Chinese air to air missiles
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
New Chinese BVRAAM spotted on PLAAF JH-7A fighter bomber
Gabriel Dominguez, London and Andreas Rupprecht, Mainz - Jane's Defence Weekly
17 April 2020
The same beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) that was first spotted on a People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) J-16 fighter aircraft in November 2016 has now also been photographed being carried by a JH-7A fighter-bomber.
The latest image of the missile, which is only the second photograph to have emerged so far, was posted on Chinese online forums in mid-April. It is unclear when and where the image was taken but it shows that the missile, the official designation of which has yet to be made public, is significantly larger than any other AAM operated by the PLAAF, including the new PL-15 BVRAAM.
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Could this be the PL-21 that is supposed to be similar to the European MBDA Meteor BVRAAM?
Where are the images that are referred to in the article? Would appreciate if someone could link them.
Gabriel Dominguez, London and Andreas Rupprecht, Mainz - Jane's Defence Weekly
17 April 2020
The same beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) that was first spotted on a People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) J-16 fighter aircraft in November 2016 has now also been photographed being carried by a JH-7A fighter-bomber.
The latest image of the missile, which is only the second photograph to have emerged so far, was posted on Chinese online forums in mid-April. It is unclear when and where the image was taken but it shows that the missile, the official designation of which has yet to be made public, is significantly larger than any other AAM operated by the PLAAF, including the new PL-15 BVRAAM.
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Could this be the PL-21 that is supposed to be similar to the European MBDA Meteor BVRAAM?
Where are the images that are referred to in the article? Would appreciate if someone could link them.
I think drones should be able to carry this too. Maybe the first drone shot down by another drone would be the victim of a TY-90 variant.A TY-90 missile hitting a target during practice. TY-90 is designed to be carried by helicopters.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
A TY-90 missile hitting a target during practice. TY-90 is designed to be carried by helicopters.
No proximity fuse?
To avoid collateral damages to the tow plane and other things on the ground, the warhead of the "training" missile is probably substituted with steel weight.
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Quickie
Colonel
Likely still in the stage where the accuracy of the target interception is being tested. An explosion just before the impact would mess up the visuals.
In addition to what others have said, it looks like this target is being towed by a small light aircraft, likely unmanned.
For the purposes of testing a missile in those circumstances where you don't want to also lose/damage the towing aircraft, there's probably no reason to give your missile a warhead.
That said, do we have footage of that particular missile being fired from a helicopter and confirming it is indeed a TY-90? It's rather small and I can't seen any fins, but then again it might just be that the camera quality and framerate means it can't capture the speed those details at those speeds.