PL-4 (missile)

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 of PL-4 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 canceled 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 canceled 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]

PL-4A

SARH version

PL-4B

IRH version

Fenglei-7 (Chinese: 风雷-7)

Anti-radiation missile based on PL-4, with technologies reverse-engineered from AGM-45 Shrike collected from Vietnam War. It was developed between 1977 and 1984 but was eventually canceled.^[5]