Major General James G. Blunt

The PL-4 (Chinese: 霹雳-4; pinyin: Pī Lì-4; lit. 'Thunderbolt-4') was an air-to-air missile (AAM) developed by the People's Republic of China. It was designed by the 612 Research Institute and the Zhuzhou Aeroengine factory. The first version, the PL-4A, was China's first semi-active radar homing (SARH) AAM. It was developed into the infrared homing PL-4B.^[2]

The development program started in March 1966. The design may have been influenced by American AIM-7D Sparrow wreckage from the Vietnam War.^[2] Prototype ground-testing to the original 1960s requirements was completed in November 1980,^[2] with the second phase of development starting in July 1981.^[3] The program was cancelled in 1984 due to obsolescence and, with the normalization of relations with the United States - the availability of modern Western weapons.^[2]

The PL-4 was intended to arm the Chengdu J-9 - which was cancelled in 1980 - and then the Shenyang J-8II. Issues with the J-8II's Type 208 radar limited SARH performance,^[2] and the missile's cancellation severely affected the aircraft's development.^[4]

Variants

PL-4A: SARH version
PL-4B: IRH version

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c Wood et al. (2020): page 41
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Wood et al. (2020): page 34
^ Wood et al. (2020): page 17
^ Wood et al. (2020): page 14

Bibliography

Wood, Peter; Yang, David; Cliff, Roger (November 2020). Air-to-Air Missiles: Capabilities And Development In China (PDF). Montgomery: China Aerospace Studies Institute. ISBN 9798574996270.

[casi_aam_41-1] Wood et al. (2020): page 41

[casi_aam_34-2] Wood et al. (2020): page 34

[casi_aam_17-3] Wood et al. (2020): page 17

[casi_aam_14-4] Wood et al. (2020): page 14

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