Chapter 555 Air-to-Air Missile

Panshan Group Headquarters.

"Medium-range air-to-air missiles?" Liu Tao learned about the equipment of the Chinese Air Force and immediately realized something that was very meaningful to him.

That is the medium-range air-to-air missile!

Medium-range air-to-air missiles, because of their beyond-visual-range attack capabilities, have always been the standard equipment of fighter jets since their appearance.

The development of domestic medium-range air-to-air missiles has gone through the process of self-research, discontinuation, introduction, and self-research again. After more than 30 years, it has not yet borne fruit.

At present, China has developed a medium-range air-to-air missile named "Piercing-4". The development of this type of medium-range air-to-air missile began in 1966. The aerodynamic layout of the missile is similar to that of the US AIM-7D "Sparrow" medium-range air-to-air missile. It adopts a conventional layout of a trapezoidal main wing plus a triangular tail wing, and the guidance method is radar semi-active guidance.

Due to insufficient technical reserves, the development progress of the Pili-4 was extremely slow. It was not until 1984 that the first batch of complete missiles and launch supporting devices were produced. However, the performance level of PL-4 is only equivalent to the early model level of AIM-7, which can no longer meet the needs of the Air Force. In 1985, the PL-4 project was discontinued and research and development was stopped.

China introduced American fighters and naturally also introduced a batch of medium-range air-to-air missiles. The reason why the PL-4 project was discontinued was that it was found that the performance of PL-4 was too far behind that of the American medium-range air-to-air missiles.

It is better to buy than to make!

The PL-4 project team has to invest a lot of research and development funds every year, but the output results are not satisfactory.

So many people think that instead of spending so much effort on the research and development of medium-range air-to-air missiles, it is better to directly purchase American medium-range air-to-air missiles.

Therefore, the PL-4 project was discontinued.

But now, the price of American weapons has risen a lot, and the current price is that Liu Tao can't help but feel a toothache.

According to his understanding, the Air Force is reluctant to use air-to-air missiles in normal training.

Liu Tao felt that if he could develop an air-to-air missile, whether it was a short-range air-to-air missile or a medium-range air-to-air missile, it would be urgently needed by the Chinese Air Force.

Once he developed an air-to-air missile with advanced performance, the cost would definitely be much lower than the price of importing it from the United States.

And the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Air Force could also be greatly improved.

As Liu Tao submitted an application, a group of parts and technicians arrived at the Panshan Group headquarters soon.

The parts here include those for manufacturing short-range air-to-air missiles and those for manufacturing medium-range air-to-air missiles.

Short-range air-to-air missiles are also called close-range air-to-air missiles.

China was equipped with close-range air-to-air missiles very early, but it has not been taken seriously. Until now, China's domestically produced fighters and fighters have used aircraft guns as their main weapons. In several local wars in the 1970s, air-to-air missiles played a pivotal role. In the Yom Kippur War, Israel shot down 336 Arab aircraft, of which 60 were shot down by aircraft guns, and the remaining 276 were all shot down by close-range air-to-air missiles. As the main weapon for gaining air supremacy, air-to-air missiles have greatly changed the previous air combat mode, and their performance has become an important factor in determining the outcome of air battles.

Therefore, China also began to develop air-to-air missiles. In the era of lack of airborne radars, the semi-active radar-guided air-to-air missiles imitated by China have always been in a state of missiles but no aircraft.

As for the origin of close-range combat air-to-air missiles, the close-range combat air-to-air missiles in the world all originated from the American AIM-9B ‘Sidewinder’ air-to-air missile. In 1953, Ford Aerospace Communications Company and Raytheon Company of the United States successfully developed the AIM-9B “Sidewinder” air-to-air missile based on the lead sulfide infrared detector invented by McLean in 1949. The AIM-9B “Sidewinder” air-to-air missile seeker uses a non-cooled lead sulfide infrared detector, and the tail wing is equipped with an anti-roll gyro rudder. When rotating, it makes a harsh sound, similar to the sound of a rattlesnake’s tail swinging at high frequency, hence the name “Sidewinder”. In the propaganda of the US military, the Sidewinder air-to-air missile is like the mysterious moves used by martial arts masters in martial arts novels - as long as a move is made, the enemy will definitely die.

AIM-9B "Sidewinder" air-to-air missile has become the standard equipment of NATO countries' air forces since its introduction. Since its invention, it has been continuously improved, and many improved models have been born. The production volume has exceeded 100,000. AIM-9B "Sidewinder" air-to-air missile has become the standard equipment of NATO countries' air forces since its introduction. In the early days, it was mainly carried by aircraft, and later it was installed on helicopters, armed vehicles, and even ships. It is the most used air-to-air missile in actual combat.

The origin of China's close-range combat air-to-air missiles has to be mentioned. When China obtained the "Sidewinder" air-to-air missile, it immediately sent two groups of experts to help analyze and study it. When the experts returned to China, China allowed them to take away a full set of surveying and mapping drawings, test data and a wreckage to share the results. After obtaining the information, the Soviet Union's 134th Design and Research Bureau immediately began to imitate it, and produced the K-13 air-to-air missile in just one year, and transferred its production process and technology to China along with the MiG-21 fighter.

In April 1962, the production drawings and process documents of the K-13 air-to-air missile were delivered to Huaxia, along with two sets of ground test equipment and 98 live ammunition, and the imitation was fully launched. From 1962 to 1963, more than 2,000 technical data and product drawings were translated, and it was decided to start full-scale trial production by building a general assembly production line at the Oriental Machinery Factory. The trial production work was carried out in an orderly manner, starting with the easy and then the difficult, in parallel, crisscrossing, and in September 1965, the steering gear, missile wings, solid propellant and charge engine were finalized. In October, 13 sample missiles were assembled, with a sample missile length of 2.84 meters, a diameter of 0.127 meters, a wingspan of 0.609 meters, a missile weight of 75.3 kilograms, a warhead weight of 11.4 kilograms, and a range of 7.6 kilometers.

After a series of tests, it was finally finalized and put into production. This short-range air-to-air missile was named the 'Piercing 2' air-to-air missile. It was already 1970, and the unit responsible for production was the Xi'an Dongfang Machinery Factory. Later, the Zhuzhou Engine Factory also joined the production.

The supporting equipment of the Pili-2 air-to-air missile is simple, and it can be used as long as the fighter is equipped with a rangefinder.

However, due to the limitation of technology level, the maneuverability and the ability to resist sunlight and tracer interference are relatively poor, and it can only carry out tail-chasing attacks on subsonic bombers with relatively poor maneuverability. The Air-to-Air Missile Research Institute enlarged the missile's wings and rudders, improved the seeker's receiving sensitivity and reduced the proximity fuze delay time, and developed the PL-2-15. Then it increased the seeker's detection distance, improved the anti-interference ability, adjusted the fuze sensitivity and reliability, and developed the PL-2B air-to-air missile. This air-to-air missile was put into mass production in October 1981 as the main weapon of the J-7II fighter. At the same time, the J-7II fighter was widely equipped with the PL-5B air-to-air missile, which was copied from the American AIM-9D captured on the battlefield in Vietnam.

However, the performance of these short-range air-to-air missiles is not satisfactory at present, and the difference is very large compared with the short-range air-to-air missiles of the United States and the Soviet Union.