AIR-TO-AIR MISSILES CAPABILITIES AND DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA Prepared by TextOre, Inc. Peter Wood, David Yang, and Roger Cliff November 2020 Printed in the United States of America by the China Aerospace Studies Institute ISBN 9798574996270 To request additional copies, please direct inquiries to Director, China Aerospace Studies Institute, Air University, 55 Lemay Plaza, Montgomery, AL 36112 All photos licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license, or under the Fair Use Doctrine under Section 107 of the Copyright Act for nonprofit educational and noncommercial use. 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AIR-TO-AIR MISSILES CAPABILITIES AND DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA CHINA AEROSPACE STUDIES INSTITUTE CASI's mission is to advance understanding of the capabilities, development, operating concepts, strategy, doctrine, personnel, organization, and limitations of China's aerospace forces, which include: the PLA Air Force (PLAAF); PLA Naval Aviation (PLAN Aviation); PLA Rocket Force (PLARF); PLA Army (PLAA) Aviation; the PLA Strategic Support Force (PLASSF), primarily space and cyber; and the civilian and commercial infrastructure that supports the above. CASI supports the Secretary, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the Chief of Space Operations, and other senior Air and Space leaders. CASI provides expert research and analysis supporting decision and policy makers in the Department of Defense and across the U.S. government. CASI can support the full range of units and organizations across the USAF, USSF, and the DoD. CASI accomplishes its mission through conducting the following activities: § CASI primarily conducts open-source native-language research supporting its five main topic areas. § CASI conducts conferences, workshops, roundtables, subject matter expert panels, and senior leader discussions to further its mission. CASI personnel attend such events, government, academic, and public, in support of its research and outreach efforts. § CASI publishes research findings and papers, journal articles, monographs, and edited volumes for both public and government-only distribution as appropriate. § CASI establishes and maintains institutional relationships with organizations and institutions in the PLA, the PRC writ large, and with partners and allies involved in the region. § CASI maintains the ability to support senior leaders and policy decision makers across the full spectrum of topics and projects at all levels, related to Chinese aerospace. CASI supports the U.S. Defense Department and the China research community writ-large by providing high quality, unclassified research on Chinese aerospace developments in the context of U.S. strategic imperatives in the Asia-Pacific region. Primarily focused on China’s Military Air, Space, and Missile Forces, CASI capitalizes on publicly available native language resources to gain insights as to how the Chinese speak to and among one another on these topics. PREFACE “Good enough”, this is how I often describe China’s short-term ambitions. They don’t need to have a world-class / global-leader military, not yet; what they need is something that is ‘good enough’. This has implications for how China pursues its program of military modernization and its goal to increase its comprehensive national power. They don’t need to have a navy that can go toe to toe with the U.S. Navy, they need a military which is ‘good enough’ to keep the U.S. Navy occupied or distracted, hence developing the idea to use ballistic missiles against aircraft carriers, this is a ‘good enough’ solution for now, at a much lower cost. So too in the realm of aviation. China is working very hard to modernize their fleet of aircraft and striving to improve their aerospace forces, but it takes time and money. So where do they focus? On getting to ‘good enough’. Air-to-air missiles are a perfect example of this. Their newest fighter, the J-20, is stealthy-ish, may soon be able to supercruise-ish (if they solve their engine problems), and is a modern fighter. Is it as good as an F-35, no, but if you can develop air-to-air missiles that can outreach American and allied missiles, then a decent J-20 is good enough to keep the U.S. aviation forces, particularly the tanker bridge on which we heavily rely, at arm’s length. Thus ‘good enough’ (for now). Make no mistake, China has goals to create a ‘world class military’ by 2049 (the centenary of the founding of the PRC), and they have the plans to get there. But in the interim, finding creative ways to fight asymmetrically will be ‘good enough’ to achieve their aims. Drawing on Chinese-language sources, this report is the next in the series of studies by the China Aerospace Studies Institute that seeks to lay the foundation for better understanding the Aerospace Sector of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This report describes China’s air-to-air missile capabilities and development. It reviews the history of the PRC’s acquisition of air-to-air missiles and production capabilities, describes the missiles and associated airborne sensors that China has produced or is currently developing, and provides an overview of China’s air-to-air missile research and development (R&D) ecosystem, including profiles of key organizations and individuals. It concludes with an assessment of the outlook for China’s air-to- air missile capabilities and their implications for the United States. We hope you find this volume useful, and look forward to bringing you further details on the foundations of Chinese aerospace in this series. Dr. Brendan S. Mulvaney Director, China Aerospace Studies Institute AIR-TO-AIR MISSILES CAPABILITIES AND DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA ABBREVIATIONS IRST Infrared search and tracking system AECC Aero Engine Corporation of China ISR Intelligence, Surveillance, and AESA Active Electronically Scanned Reconnaissance Array (radar) MAWS Missile Approach Warning System AEW&C Airborne Early Warning & Control MCF Military-Civilian Fusion AAM Air-to-Air Missile MIIT Ministry of Industry and ASW Anti-Submarine Warfare Information Technology AVIC Aviation Industry Corporation of MOST Ministry of Science and China Technology BVR Beyond Visual Range NDU National Defense University BVRAAM Beyond Visual Range AAM NDRC National Development and Reform C4ISR Command, Control, Commission Communications, Computers, NUAA Nanjing University of Aeronautics Intelligence, Surveillance and and Astronautics Reconnaissance NUDT National University of Defense CASC China Aerospace Science and Technology Technology PD Pulse Doppler radar CASS Chinese Academy of Social PESA Passive Electronically Scanned Sciences Array CAST China Academy of Space PLA People’s Liberation Army Technology PLAAF People’s Liberation Army Air CATIC China National Aero-Technology Force Import & Export Corporation PLAN People’s Liberation Army Navy CCP Chinese Communist Party PRC People’s Republic of China CETC China Electronics Technology ROCAF Republic of China (Taiwan) Air Company Force CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics RWR Radar Warning Receiver COMAC Commercial Aircraft Corporation SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar of China TCAF Theater Command Air Force CMC Central Military Commission TISEO Target Identification System CNC Computer Numerical Control Electro-Optical ECM Electronic Countermeasures UCAV Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle EDD Equipment Development VLRAAM Very Long Range AAM Department EODAS Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System EW Early Warning GAD General Armament Department HALE High Altitude Long-Endurance HMD Helmet-Mounted Display IFF Identification Friend or Foe TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 8 Types of Air-to-Air Missiles and Guidance Systems ...............................................................