It has come to light that People's Liberation Army Air Force's most publicized Air-to-Air weapon,
the PL-15, has a range of only 145 km or 90 miles.
The technical details emerged from the biennial Airshow China in the southern city of Zhuhai,
China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition.
This has come as a major embarrassment for Chinese keyboard warriors who have been
claiming that the missile has a range of about than 400 km or about 250 miles against high-value
targets such as airborne early-warning aircraft and aerial refueling aircraft.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how Chinese claims of PL-15 Air to Air Missile
has got busted by its own air force ? Let's get started.
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The PL-15 referred to as 'Thunderbolt-15' in China is an active radar-guided
long range air-to-air missile. The PL-15 was developed by the China
Air-to-Air Missile Research Institute. Its goal is to replace China's active radar-guided PL-12,
a medium-range air-to-air missile, which has a maximum range of close to 100 km or 62 miles.
The PL-15 entered military service in 2016 and is carried by the Chengdu J-10C,
Shenyang J-16 and the Chengdu J-20 aircraft.
The missile features an active electronically scanned array radar seeker.
The missile can travel at four times the speed of sound or Mach 4 and is powered by a dual-thrust,
solid-fuel motor.
The PL-15 missile, was touted as having a greater range than contemporary systems
like the US-built AMRAAM AIM-120D and Meteor BVRAAM.
The AIM-120D is the latest development of the AMRAAM missile family designed and built
by America's Raytheon . It includes several new enhancements for improved performance.
This includes a two-way data link, superior navigation through
GPS-enhanced Inertial Measurement Unit, much larger no escape zone and improved
high-angle off-boresight capability apart from an increase in range by 50%.
The software algorithm has seen a lot of work
and has a much better capability especially in dealing with new forms of electronic attack.
AIM-120D has much accurate guidance
over its whole flight envelop which improves the kill probability.
It also has upgraded kinematics and GPS Inertial Measurement Unit for better performance.
AIM-120D's range is thought to be about than 167 km or 105 miles.
Meteor missile is developed by MBDA and is based on the requirement derived from 6 nations
and is currently considered to be the most lethal air to air missile in the world.
Meteor has super aerodynamics and propulsion performance enabling it to pull off intense
turn angles when pursuing an agile target like a modern super maneuverable fighter.
With 200 km or around 125 miles range,
it provides an ultra-long-range interception capability against
fighter sized targets critical in attaining 'First look-First-Shoot-First-Kill' capability.
Meteor also has excellent kinetic performance
due to its state of art propulsion system which utilizes ramjet.
A conventional solid-fuel booster accelerates the Meteor after launch,
like most air-to-air missiles. But after that, the missile uses ramjet propulsion.
According to the MBDA, in a head-on engagement the Meteor provides a no-escape zone
3 times greater than that of a conventionally powered missile.
The no-escape zone is an aerial combat term for a cone-shaped area determined
by the missile's capabilities -- from where a targeted aircraft cannot escape
solely using its own maneuverability.
To survive the no-escape zone, a jet has to jam the seeker of the incoming missile
using electronic counter measures or deceive it by firing chaff which are
strips of metal foil to obstruct radar detection. With the Meteor launched in pursuit of a target—a
tail-chase engagement—the Meteor is 5 times as lethal as a conventional equivalent.
While Chinese fanboys have been going hammer and tongs regarding the range of PL-15,
several experts had expressed their doubts.
Pundits point out that PL-15 since uses a conventional rocket motor,
unlike the European-origin Meteor missile that uses an air-breathing ramjet motor
and it is very unlikely to achieve that kind of range.
Some Chinese PLAAF enthusiasts have argued that the PL-15 may have a greater range than the Meteor
because of its higher fuel capacity But the technical data has busted this argument.
Chinese military has often tried to build false narrative as par of physiological warfare.
The nation is one of the most opaque and highly censored in world.
But sometime things do come out. For example,
this happened in the case of J-15 carrier based fighter too.
J-15 which is basically an unethical copy of Russian Su-33 uses indigenous Shenyang
Liming WS-10H engines which are underpowered and cannot carry a full load of fuel and weapons.
China’s own media has come down heavily on it.
Beijing-based Sina Military Network (SMN) criticized the capabilities of the J-15
as nothing more than a "flopping fish" incapable of flying from the Liaoning with heavy weapons,
“effectively crippling its attack range and firepower.
The miss-information and dis-information campaigns launched by CCP and Chinese
military can take it so far, real research and innovation is the key.