Supposedly the Russian Air Force was supposed to adopt a whole new medium range missile, so we all might be mistaken and it’s something completely different.
Well, clearly this is an R-77 with some modifications. A new medium range missile could be in development but I have not heard of such a thing or any details. The US has like… three or four ongoing medium range missile programs.
I agree, with the rear section looking the way it does it has to be the R-77M with the two-pulse motor. At least that’s what I’m going to settle on until we hear something different.
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Or these are processing artifacts. I found a photo without processing
And also if we take these fragments into account, there is no expansion in the rear part.
Spoiler
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I don’t think the wreckage is a good tell, and I still see something going on with the non processed image you have there. Either way, I think there is a slight bulge at the rear. I suspect the rocket motor extends most the length of the rear of the missile and does not have a very long extension for the nozzle.
Assuming the PL-12 has a range of 70-80km, the dotted lines would be 20km each for intervals on this chart and that would indicate 200-220km range for PL-15 and over 300 for the PL-16.
Oh, and it seems the larger missile we have been calling PL-17 is actually officially the PL-16 in Chinese service.
Of course maybe I’ve been too hasty in my assumptions, @Flame2512 you have more experience reading charts like this. What do you think of the Chinese long range AAM data here?
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It would suggest that:
- PL-15 has about 3.2x the range of PL-12 when fired from directly head on, and 4.4x the range when fired from directly behind.
- PL-16 has about 4.6x the range of PL-12 when fired from directly head on, and 5.8x the range when fired from directly behind.
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without scale it is impossible to determine the launch ranges, but the guess should be within the ballpark
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Fantom brought up to me in discord that there is a scale, here is a better image showing the information in the powerpoint;
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Let’s pretend the current PL-12 in-game is indicative of its real performance.
We know currently the PL-12 can vastly exceed 60km at high altitude against fast speed targets
So in a scenario where the PL-12 hits a target at 60km, maybe at medium altitude and high speed, the PL-15 should do 180km and PL-16 should do 275km.
Likely means at high altitude and high speed with cooperative targets, the range is about another 40%, (85km for PL-12, 250km for PL-15, 380km for PL-16)
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Without more information I cannot say how much more range they could achieve. We know for example the AIM-120 in theory could hit a ballistic trajectory that would put it on course to meet a target when launched with a distance further than the Phoenix if it had sufficient battery life… albeit with zero energy for maneuvers.
The end-game performance of the PL-15 will be better obviously, given that it is a dual pulse design.
pl-16 ramjet or dual pulse?
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Telephone pole missile
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isnt that the pl17?
i couldnt find images of a pl16 online anywhere
is it related to pl17?
Same missile I think
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This chart originates from a public presentation several years ago by Sun Cong, the chief designer of both the J-15 and J-35. The data within it has been declassified and sanitized, meaning it can only qualitatively illustrate the relative performance of the PL-12, PL-15, and PL-16 missiles, and should not be treated as precise figures.
Assuming this data were accurate, calculating the average speeds by reading the PL-12 and PL-15 ranges for both head-on and tail-chase engagements would yield absurd results.
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The PL-16 has never been publicly unveiled, and it’s generally thought to be a missile similar in size to the PL-15 but featuring an aerodynamic configuration like the PL-17.
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Yes as far as i know some missile active range can actually be modified on demand