Figure 1 The range of the Thunderbolt-15E has disappointed many people.
In the Zhuhai Air Show, the appearance of the J-20 airborne air-to-air missile Thunderbolt-15E brought surprises and disappointments to military fans at the same time: the surprise is that the Thunderbolt-15E, as the core secret, can be displayed on the table and announce the performance parameters;Disappointingly, this air-to-air missile, which has been expected for many years, has an effective range of only 145 kilometers, which is a huge gap from the more than 200 kilometers claimed by many military self-proclaims.
Seeing that his remarks were nakedly slapped in the face, for a while, in order to save face, many military forces began to play language arts, and gave three possible explanations: First, the foreign trade model has a short range, and our self-use range must exceed 200 kilometers;Second, the true range of the Thunderbolt-15E cannot be announced, and the data at the Zhuhai Air Show is just a smoke bomb used to confuse the enemy;Third, the effective firing range is not equal to the maximum firing range. Military fans couldn't figure out who was right and who was wrong for a while, so they naturally accepted these fools, and today the author will talk about this matter seriously.
1. The decisive factor in the range of air-to-air missiles.
Figure 2 AIM-54 long-range air-to-air missile carried by the F-14.
The solid-fuel propellant of air-to-air missiles is similar all over the world, so the range of air-to-air missiles is far from far, that is, it depends on whether the missile body is thick or not, and whether it is long. So far, the longest-range air-to-air missile is the AIM-54 Immortal carried by the US F-14. Just look at the **, you will know that this air-to-air missile is much thicker than the current common Thunderbolt-12 and AIM-120, and the wings are much larger.
Fig.3. Principle of dual-pulse engine.
In the case that the gap cannot be widened in terms of fuel, the air-to-air missile wants to increase the range, mainly relying on the optimization of the flight process, that is, choosing a flight path and flight state that is most conducive to expanding the maximum range, so as to save the average energy consumption of the air-to-air missile to the greatest extent. In practice, because of the low high-altitude air resistance, the range of an air-to-air missile using a high-throw trajectory will be higher than that of a straight trajectory. At the same time, the higher the maximum speed of the missile, the greater the shock wave resistance, and appropriately reducing the maximum speed is also conducive to expanding the range of the missile.
In recent years, the thrust mode of the engine of the dual-pulse air-to-air missile, which has been hotly hyped by military fans, is designed based on the above principles. In this thrust mode, the thrust of the air-to-air missile is divided into two stages: the first stage of the pulse engine first propels the missile to the maximum speed and maximum altitude, allowing the missile to fly for a period of time relying on inertia, then the second stage of the pulse engine ignition to generate thrust, and the second stage increases the speed and range of the air-to-air missile until it hits the target.
However, this is only the optimization of the ballistic and thrust scheme, the effect of which is real, but it is also very limited, some simulation*** It shows that if the range of an ordinary air-to-air missile with a high-throw trajectory is 145 kilometers, the range of an air-to-air missile using a dual-pulse engine can be extended to 161 kilometers, and this degree of expansion is obviously not enough to satisfy the appetite of military fans, in fact, the maximum range of the American AIM-120D is 160 kilometers, which is not much improved compared to the Thunderbolt-15E, which is still said to have adopted some mysterious new medicine column.
Second, some of the self-interpretation is not worth refuting.
Speaking of which, in fact, it can be concluded that the range of more than 200 kilometers is not a task that the aerodynamic configuration and volume of the Thunderbolt-15E can complete, and no longer speculate that there are any credible explanations, these forced explanations are actually not worth refuting.
In response to the first explanation, the foreign trade model has a short range, as mentioned earlier, as far as the missile is, the Thunderbolt-15E is just that thickness and length, you can't expect it to shoot too far, and it has to be loaded into our J-20 magazine, it can't be too long and thick, the Thunderbolt-15E and our own version will not have much difference, don't fantasize too much;For the second explanation, the range data is confidential, in fact, there is no need to refute it, because if you compare the relationship between the length, diameter and range of the air-to-air missiles in service in various countries around the world, you can know that the announced range of the Thunderbolt-15E is already very good, even if the published data is false, the real range will be increased by more than ten kilometers at most, and it will not bring a significant increase in tactical superiority, and there is no need for secrecy;For the third explanation, the effective range is not equal to the maximum range, in fact, it may be that these self-leading big V did not see the English logo corresponding to the performance parameters - maxrange, that's what the maximum range means. Moreover, when calculating the maximum range of missiles in the world, the reference end point selected is not the point where the velocity is zero, but the end point where the missile can still be controlled and has the ability to attack air targets. In fact, there is no doubt about this, because almost all the performance parameters of Chinese ** industrial enterprises, their Chinese names are translated from international standards, and many performance parameter nouns may be translated differently in Chinese, but English nouns are generally not wrong.
Third, the maximum range of the Thunderbolt-15 does not disappoint.
Figure 4 The Thunderbolt-15E range attack early warning aircraft is sufficient.
In fact, I personally believe that the maximum range of the Thunderbolt-15E announced at the Zhuhai Air Show is not disappointing, because the maximum range design of the missile is actually very related to the target and its own combat conditions, and the maximum range of 145km is just enough to meet the main combat mission of the J-20. Before the development of the Thunderbolt-15, most people had the expectation that it would shoot at the enemy's airborne early warning aircraft, but the early warning aircraft generally hid behind the enemy's air combat formation in actual combat, and there would be special aircraft escorts, and the range of the air-to-air missiles was not enough to pose a threat to it. However, the problem is that even if there is an air-to-air missile with a range of 400 km, it cannot effectively threaten the early warning aircraft, because the flight process of such a long-range air-to-air missile is very long, and the L-S-band early warning radar of the early warning aircraft can detect and track it at a long distance, and immediately release electronic interference. The air-to-air missile airborne radar has a small power and a short range of communication data link equipment, and once it is interfered with by the equipment on the early warning aircraft, it will inevitably form a power suppression and lose its accuracy. In fact, when the J-20 carries the Thunderbolt-15E, it can use its stealth advantage to sneak into the range of about 100 kilometers from the enemy's early warning aircraft**, at this time, the Thunderbolt-15E missile-borne radar can lock the early warning aircraft, and the J-20 airborne radar can also be locked, and there is a two-way data link between the two to correct the error, and it is difficult for the early warning aircraft to interfere with the incoming air-to-air missiles.
In general, the maximum range of 145km is not far, but it is definitely enough for the J-20, and military fans should not be disappointed.