PL-12

The PL-12 (Chinese: 霹雳-12; pinyin: Pī Lì-12; lit.: 'Thunderbolt-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 American AIM-120 AMRAAM and the Russian R-77.[4]

For the Australian aircraft, see Transavia PL-12 Airtruk.
PL-12
A model of an export version of the PL-12, SD-10A, (bottom-left corner) with a Pakistan Air Force JF-17 on display at the Farnborough Airshow 2010.
TypeMedium-range, active radar homing air-to-air missile
Place of originPeople's Republic of China
Service history
Used byPeople's Liberation Army Air Force

People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force

Pakistan Air Force
Specifications
Mass180 kilograms (400 lb)[1]
EngineSolid fuel rocket
Operational
range
70–100 kilometres (43–62 mi)[2][3]
Guidance
system
Active radar[4]
Launch
platform

Development history

The first public information of the Leihua Electronic Technology Research Institute's PL-12 – then called the SD-10 – emerged in 2001.[10] Development was assisted by Vympel NPO and Agat of Russia.[11] Liang Xiaogeng is believed to have been the chief designer.[12] Four successful test firings were made in 2004. By 2005, the missile was also known as the PL-12.[11]

Description

The PL-12 may use the radar and data link from the Russian R-77,[13] or otherwise use systems benefiting from technology transfers from Russia. The missile uses a Chinese rocket motor[10] and airframe.[13] The PL-12 may have a passive homing mode for use against jammers and AEW aircraft.[10]

Variants
SD-10A on display with the JF-17 light-weight fighter at the Farnborough International Airshow 2010.
  • SD-10 (ShanDian-10, 闪电-10) - Export version of the PL-12. There is also a SD-10B.[9]
  • DK-10A - Surface-to-air variant with a range of 3 to 50 km and altitude from 30 m to 20 km.[14][15]

Operators
Map with PL-12 operators in blue

Current operators
 People's Republic of China
 Pakistan
  • Pakistan Air Force (PAF), 600 ordered. 425 received as of 2018.[16]
 Morocco
  • DK-10A; used by Sky Dragon 50 SAM system.[17]
 Myanmar
gollark: I mean, Conway's Game of Life is Turing-complete and has self-replicators, those are "life".
gollark: It could probably exist in basically any with sufficiently... something... rules, given a broad enough definition of "life".
gollark: I read somewhere that if we had four dimensions and similar physics things would be too unstable to work, and two dimensions doesn't really provide enough connectivity to do much, but I don't think you can give much of a meaningful answer beyond "it just is".
gollark: By "long", I mean "more than about 3 minutes", unless they are very interesting all the way through.
gollark: Oh, and sponsored segments sometimes.

See also

Similar weapons

References
  1. O'Rourke: page 21
  2. Medeiros et al.: page 93
  3. Fisher, Richard D. Jr. (21 February 2010). "The Air Balance on the Taiwan Strait". International Assessment and Strategy Center. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  4. Cliff: page 8
  5. Hallion etc al.: page 195
  6. O'Rourke: page 77
  7. Gormley et al.: page 55
  8. Gormley et al.: page 13
  9. Jennings, Gareth (4 March 2015). "Bulgaria to be offered JF-17 fighter by Pakistan". janes.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  10. Fisher, Richard D. Jr. (2 February 2008). "China's Emerging 5th Generation Air-to-Air Missiles". International Assessment and Strategy Center. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  11. Medeiros et al.: page 92
  12. Fisher, Richard D. Jr. (18 September 2015). "Chief designer reveals data on China's new Luoyang PL-10 AAM". janes.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  13. Fisher, Richard D. Jr. (21 November 2002). "Military Sales to China: Going to Pieces". International Assessment and Strategy Center. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  14. "Sky Dragon 50 GAS2 Medium-Range Surface-to-Air defense missile". Army Recognition.
  15. "Sky Dragon takes aim [IDX15D4]". Jane's. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  16. http://armstrade.sipri.org/armstrade/page/trade_register.php
  17. Binnie, Jeremy (31 January 2018). "Morocco reportedly acquires Sky Dragon 50 SAM". Jane's. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  18. "SIPRI Trade Register". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Bibliography

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