In Western media reports, people's focus on the Russia-Ukraine conflict is often limited to the ground battlefield, as if the air forces of the two countries do not exist in this modern war. The reason for this difference is that there are not many aircraft left in the Ukrainian Air Force, and there are not many air battles between the two sides. The second reason is that compared to the back-and-forth ground battles, the Ukrainian Air Force was at a one-sided disadvantage in the air battles and had no results to report.
Note: Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jets have been exhausted
Recently, a Ukrainian pilot said in an interview with the US media "Air Force Magazine" that their combat operations are completely sending pilots to the front line to "commit suicide." Because under the continuous bombing by the Russian army, the Ukrainian Air Force now only has MiG-29 fighter jets that can be dispatched. However, many of these aircraft are inventory machines left over from the Soviet era, so they can only launch the old R-27 semi-active radar. guided missiles. This kind of missile does not have active tracking capabilities. It needs to continuously illuminate the target with the fighter radar after launch to guide the missile to hit.
Legend: Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jets, the missiles close to both sides of the aircraft are R-27
In contrast, the Su-35 fighter jets equipped by the Russian Aerospace Force all use R-77-1 active radar guidance Missiles have the ability to actively track targets and can be launched and then ignored. In addition, the R-77-1 missile has a longer range than the R-27. As a result, when the two sides are engaged in air combat, the Russian Su-35 can launch an attack outside the range of the Ukrainian army's MiG-29 missile, and then withdraw from the battlefield. However, the Ukrainian army's missile range is not enough to counterattack. Even when the Russian fighter planes entered the missile range, the Ukrainian pilots were unable to continue to use radar to illuminate the Russian fighter planes and guide the R-27 missile attack because they needed to avoid Russian missiles.
Note: The Russian Su-35 fighter jet has an R-77-1 missile hanging below.
In fact, this one-sided result is not surprising. Because the performance of missiles is crucial in modern air combat, an excellent air-to-air missile can determine the outcome of an air battle even before the battle.
However, Russia does not yet have such excellent air-to-air missiles. After all, among the three countries of China, the United States and Russia, Russia's missiles are the weakest, followed by the United States, and China is the real king. And this result also shows that the path chosen by the Chinese Air Force for the concept of beyond visual range air combat is correct.
As one of the countries with the highest level of air-to-air missiles in the world today, China's active air-to-air missile technology has achieved leadership. This is not sensational, but a fact recognized by all countries, including the US military. Because China's PL-15 air-to-air missile uses the most advanced dual-pulse engine technology and active and passive + data link composite guidance technology, it can accurately attack targets more than 150 kilometers away. The air-to-air missiles of the United States and Russia still use traditional designs. Although their ranges exceed 100 kilometers, they still cannot meet the needs. What's more, the 霹雳-15 is not the strongest air-to-air missile. There is also the mysterious 霹雳-XX ultra-long-range air-to-air missile above it.
Note: J-20
equipped with PL-15 It can be said that with the possession of PL-15 air-to-air missiles, the Chinese Air Force has formed a huge tactical advantage over potential opponents in the surrounding areas. It has even reached a level where as long as the early warning aircraft or ground radar can detect the opponent's fifth-generation aircraft in advance and provide target data, the fourth-generation aircraft carrying the PL-15 can launch attacks beyond the range of the fifth-generation aircraft. Even if the American F-35 comes, it will face the same dilemma as the Ukrainian Air Force of insufficient range and being unable to counterattack.
Note: F-35 launches AIM-120 missile
Of course, China’s advanced missile technology is not to provoke conflict with the United States, but to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity rights and interests from being infringed. It is precisely because the United States knows that the People's Liberation Army is powerful enough to compete with the U.S. military in the Pacific, and random provocations will only result in more losses than gains. Therefore, the United States only dares to carry out small and covert actions around China instead of large-scale military expansion.However, this is only temporary. After the People's Liberation Army completely surpasses the US military, needless to say, the United States itself will not dare to stir up trouble anymore, thus truly defeating others without fighting.
