No documents or records related to R-27 production licensing have been found within China, strongly suggesting this is a misunderstanding. The only verified information pertains to China seeking guidance system upgrades for R-27s from Artem, driven by Russia’s high pricing versus Ukraine’s cost-effective alternatives.
Both are true. In the mid-1990s, after Artem representatives engaged with Chinese in Beijing, the company upgraded existing R-27 missiles previously acquired by China from Russia and directly sold several new batches of R-27s to China.
PL=Pili(霹雳, thunderbolt)=P. The same word.
SD10A=P12. Both are utilized by the PLAAF and they are entirely identical. There is another P12AE with a range of 120km.
Yes I know SD-10A = PL12 in game, but I’d rather have a PL-12 model that has P12~ serial number on it than having a copy paste SD-10A model on Chinese domestic planes.
the small holes in pl-15e’s seeker should be sockets for aesa units. the unites are blown off, only the back plate and limiting frame with jagged edge
like this
Also notice that this is not a ‘movable’ plate, it’s stationary. Also btw there are pics of PL15 falling into people’s backyard. Can’t send the images here. But have a look in this
thread
Here is an alleged 64 module AESA antenna for the R-77M, I don’t know if this is accurate.
The only thing the PL-15E seeker seems to have in common with these is the squared off segments, which is shared by both ESA and non ESA arrays. The slots of the backside are no indicator of ESA or not.
These are more modern seeker types, the PL-15E seeker appears to use slots similar to 9B-1103M (albeit a little different). I see no TR modules and while it is possible that it is AESA I will remain highly skeptical of such claims.
