PL-5B

Description

The PL-5B missile (scale is approximate)

PL-5B is a domestic heat-seeker AAM developed by the PRC by Institute 612, Ministry of Aviation Industry (now Luoyang Electro-optics Technology Development Centre). A vast improvement over the previous model, the PL-2, with higher tracking rate and overload.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• J-7E

General info

• Length: 3.128 m
• Maximum overload: 20G
• Lock distance from rear-aspect:5.5 km
• Max range: 18 km
• Warhead: 4.76kg HBX, equivalent to 7.62 kg TNT

Effective damage

The warhead of PL-5B was filled with 4.76 kg of HBX, equivalent to 7.62 kg of TNT and comes with proximity fuse that helps to blast enemy aircraft into pieces.

Comparison with analogues

At the same tier, the AIM-9J and the AIM-9P are very common and the PL-5B in many ways is similar to them in terms of explosive mass and overload, its acceleration speed is a two-bladed sword- on one hand, it caused overshoot due to its insane acceleration to top speed in merely a second; on the other hand, this acceleration also helped to shoot down enemies who had bailed from their maneuver, they would have a hard time dodging a missile travelling at M 2.2.

Usage in battles

PL-5Bs can be used in 2 ways: surprising the enemy and long range snipes. Due to its massive acceleration, the PL-5B can reach a higher top speed than conventional missiles at lower altitudes. For example, whereas a AIM-9P/9J would take 3-4 seconds to reach its target from 2 km on the deck at high speeds, the PL-5 covers this same distance in less than 2 seconds. Which means that if you can catch your enemy off guard and fire a missile, in the next 2 seconds or even less, the enemy plane will be sent back to the hangar. This advantage in speed gives it also the possibility to hit targets at 2.5-3 km on the deck at full speed in rear aspect. Thanks to its unlimited pylon (in terms of launch overload), PL-5B could now fire even at the highest g-force possible thanks to that, use it to surprise enemies which just bailed from their maneuver or offset your missile with its maximum 20G overload.

Pros:

• Higher explosive mass among the same tier IR AAMs that can make short work of enemies
• Sufficient 20G overload
• Currently one the only few missiles WITHOUT launch overload limits such as AIM-9G and SRAAM
• Immense acceleration
• Higher range than most conventionnal IR missiles except the AIM-9D/G

Cons:

• Suffers agility problems due to the overall high mass and speed

History

The PL-5B started its development during the 1970s in parallel with its "brother", the PL-5A SARM when Mainland China was in their crisis (the Cultural Revolution). While it had already done aerial simulation tests in September of 1972, it came into service in 1986 while the PL-5A had been cancelled 3 years prior due to outdated technology.

After 2 decades of development and the technologies learnt from foreign IR AAMs, CATIC introduced the latest export-intended version of this missile- PL-5EII, with a brand new multi-band tracker and able to lock from front-aspect, enhancing this missile to a new level.

Media

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See also

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• reference to the article about the variant of the weapon;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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