You see bro now why I was obsessing over PL-15s:
Remaining one step ahead of the threat ensures survivability in war.
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Looks like Pakistan's abbujan sent real PL-15s this time around rather than PL-15E. Both have got different propellants which ensures better kinematics of the former. IAF needs to pay attention to this missile and devise a counter, IMO.
I think she's referring to the PL-15E. Although advertised for 145 km, it should easily manage 200 km at high altitude. The real one would be well above 250 km, closer to 300 km, slightly more than Meteor. AIM-260 has been designed for greater than 300 km. Anyway, such news sites are not professional enough for such data.
But remember, all these ranges are meant for a non-maneuvering target, meaning the target has no idea it is under attack and continues to maintain a head-on flight profile at a lower altitude relative to the adversary. Real life range to achieve a kill against maneuvering targets are all less than 100 km, some as low as 30 or 40 km, even 20 km. That's why the F-22 gets to within 50 km of a target before firing even when using a 180 km AMRAAM.
Hence the importance of NEZ. Based on estimates, AIM-120A/B has an NEZ of around 20 km against a head-on maneuvering target using countermeasures when fired in optimum conditions, which puts the Meteor's at 60 km. Due to its export status, the PL-15E has a lower NEZ of around 50 km vs the original version, 70 km. Meteor's still a better killer due to superior overall performance.
An estimated 30 km for Astra Mk1 is not competitive with the PL-15E's 50 km, but is better than AIM-120C5 (25 km) and SD-10 (20 km). Furthermore, this is a "secret," but when it comes to NEZ, the RVV-SD is superior to the Astra Mk1, at 35-40 km, similar/better than AIM-120D. The Russians have outdone themselves by focusing their energies on working on greater performance at real kill ranges, rather than absolute range, similar to the Israelis with the I-Derby ER (45 km). So it could be somewhat competitive with the PL-15E, although still a bit inferior. Both RVV-SD (110 km) and I-Derby ER (150+ km) have lower top ranges, but higher NEZ relative to their ranges. It has a lot to do with energy management, 'cause they have focused more on agility with longer burns at slower speed. Astra Mk1's (110 km) focused more on long range performance with a shorter burn for higher burnout speed.
Anyway all these ranges are at their most optimum flight profiles and are estimates, not what people come across normally. So around 20 km to 60/70 km is what we are actually dealing with.
With both LCA and MKI integrated with I-Derby ER, we should assume we most definitely have some. And with 300 RVV-SDs, we have a somewhat competitve missile at shorter ranges. J-10s have a slight advantage if they do not want to fight due to their slightly longer range that can push the MKI into a defensive position, but things become equal when they want to kill the MKI. Rafale maintains all sorts of superiority over the J-10, both long range and short range 'cause of MICA.
And there's no such thing as an inferior (RVV-SD, AIM-120C, MICA, Astra Mk1 etc) or superior missile (PL-15, Astra Mk2, Meteor, AIM-260 etc). Only the way they are used is different. Long range missiles achieve their higher NEZ in lofted profiles when fired at high speed and high altitude, whereas single mode or lighter dual-pulse missiles are typically used in direct fire or a hybrid mode for even lower NEZ for a faster time to target. You'd fire your long range missiles first and then the medium range ones next. So both types are necessary. That's why you need high performance ASFs for long range BVR roles.
Since we will soon be at war, let's see how things work out.