Kept wondering why not develope an passive infra-red homing Medium range (30KM) missile along lines of a R-27T, for these smaller but still potent jets that for budget/size reasons can not mount a potent radar thus are denuded of BVR options on other wise a potent platform?
R-27T was able to do it based on old 70s era technology. I would think in this age of DAS, one can do much better.
let's say an SD-10 body chopped down and mated with an liquid nitrogen cooled gimble mounted IRST derived seeker head. also provided with Home-on-Jam capability. datalink capable to beam back pictures.
Let's say a late model J-7E with RD-93 engine with a pair of those bad-boyz on midwing pylons, plus a pair of dogfightin PL-8s on outboard. and mounting a pair of IRST slaved to HMDs to provide sit-aware and cueing + RWR and jammers.
WHo says one needs a big radar to have credible BVR capability? !
no need to emitt anything and still could shoot at you 30 kms away.
This whole package could be had less than 10 million $$$s a ship!
(I am really a sucker for small, cheap, retro but disruptive technologies)
I think there are a number of issues standing in the way to such a fighter, and your suggestion of a missile is quite separate from the actual fighter.
The most obvious limitation to the J7's lack of effective BVR capabilities is the fact that it does not have the onboard sensors needed to spot enemies far enough away to make BVR missiles worth while. Mounting IR missiles does not suddenly remove that requirement.
If you are thinking of relying on 3rd party targeting, why the fuss with the fancy new missile? You can hang a couple of regular PL12s/SD10s on a J7 and have it act as a launcher if you have other assets ready to take over guidance.
Range and payload will also be an issue. The J7 is a small fighter with short legs. For the best BVR results, you want to be flying fast and high, but that takes up a lot of fuel, so the J7 would be unlikely to have much if any time left to fight in WVR. So you are trading the fighter's greatest strength for a mediocre (at best) BVR capability that is highly reliant on other assets doing the hard part of the job. Not really worth it in my book, especially when there are other platforms far better suited to BVR.
Now, sticking an IRST on the J7 will not really help, as even the best ones in the world do not give you the ranges you need to make best use of BVR, especially head-on. If you were thinking of replacing the radar with a supersized IRST, that might get you enough range in optimal conditions, but you end up with a fighter that is highly dependent on the weather being perfect to do its job. Not good.
Now, onto your IR BVR missile, well that sounds a lot like the IR MICA tbh, and apart from the French, no-one seems all that keen on the idea. The Americans, Russians, Chinese, even the British and Germans never seriously tried to come up with something in the same class even after all these years. That clearly shows a consensus.
I have a feeling the biggest reason for this lack of 'wow' factor comes in the operation of the missile.
On the face of it, a passive BVR missile sounds all kind of win as you are not tipping off the enemy by setting off their RWR.
However, how were you supposed to have located, identified, and targeted an enemy at BVR ranges passively in the first place? If you used your radar to find the enemy, you already tipped your hand and he should be ready even if you doesn't get a lock warning from his RWR.
AESA LPI modes are a very recent development, and with new generation of digital EW suits being fielded or nearing it in an increasing number of countries, it looks increasingly likely that LPI will be a fleeting advantage that will be cancelled out soon in the future. What more, with MAWS becoming ever more common and sophisticated, the days when a passive missile can expect to sneak up on a target seemed numbered as well.
The J7G has become all it can effectively be given the limitations of its airframe. Trying to squeeze more out of the design will only result in spiking costs for modest improvements. That is why CAC effectively started with a new slate with the JF17 instead of carrying out with their original super7 or J7MF concepts to make this plane BVR capable.
Those were old ideas born when China had few if any better alternatives. Now its a very different China, and they have moved on to bigger and better things.
