It’s called the PL-16, it has a very precise guidance system, a possible second engine and a very extended range. Thus Beijing could neutralize the US air forces in the event of a war over Taiwan
No one had a precise idea about how effective the Chinese long-range PL-16 air-to-air missile actually was before the air clashes of Operation Sindoor between India and Pakistan in May 2025 (two Rafales, a Mirage and a Sukhoi-30 were shot down). After all, the letters P and L are the initials of “Pi Li”, which in Chinese means lightning and both in NATO and at the Pentagon, there were reports and analyzes which however contained a good dose of approximation. Today it turns out that the PL-16 can actually compete with the equivalent US Aim-260 “Jatm” system (created to counter the PL-15, predecessor of the current one), giving the People’s Republic’s air force an advantage in every possible conflict that takes place in the Asia-Pacific region. This is thanks to two performances: a greater range and its second propulsive thrust. Then there is a problem: in the acronym Jatm the letter J stands for Joint, so the weapon is unique for all American Forces. On June 3, the Indian portal Indian Defense Research Wing reported that the Chinese missile has an estimated range of up to 300 kilometers, so much so that it can hit a target even before it is within the enemy’s optical range. A distance that for the Western missile would be a maximum of 200 kilometers. Not only that: the targeting system (seeker) and the guidance system of the PL-16 would also allow it to chase and hit aircraft that proceed at low speed or are large, and this also exposes radar aircraft for early warning and air control, air tankers and reconnaissance aircraft to danger. Tanker planes allow fighters and bombers to fly further while radar planes help spot threats and reconnaissance planes gather intelligence. If all these aircraft were repelled, the United States and its allies would have difficulty projecting their air and naval power. Result: the USA would lose the main combat advantages they have today together with that of no longer being able to project their naval air force. And since the Taiwan issue is one of the unresolved ones that could trigger a conflict between China and the USA, knowing that the enemy can fire from three hundred kilometers in that area changes the rules of the game and constitutes a huge problem, for example, for bombers who would become prey to the J-20 and J-35 fighters. Of course, the range of the missile alone is not decisive in long-range air combat, since at long distances the missile must also remain fast, maneuverable and precise in the final phase of flight. And precisely for this reason it seems that the PL-16 has a double engine which would give it a second propulsive thrust when approaching the target. But to date, despite the analysis of the wreckage of the Indian Mirages, presumably shot down by the PL-16, the construction details of these missiles are not confirmed. Finally, there is another characteristic of the new missile that makes it dangerous: the fact that it has small dimensions and weighs around 200kg, therefore it can be loaded in greater numbers on aircraft which can thus engage multiple targets at the same time. What is certain is that the technological competition between the United States and China on long-range air-to-air missiles is becoming increasingly serious. The manufacturer of the AIM-260 is Lockheed-Martin, a company that is working to further improve the characteristics and performance of its systems, both in terms of capacity and range, both for propulsion and speed, and, finally, for the level of antiradar (stealth) integration.
