The PL-2 () is an

infrared homing Infrared homing is a Missile guidance#Passive homing, passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "he ...

(IRH)

air-to-air missile An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...

s (AAM) developed in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC). It was a reverse-engineered Soviet Vympel K-13, which in turn was a reverse-engineered American AIM-9B Sidewinder. The PL-2 was the root of a family of AAMs; of the derivatives, only the PL-5B was successful.

PL-2

The PRC acquired an intact AIM-9B during the

Second Taiwan Strait Crisis The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also known as the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC). The PRC shelled the islands of Kinmen (Quemoy) and the Matsu Is ...

in 1958. Air combat between over the strait between the

Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force ( Chinese, 中華民國空軍), or the ROCAF; known colloquially as the Taiwanese Air Force ( Chinese, 臺灣空軍) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Air Force ...

(ROCAF) and the

People's Liberation Army Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force, also referred to as the Chinese Air Force () or the People's Air Force (), is the primary aerial warfare service of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAAF controls most of the PLA's air assets, includi ...

(PLAAF) marked the combat debut of AAMs, with Sidewinder-armed ROCAF

F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

s achieving notable success against PLAAF J-5s. On 28 September, a J-5 returned to base with an unexploded Sidewinder lodged in its airframe. China's attempts to reverse engineer the AIM-9B failed. China transferred the missile to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, which agreed to share the reverse engineered product; in 1961, China received technical data for and examples of the K-13. Replication of the K-13 began in 1962 with live-fire tests occurring in 1967. In 1967, Factory 331 in

Zhuzhou Zhuzhou ( zh, c=株洲, p=Zhūzhōu, ), formerly Jianning (建宁), is a prefecture-level city of Hunan Province, China, straddling the Xiang River southeast of the provincial capital, Changsha, and bordering Jiangxi province to the east. It is ...

was permitted to begin series production, but series production was delayed until 1970 due to the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. In 1970, production transferred to the Nanfeng Machinery Plant in

Hanzhong Hanzhong ( zh, s= , t= , l=middle of the Han River (Hubei), Han River; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in Southern Shaanxi, the southwest of Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gans ...

. Production of the PL-2A ended in February 1984. The PL-2B was based on the AIM-9E. Development began in 1976 and it entered mass production in 1981; production ended in 1986.

PL-3

The PL-3 was China's first "indigenously-designed" AAM and intended as a major improvement over the PL-2. The requirements were overambitious and the Cultural Revolution disrupted development. The first prototypes were delivered for ground testing in 1968, and received final state certification in 1980. It was only marginally better than the PL-2 and the proximity fuse was unreliable. The missile was cancelled in 1983.

PL-5

The PL-5B was the passive infrared-homing variant of the PL-5 AAM; it was an improved PL-2. The 612 Institute (later the China Airborne Missile Academy) began PL-5 development in 1966, and low-rate PL-5B production started in 1987. The

semi-active radar homing Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only a passive dete ...

PL-5A was cancelled in 1983. The PL-5B was developed into the

all-aspect An all-aspect air-to-air missile can track a target no matter which way the target faces relative to the missile. In other words, an all-aspect missile can be launched against a target not only in a tail-chase engagement, but also in a head-on eng ...

PL-5E, which became available in 1999.

PL-6

The IRH PL-6 was intended provide China with a high-maneuverability AAM comparable to contemporary foreign designs. Development started in 1975 based on the PL-5B and was ready for flight-testing in 1979. It was cancelled in 1983 in favor of the PL-7, a reverse-engineered French R.550 Magic.

Operators

;: *

Bangladesh Air Force The Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) () is the aerial warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The air force is primarily responsible for air defence of Bangladesh's sovereign territory as well as providing air support to the Bangladesh Army a ...

;: *

Myanmar Air Force The Myanmar Air Force (, ) is the aerial branch of the Tatmadaw, the armed forces of Myanmar. The primary mission of the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) since its inception has been to provide transport, logistical, and close air support to the Myanm ...

;: *

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

** People's Liberation Army Navy Air Force ;: *

Air Force of Zimbabwe The Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) is the air force of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. It was known as the Rhodesian Air Force until 1980. The Air Force of Zimbabwe saw service in the Mozambican Civil War in 1985 and the Second Congo War of 1998– ...

- replaced by the PL-5

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pl-2 Guided missiles of the People's Republic of China Air-to-air missiles of the People's Republic of China Cold War weapons of China China–Soviet Union relations Military equipment introduced in the 1970s Short range air-to-air missiles