At Changchun Air Show 2025, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) showcased some of the air-to-air missile (AAM) and air-to-surface munition (ASM) options of the Shenyang J-35A next-generation fighter aircraft (NGFA).
One interesting detail about these AAM/ASM options is that each one had carried the “E” label at the end of their respective designations, suggesting that these munitions will be made available for foreign users once the J-35A is available for export.
The J-35A is the variant of the fighter designed for operations from land, with J-35AE presumably being the designation of the export variant.
Get access to this article and all other Quwa content today.
Click Here
The munitions shown include the PL-15E long-range air-to-air missile (LRAAM), the export variant of the PL-15 that saw success in the recent conflict between Pakistan and India. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had deployed the PL-15E against the IAF’s Dassault Rafale and other fighters, claiming six air-to-air kills.
According to the PAF, its PL-15Es were able to hit their targets at ranges between 160 km and 190 km, well beyond the stated range of 145 km. While the specific kill claims were not independently verified, there is enough circumstantial evidence to indicate that the IAF lost multiple aircraft due to the PAF’s operations in the morning of May 7th.
However, one of the critical features of the PL-15E is that its guidance stack uses an active electronically scanned array (AESA)-based seeker. This affords the PL-15E a significant level of resiliency against electronic countermeasures (ECM) jamming as its AESA architecture is inherently more difficult to disrupt. In other words, the PL-15 was designed for use in contested environments with dense ECM coverages.
Likewise, the J-35A was also shown with the PL-10E high off-boresight (HOBS) AAM, which can be cued with a helmet-mounted display and sight (HMD/S) system for tight within-visual-range (WVR) engagements. It is essentially China’s analogous solution to the AIM-9X-series, ASRAAM, IRIS-T, and A-Darter.
Two additional, but less promoted, munitions were also shown: the PL-12AE and the LD-8A. The PL-12AE is the apparent export variant of the PL-12A, an iterative update to the PL-12, alternatively known as the SD-10/A among China’s export users.
Don't Stop Here. Unlock the Rest of this Analysis Immediately
To read the rest of this deep dive -- including the honest assessments and comparative analyses that Quwa Plus members rely on -- you need access.
