R-73 is supposed to have 60 degree offboresight ability. IRIST-T, AIM-9X types

missiles with 90 degree offboresight and HMD will be a great equalizer.

Ask me any questions on the Gripen and I’ll try to answer them as good as possible, if you’re not updated on the C-Version/export i’d be happy to try.

The Gripen strong points are however:

Long range radar. (
Datalink superiority.
Low radar/ir signature
Extremly low cost of operation and quick turn around.

The closest comparable jet is the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Gripen International

So how many BVR missile does it carry ? and how many targets can be

tracked and engaged simultaneously.

The state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has told the Indian Government that it will need $4.3bn to produce the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). The organisation has also revealed that it is developing a naval version of the aircraft.

The DRDO says that the Government funds will be used to produce 220 aircraft over a ten-year period. India is trying to develop the LCA airframe and engine in what is one of the country’s most ambitious industrial projects to date

that seems expensive if 1994 dollars are taken into account

JANE’S MISSILES AND ROCKETS – APRIL 01, 2002

China shows its newest air-to-air missiles
Robert Hewson

The Beijing-based China National Aero Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) is working on a next-generation dogfight missile, writes Robert Hewson. A CATIC engineer attending this year’s Asian Aerospace exhibition, held in Singapore during February, described the new missile as being “very different to the PL-9”, but “still a few years away from service yet”.

The new missile will use an all-new airframe design, coupled with an imaging infrared (IR) seeker – CATIC is known to be working on 64×64- and 128×128-pixel IR seeker arrays, using both linear scanning and staring array techniques. These seekers have been developed for both the 3-5ตm and 8-12ตm wavelengths. According to CATIC, the new missile is intended to equip the J-10 fighter.

Another future J-10 weapon is a new series of Chinese laser-guided bombs, which CATIC has confirmed is currently under development.

China’s PL-7 short-range air-to-air missile (AAM) and the PL-10 medium-range SARH missile programmes have been dropped, with no more development work ongoing. All efforts have instead been redirected to the SD-10 missile programme – an active radar AAM with an 80km range according to CATIC. A company engineer confirmed several SD-10 test firings have already taken place, and that most of the SD-10’s subsystem testing has also been completed, but that the missile is not yet ready for service. CATIC is known to be developing X-band and Ku-band active radar seekers, which are certain to be applied to the SD-10.

At the Singapore exhibition, CATIC displayed the current versions of the PL-5 and PL-9 short-range AAMs (plus a PL-9-based surface-to-air missile [SAM] system), as well as the little-seen TY-90 helicopter-launched AAM.

CATIC describes the PL-9C as a ‘third-generation combat AAM’. Key changes over earlier versions include the missile’s new multi- element seeker (functioning in the 3-5ตm band) with digital signal processing. According to CATIC, the PL-9C has significantly improved IRCCM (infrared counter countermeasure) capabilities, putting it in a class above the PL-8 (China’s Python III copy).

The PL-9C has twice the head-on detection range of the basic PL-9 – now 8km – with a seeker lock-on time of >0.3 seconds. Maximum firing range (in the front hemisphere) is quoted as 22km. Off-boresight capability of ?0? while maximum angular tracking rate is 28?sec. According to CATIC, the PL-9C is intended for use on People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) J-8 and J-10 fighters.

Shown in parallel with the PL-9C was the DK-9C air-defence system – a ground-based SAM system using the PL-9C missile. The DK-9C uses a wheeled, four-shot launcher, with the capability to integrate an air-defence radar – or rely on the missiles’ own seekers for a passive engagement capability. The system is claimed to have an effective range of 8-10km.

The improved PL-5E is the latest iteration of an earlier class of Chinese AAM design, based on Soviet-era R-13 (AA-2 ‘Atoll’) technology – albeit much developed over the years. Existing PL-5s have a rear-aspect ‘tail-chase’ engagement capability only, but the improved seeker head and laser proximity fuze of the PL-5E gives the missile an all-aspect capability for the first time.

The PL-5E and the PL-9C both use an indium antimonide (InSb) gas-cooled seeker, and may share the same basic design of proximity fuze. According to CATIC, the PL-5E is now in PLAAF service on the J-7 and J-8.

Also shown in model form was the TY-90 helicopter-launched AAM. The result of a development programme launched in the 1990s, the weapon is still in its test and trials phase. It is an all-aspect missile with a maximum head-on engagement range of 6km. CATIC claims that, like the PL-9C, the TY-90 uses ‘computer-aided systems’ for guidance and flight control.

It is fitted with a four-element gas-cooled seeker (with the elements arranged in two horizontal pairs), of the same type fitted to the PL-9C, and the warhead is understood to be an expanding-rod type. The TY-90 is designed to be carried in multiples of four, six and eight missiles on a single helicopter. CATIC claims airborne firing trials have been conducted, though no details were given. The missile is likely to enter service on China’s armed Z-9 helicopters (a Z-9 is believed to have been used as a testbed aircraft), but is certain to be earmarked for the new Z-11 attack helicopter, currently in the advanced stages of development.