PL-2

Description

The PL-2 missile (scale is approximate)

The PL-2 (霹雳-2) is a Chinese infrared homing air-to-air missile, it was introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision".

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Shenyang F-5
• J-6A
• J-7II
• J-7D
• J-7E

General info

Missile characteristics
Mass	75 kg
Guidance	IR
Aspect	Rear-Aspect
Lock range in rear-aspect	3.5 km
Launch range	9 km
Maximum speed	1.7 M
Maximum overload	10 G
Missile guidance time	21 secs
Explosive mass	8.8 kg TNTeq

Effective damage

8.8 kg of TNT equivalent explosives, which does shrapnel and explosive damages to aircraft.

Comparison with analogues

Since PL-2 is the direct licensed copy of Soviet R-3S (AA-2 Atoll) missile, which was reversed engineered from USAF's AIM-9B, these 3 missiles perform very similarly with PL-2 and R-3S being identical in all statistics and both lagging behind AIM-9B a bit in terms of maximum firing range.

• AIM-9B FGW.2 Sidewinder - A European-licensed version of the AIM-9B with their own improvements; however the performance in-game are quite similar.
• R-3S/PL-2 - Infamous as a reverse-engineered variant of the AIM-9B, the R-3 missile shares many of its in-game performances with the AIM-9B, only falling slightly short in locking and launching range.
• Shafrir - Shares in-game performance values despite their design differences
• Rb24 - Licensed-produced version of the AIM-9B for the Swedish, and as such shares in-game performance values.

Missile		Guidance					Lock range (rear-aspect)(km)	Launch range (km)	Maximum speed (Mach)	Maximum overload (g)	Mass (kg)	TNT Equivalent (kg)
		Type	Aspect	Time	Uncaged seeker	Radar slaving
	AIM-9B Sidewinder	IR	Rear	20			4	10	1.7	10	72	7.62
	AIM-9C Sidewinder	SARH	Front	60			9	18	2.5	18	95	4.69
	AIM-9D Sidewinder	IR	Rear	20			5.5	18	2.5	18	88	4.69
	AIM-9E Sidewinder	IR	Rear	20			5.5	18	2.8	10	76	7.62
	AIM-9G Sidewinder	IR	Rear	60			5.5	18	2.5	18	88	3.53
	AIM-9H Sidewinder	IR	Rear	60			5.5	18	2.5	18	88	3.53
	AIM-9J Sidewinder	IR	Rear	40			5.5	18	2.5	20	76	7.62
	AIM-9L Sidewinder	IR	All	60			11	18	2.5	30	84	4.58
	AIM-9M Sidewinder	IR	All	60			11	18	2.5	30	84	4.58
	AIM-9P Sidewinder	IR	Rear	40			5.5	18	2.5	20	76.93	7.62
	AIM-9P4 Sidewinder	IR	All	40			11	18	2.5	20	76.93	7.62
	AIM-9B FGW.2 Sidewinder	IR	Rear	20			5.5	10	1.7	10	72	7.62
	Shafrir	IR	Rear	20			7	10	1.7	11	65	7.62
	RB24	IR	Rear	20			4	10	1.7	10	72	7.62
	R-3S	IR	Rear	21			9	10	1.7	10	75	8.8
	PL-2	IR	Rear	21			9	10	1.7	10	75	8.8

Usage in battles

Just like other early IR AAMs, PL-2 suffers from a low tracking rate and overload, and this problem is worsened due to the overall higher mass over its American counterpart. PL-2 is most effective in finishing off careless targets or those that have just depleted all their energy in manoeuvres. It might sometimes have surprise kills over 2 km but this is rare so in most cases launching within 700 m to 1.8 km is the way to go.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High explosive mass
• Hard to dodge at close range

Cons:

• Easy to dodge at range
• Can't keep up with supersonic jets that are above Mach 1

History

PL-2, a licensed copy of a reversed-engineered missile- R-3S (or K-13/AA-2 Atoll) which was based from USAF's AIM-9B and the story of these missiles goes back to September, 1958; the month when the very first man-to-man aerial missile kill happened.

One day, after dogfighting with ROCAF F-86F-40, a pilot of PLAAF found a surprising "gift"- an UXO of AIM-9B struck in his MiG-17's (or J-5) wing. After bringing his fighter back to base, PLAAF technicians removed this missile and reported back to the Central Military Commission, this missile was then handed to the Soviet Union for further study. Along with data provided by a spy in Sweden, the Soviets successfully reversed-engineered AIM-9B and thus, R-3S was made.

Later in 30 March, 1961, the Soviet Union has signed technology transfer memorandum and licensed MiG-21F-13, its engine, and R-3S to Mainland China. A year later, with a sample handed to the Chinese, they started pre-production run of the missile and eventually, this missile came into PLAAF's service as the PL-2 and served them for more than 3 decades, as well as different foreign users. Later in 1970s when PLAAF got their hand on another AIM-9E from USAF, they reverse-engineered it and made PL-2B with better rocket engine and fixed the long-lasting problem of the fuse going off before hitting its target.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the article about the variant of the weapon;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.