| LY-60/PL-11 | |
|---|---|
| Type | air-to-air & surface-to-air missiles |
| Place of origin | China |
| Service history | |
| In service | late 1980’s – present |
| Used by | China, Pakistan |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Shanghai Academy of Science and Technology |
| Produced | since late 1980’s |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 220 kg |
| Length | 3.69 meter |
| Diameter | 203 mm |
|
|
|
| Warhead | 33 kg warhead |
| Detonation mechanism |
impact / proximity |
|
|
|
| Engine | rocket motor |
| Propellant | solid fuel |
| Operational range |
18 km for SAM, 60 km for AAM |
| Speed | >Mach 3 |
| Guidance system |
SARH / ARH |
| Launch platform |
Air & surface |
The LY-60/FD-60/PL-11/HQ-6/6D/64 is a family of PRC missiles developed by the Shanghai Academy of Science and Technology, largely based on the Italian Alenia Aspide missile - itself a version of the American AIM-7 Sparrow missile. There are four versions of the basic design, three of which are surface-to-air and one air-to-air.
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Development of the LY-60 was precipitated by the Chinese requirement for a beyond visual range (BVR) weapons system. Directly copying the AIM-7 proved unsuccessful, after which China purchased a number of Alenia Aspide missiles from Italy. Due to the urgent need of BVR air-to-air missile, PL-11 was given the priority. The very first batch of PL-11 was Chinese assembled Aspide using Italy supplied components, and it was accepted to Chinese service in the same year. However, hopes of locally manufacturing the missile under license collapsed after the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989.
The PL-11 (Pi Li, "Thunderbolt") air-to-air missile was developed for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), and is carried by Jian J-8B fighters. During its mid-life upgrade, the semi-active radar homing (SARH) seeker was replaced by active radar homing (ARH) seekers, resulting in versions, one with Russian ARH seeker, and the other domestic Chinese ARH seeker.
HQ-6 is the second member of LY-60/PL-11/HQ-6/6D/64, and the entire SAM is consisted of four truck mounted radars (one search/surveillance radar and three tracking/fire control radars), one power supply truck, and six truck mounted Transporter / Erector / Launcher (TEL)s. The missile itself is directly coming from the air-to-air version PL-11. Unlike the Italian Aspide which utilizes containers as launchers, HQ-6 utilizes missile launching rails (MLR) instead, and each truck mounted launcher has two MLRs/missiles. Specifications:[1]
The LY-60 (Lie Ying, "Falcon") is a surface-to-air missile system deployed by the People's Liberation Army. It entered service among air defense units beginning in 1994 and was unveiled by the Chinese Precision Machinery Import-Export Company or CPMIEC at the International Weapons Systems Exhibition, "Defendory' 94," held in Piraeus, Greece in October 1994. Capable of intercepting air targets at medium and low altitudes, it sports advanced command and control features not found in any of its Western contemporaries.
A LY-60 battery consists of a surveillance radar, three tracking/illumination radars, six Transporter / Erector / Launcher (TEL)s, and support equipment mounted on trucks. Between these systems, it can detect 40, track 12 and engage 3. Incorporating the moving target tracking processing system as well as frequency agility technology gives the missile system excellent capability in an electronic warfare environment.1
The LY-60 uses semi-active radar homing with a single shot kill probability of between 60 - 70 %. The missile has two pairs of fully movable front wings and four fixed tail fins with a wingspan of 680 millimeters. The wings and fins aerodynamic placement are in a X-X pattern.
The LY-60 missile consist of 4 major modules in the following order: homing, warhead, control and engine. The homing module consist of the cowling for antenna, homing system, fuse and power supply. The warhead consist of the 33 kg warhead with prefabricated shell fragments in the form of steel balls, arming circuit and safety. The control module consist of the autopilot, hydraulic system, servo system, frequency mixer for the homing module, the four movable wings, dropout plug and the forward suspension device. The engine module consist of the solid state rocket motor, four fixed tail fins, ignition plug and rear suspension device. Specifications:
HQ-64 is the improvement of HQ-6, utilizing the experience gained from LY-60, with the firepower doubled when the number of missiles for each truck mounted launcher is increased from two to four, and MLR is replaced by TELs. Both the missile and TELs are directly developed from LY-60. Although the missile is smaller than than that of HQ-6, the performance actually improved due to technological advance. HQ-64 passed state certification test and was accepted into Chinese service in 2001.[2] The reaction time for the system in fully automated mode is 9 seconds and the maximum speed of the missile is increased to Mach 4.[3] Other improvements is mainly concentrated on ECCM capability, and many Chinese internet sources have claimed (yet to be confirmed) that HQ-64 is derived from HQ-6-4, meaning 4 missiles (for each launcher) version of HQ-6, which only had two missiles for each launcher.
HQ-6D is the latest development of family, and it is basically a HQ-64 system with an addition of a command vehicle. Each command vehicle is able to command & control up to four HQ-64 batteries,[4] thus link up independent HQ-64 batteries to form an integrated air defense net work, and each HQ-6D network can be integrated into larger air defense network. The time the HQ-6D SAM system takes from traveling to ready to fire state is less than 15 minutes, but highly skilled crew can reduce this time to just 9 minutes.[5][6]
It was once thought that the naval variant, the LY-60N, will replace the Hongqi-61 as the point defense missile of Chinese warships. However, it would seem the weapon is passed over in favor of the HQ-7, which now equips the Luhai class destroyer, Luhu class destroyer, and Jiangwei class frigate, because only very limited land-based system entered Chinese service for port/harbor defense.
The LY-60N was, however, exported to Pakistan in the 1990s to re-fit its purchase of 6 ex-Royal Navy Type 21 frigates, re-classified as the Tariq class. Three Tariq class ships were fitted with the 6-cell LY-60N SAM, the other three with 2×2-cell Harpoon anti-ship missiles.[7][8]
Additionally, a man-portable SAM version was developed designated FY-60.
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