeeze in a comparable weapons bay.
 

latenlazy

Brigadier
There's no guarantee the folding-fin PL-15 will enter service according to pb. The PL-15 is a different class of missile compared to the PL-12/AIM-120, there's no shame in carrying four. If the J-20 needed to carry six MRAAMs, it can always carry six folding-fin PL-12s.
For me the inquiry is not about shame or pride. I find it curious because as far as I know the PL-15 and the PL-12 aren’t so dramatically different in their dimensions that if they could fit 6 of the latter it’s hard to see why they couldn’t fit 6 of the former. If you were the PLAAF and there was a way you could do so, why wouldn’t you want to? It could just be that the PL-15 is literally just longer enough than the PL-12 to make staggering impossible of course, so the base presumption I’m operating off of could be wrong, but if I’m not wrong the J-20’s weapons bay should be about 4.2 meters long and I’ve heard that PL-15 is 4 meters, and that makes staggering seem doable, which is why I’ve been a bit persistent about this point. At the end of the day I just want to know the particulars, given that how I imagine the PLAAF’s thinking behind the decisions over weapons load here would have indicated a different outcome.
 
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Totoro

Major
VIP Professional
The logical assumption would be that what we saw inside j20 is NOT pl-15. Rather a pl-12 variant. Only that way can one still claim that pl-15 is a different class of a missile compared to pl-12. Otherwise, you could always retain the same body dimensions and update the rest of the missile and still both have a more capable missile while being in the same class of the missile.
 
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