Recently, the authoritative Chinese media CCTV broadcasted a documentary called “The Place We Stand”. In the sixth episode of the documentary “Wu Hui: Yunling Red Eagle Flying”, the PLA Air Force’s J-10 fighter only took 30 seconds to launch an air-to-air missile and successfully shot down an espionage balloons which crossed the border. This is the first reported real battle of J-10C fighter since its service.
In the video, a certain unit of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force received an order for unexplained air riots, so Wu Hui was dispatched to drive a J-10C fighter aircraft for emergency clearance. After a tense climb, Wu Hui found the target about 30 kilometers far away and confirmed that the target was a powered unmanned reconnaissance balloon, which caused a serious threat to China’s air defense. Under the command of the superior, Wu Hui launched a PL-10 air-to-air missile and successfully shot down the balloon.
Although the balloon is a very old aircraft, due to its low cost and almost unlimited air time, it has been an important means used by various military powers in the world to detect meteorological and terrestrial intelligence. It is also a way to infiltrate the other country’s information in peacetime. one. Therefore, strictly guarding and shooting down every foreign reconnaissance balloon is an important means for each country to protect its airspace security and military secrets.
Although the price of the balloon is very low, it seems a bit “not cost-effective” to shoot down such a target with an expensive PL-10 air-to-air missile. But according to Chinese military expert Geao Erji, this is a thing worthy of a book, because this shows that the performance of J-10C and PL-10 missiles are very good.
First of all, the balloon is a typical low detectability target in both the radar and infrared bands, even with the power unit installed. Like the reconnaissance balloon, its radar reflection area can even be comparable to the stealth target of the B2 bomber. Therefore, J-10C fighter can find and track such balloons at a distance of 30 kilometers, this proves that J-10C fighter’s active phased array radar and infrared search and tracking (IRST) system have excellent performance of finding and locking low-detectable targets.
Finally, J-10C fired a PL-10 missile to shoot down the balloon 30 kilometers away. As an air-to-air missile using infrared imaging guidance, PL-10 can find and lock a small balloon 30 kilometers away, this proves that its seeker performance has reached the world’s top level, even the same level with the United States and Japan. It also proves that the range of PL-10 air-to-air missiles has reached the level of medium-range air-to-air missiles like R77 and MICA, and thus greatly increases the PLA’s competition for air superiority.