3 June, 2002
China Builds On Russian Adder To Develop Active Radar Missile
London (AW&ST, By Douglas Barrie)
With key technology support from Russia, China is developing a new active radar-guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile that could be fielded in the latter half of this decade.
The weapon should significantly improve the Chinese air force’s air combat capability.
The program, called Project 129 or R129, was previously associated with the purchase or possible license-production of the Russian R-77 (AA-12 Adder) medium-range radar-guided air-to-air missile.
However, Russian sources now say that while Project 129 will draw on critical technologies from the Vympel R-77, it will have an indigenously developed airframe. It also will be coupled with a Chinese propulsion unit. The missile is thought to correspond to the PL-12 designation. This is also associated with the SD-10 designation, possibly for export purposes.
China has long sought to acquire or develop a credible beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVR AAM) capability, initially with a semiactive BVR missile, and latterly with a fully active missile.
The ability to engage air targets at beyond visual range holds obvious advantages, as does being able to field an active radar-guided weapon. Unlike a semiactive missile, an active weapon does not require the launch aircraft to illuminate the target during the terminal phase of the engagement. With an active missile, the launch aircraft can also either “bug out” of the engagement or launch against another target aircraft.
China initially tried to address its BVR needs by reverse-engineering the semiactive AIM-7 Sparrow, in a program designated PL-10. This effort proved unsuccessful. China then purchased around 100 Aspide missiles from Italy–the eventual intent being the license-manufacture of the missile, to be known as PL-11. This deal collapsed as a result of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Since then, China has looked to Russia, and possibly Israel, as a route to acquiring an active BVR AAM.
Russian defense industry sources also suggested to Aviation Week & Space Technology that Project 129 is part of a wider effort on the part of the Chinese to equip its Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker aircraft with an indigenously manufactured sensor and weapons suite, including the aircraft’s radar and dogfight and BVR missiles.
“China plans to replace the basic N-001 with a nationally developed pulse Doppler radar,” one Russian defense industrialist said recently. He identified the China Leihua Electronic Technology Research Institute (CLETRI) as one of two radar design houses working on a replacement system; the other was the Nanjiing Research Institute of Electronic Technology.
As far as Project 129 is concerned, the missile uses an active radar seeker from Russia’s Agat design bureau, as well as an inertial navigation unit. The data link for the missile is also understood to be of Russian origin.
Agat developed the 9B-1348 active radar seeker for the R-77, and a version of this is now the likely source of technology for the Chinese program. Agat officials previously have confirmed involvement in a Chinese AAM program, but beyond this, they declined to go into any detail of the program.
Like the basic R-77, Project 129 appears to have a body diameter of 200 mm., with a length of around 3.7meters (12.1 ft.). Unlike the R-77, which has narrow-span mid-body wings and rectangular lattice control fins at the rear, the Project 129 airframe configuration is more orthodox. It has four triangular mid-body wings and four triangular fins at the rear. The latter, however, do appear to have cropped tips, along with a dog-tooth at the root of the leading edge.
The basic R-77 was also limited in that it did not have the capability to follow a lofted flight-engagement trajectory. Weapons such as the U.S. AIM-120Amraam can climb shortly after launch to high altitude, thus extending the range.
Vympel is working on an improved R-77, under the K-77M program (“K” denotes a development program), which would enhance the performance of the R-77. This includes a lofted flight profile. The Chinese Project 129 may also feature a lofted flight profile.
The basic R-77 solid rocket motor burn-profile also limited the missile’s engagement performance. The K-77M attempts to address this with the addition of more propellant, along with a shaped-burn profile to extend range and conserve energy.
Marrying the guidance elements of the R-77 with a Chinese solid propellant motor will likely result in the Project 129 missile having significant range and kinematic improvements over the baseline AA-12.
Project 129, in the guise of the SD-10, has been shown on a mockup of China’s Super-7/FC-1 aircraft proposed for codevelopment with Pakistan. However, along with providing the Chinese air force with a weapon for the Su-27, Project 129 would also likely figure as a weapon for the J-10 fighter now in flight test.
Sign In
June 4, 2002 at 1:11 am