An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft. AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid fueled but sometimes liquid fueled. Ramjet engines, as used on the Meteor, are emerging as propulsion that will enable future medium- to long-range missiles to maintain higher average speed across their engagement envelope.
The People's Liberation Army Air Force, also referred to as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The Air Force is composed of five sub-branches: aviation, ground-based air defense, radar, Airborne Corps, and other support elements.
The Vympel NPO R-77 missile is a Russian active radar homing beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile. It is also known by its export designation RVV-AE. It is the Russian counterpart to the American AIM-120 AMRAAM missile.
A beyond-visual-range missile is an air-to-air missile that is capable of engaging at ranges of 20 nmi (37 km) or beyond. This range has been achieved using dual pulse rocket motors or booster rocket motor and ramjet sustainer motor.
The Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon, is a medium-weight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft capable of all-weather operations, configured with a delta wing and canard design, with fly-by-wire flight controls, and produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF). The J-10 is mainly designed for air-to-air combat, but can also perform strike missions.
The Vympel R-37 is a Russian hypersonic air-to-air missile with very long range. The missile and its variants also had the names K-37, izdeliye 610 and RVV-BD, and the NATO codenames "Axehead" and "Andi". It was developed from the R-33.
Astra is an Indian family of all weather beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. Different missiles of this family are capable of engaging targets at varying distances of 500 m (0.31 mi) up to 340 km (210 mi). Astra Mk-1 has been integrated with Indian Air Force's Sukhoi Su-30MKI and will be integrated with Dassault Mirage 2000, HAL Tejas and Mikoyan MiG-29 in the future. Limited series production of Astra Mk-1 missiles began in 2017.
The PL-12 is an active radar-guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile developed by the People's Republic of China. It is considered comparable to the US AIM-120 AMRAAM and the Russian R-77.
The AIM-152 Advanced Air-to-Air Missile (AAAM) was a long-range air-to-air missile developed by the United States. The AIM-152 was intended to serve as the successor to the AIM-54 Phoenix. The program went through a protracted development stage but was never adopted by the United States Navy, due to the ending of the Cold War and the reduction in threat of its perceived primary target, Soviet supersonic bombers. Development was cancelled in 1992.
The PL-9 is a short-range, infrared-homing air-to-air missile (AAM) developed by the People's Republic of China.
The PL-8 is a Chinese air-to-air missile (AAM) originated from the Israeli Python-3 AAM. Experience gained from PL-8/Python-3 had helped China greatly in developing its next missile, the PL-9.
The Shenyang J-16 is a Chinese advanced fourth-generation, tandem-seat, twinjet, multirole strike fighter developed from the Shenyang J-11 and built by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. It is operated by the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
The PL-2 is an infrared homing (IRH) air-to-air missiles (AAM) developed in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was a reverse-engineered Soviet Vympel K-13, which in turn was a reverse-engineered American AIM-9B Sidewinder.
The PL-11 is a medium-range semi-active radar homing (SARH) air-to-air missile (AAM) developed by a subsidiary of the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology in the People's Republic of China. It is a development or copy of the Italian Aspide AAM, which in turn was developed from the American AIM-7 Sparrow. The PRC may have started license production of the Aspide using imported parts but the license was cancelled following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Development started in 1990, and the first live-fire test occurred in 2002 from a Shenyang J-8 IIB.
The Shenyang J-15, also known as Flying Shark is a Chinese all-weather, twinjet, carrier-based fourth-generation multirole fighter aircraft developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) and the 601 Institute, specifically for the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF) to serve on People's Liberation Army Navy's aircraft carriers.
The PL-10, formerly known as PL-ASR, is a short-range, infrared-homing air-to-air missile (AAM) developed by the People's Republic of China. It was designed by Dr. Liang Xiaogeng (梁晓庚) at the Luoyang Electro Optical Center, which is also known as the Institute 612 and was renamed in 2002 as the China Air-to-Air Guided Missile Research Institute (中国空空导弹研究院). Development of the missile commenced in 2004 for use on stealth fighters such as the J-20.
The PL-15 is an active radar-guided long-range air-to-air missile developed by the People's Republic of China.
The Long-Range Engagement Weapon (LREW) is a US Air Force concept for a next-generation beyond visual range air-to-air missile. Concept images shows a large, two-stage missile launched from an internal weapons bay of an F-22 Raptor. There have been some reports that the LREW is too big to fit in the F-22 or F-35 internal weapons bay and is suited for the F-15EX Eagle II or B-21 Raider. It is currently being developed by Raytheon. This program is separate from the AIM-260 JATM being developed by Lockheed Martin.
The AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM) is an American beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) under development by Lockheed Martin. Designed to address advanced threats, the missile is expected to replace or supplement the AIM-120 AMRAAM currently in US service. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) considers the AIM-260A JATM program to be the number one air-delivered weapon priority for both the Air Force and the Navy; and its acquisition out-prioritizes other weapon system improvements and modernization efforts on any fielded aircraft.
The PL-17 or PL-20 is an active radar-guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile developed by the People's Republic of China for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). The missile has claimed range of 400 km (250 mi) and is intended to target larger targets such as tanker and early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.
