India Investigates Recovered Chinese PL-15E Missile for Astra Mark-2 Air-to-Air Weapon Upgrades
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India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is analyzing a Chinese PL‑15E air-to-air missile recovered in May 2025 and integrating features such as a compact AESA seeker and dual-pulse propulsion into its indigenous Astra Mark‑2 program.
According to media reports, DRDO is analyzing a Chinese PL-15E missile recovered in May 2025 and is adapting advanced features such as a compact AESA seeker and dual-pulse propulsion into its Astra Mark-2 program. Hindustan Times first detailed the intelligence windfall on October 18, reporting that an intact PL-15E fired by a Pakistani fighter during Operation Sindoor was retrieved near Hoshiarpur, Punjab, on May 9 after failing to self-destruct. DRDO’s plan is to fold lessons from the Chinese weapon into India’s next-generation beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile. Together, the accounts suggest an unusually rich technical harvest from the battlefield that is already shaping India’s air-combat roadmap.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
India’s DRDO is studying a recovered Chinese PL-15E missile to integrate its advanced AESA seeker and dual-pulse propulsion into the Astra Mk-2, aiming to boost range, accuracy, and electronic warfare resistance in future Indian Air Force BVR combat (Picture source: Indian Channel News9).
The PL-15 family sits at the heart of China’s modern air-to-air arsenal, pairing a miniature active electronically scanned array seeker with a dual-pulse solid rocket motor to sustain high energy into the endgame. Open reporting pegs the export-standard PL-15E’s range at roughly 145 km with speeds exceeding Mach 5, while the domestic variant is credited with greater reach. Crucially for Indian engineers, the recovered round lacked a scuttling device, allowing a near-pristine look at its seeker packaging, power management, and anti-jam architecture. That combination of small-aperture AESA hardware and robust mid-course energy management is exactly what India wants to replicate.
Astra Mark-2 is the logical beneficiary: DRDO has long signaled a step up from Astra Mk-1 with an indigenous dual-pulse motor, an improved RF seeker, and expanded no-escape zones beyond the 140–160 km class under optimal launch conditions. Media briefings this month indicate the design envelope is being pushed toward the 200 km tier, with emphasis on terminal energy retention and electronic countermeasures. If the PL-15E teardown validates compact AESA modules and propellant formulations that hold energy deeper into the shot, Astra Mk-2’s mid-course kinematics and endgame persistence could see tangible gains without major airframe changes.
A smaller, efficient AESA head reduces drag and opens volume for battery and datalink upgrades, while enabling tighter beam control for look-down shots in clutter and better resistance to deceptive jamming. Mated to a dual-pulse motor, Astra Mk-2 can cruise efficiently after booster burnout, then reignite for a terminal dash that preserves high-G maneuvering authority near the target. That profile complicates enemy break-lock tactics and extends the missile’s effective no-escape zone against fighters and enablers such as AEW&C farther inside their own WEZ.
On the tactics side, the May skirmish offered the Indian Air Force a live-fire lab in modern BVR realities. New Delhi’s planners have already telegraphed a shift toward stand-off airpower, keeping shooters outside adversary surface-to-air umbrellas like Pakistan’s HQ-9 while employing long-range air-to-air and supersonic strike weapons. Hindustan Times also reported a push to augment Meteor stocks for Rafale to avoid magazine shortfalls in future crises, a sign that India wants both indigenous depth and assured imported capacity while Astra Mk-2 ramps. In short, the IAF is aligning weapons, tactics, and inventories for contested electromagnetic environments and long-reach intercepts.
Pakistan’s use of Chinese-origin PL-15E in combat has exported core PLA air-combat concepts into South Asia, tightening the technology loop between Beijing and Islamabad. India’s exploitation of an intact missile flips that dynamic, narrowing capability gaps and accelerating Aatmanirbhar Bharat in a domain where time-to-field matters. New Delhi showcased PL-15 wreckage days after the exchange, underscoring both the intelligence haul and deterrence messaging. With the region’s air forces converging on longer-range, high-ECCM AAMs, Astra Mk-2’s maturation is no longer just a procurement line item; it is a statement about who controls the BVR geometry over the subcontinent.
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India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is analyzing a Chinese PL‑15E air-to-air missile recovered in May 2025 and integrating features such as a compact AESA seeker and dual-pulse propulsion into its indigenous Astra Mark‑2 program.
According to media reports, DRDO is analyzing a Chinese PL-15E missile recovered in May 2025 and is adapting advanced features such as a compact AESA seeker and dual-pulse propulsion into its Astra Mark-2 program. Hindustan Times first detailed the intelligence windfall on October 18, reporting that an intact PL-15E fired by a Pakistani fighter during Operation Sindoor was retrieved near Hoshiarpur, Punjab, on May 9 after failing to self-destruct. DRDO’s plan is to fold lessons from the Chinese weapon into India’s next-generation beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile. Together, the accounts suggest an unusually rich technical harvest from the battlefield that is already shaping India’s air-combat roadmap.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
India’s DRDO is studying a recovered Chinese PL-15E missile to integrate its advanced AESA seeker and dual-pulse propulsion into the Astra Mk-2, aiming to boost range, accuracy, and electronic warfare resistance in future Indian Air Force BVR combat (Picture source: Indian Channel News9).
The PL-15 family sits at the heart of China’s modern air-to-air arsenal, pairing a miniature active electronically scanned array seeker with a dual-pulse solid rocket motor to sustain high energy into the endgame. Open reporting pegs the export-standard PL-15E’s range at roughly 145 km with speeds exceeding Mach 5, while the domestic variant is credited with greater reach. Crucially for Indian engineers, the recovered round lacked a scuttling device, allowing a near-pristine look at its seeker packaging, power management, and anti-jam architecture. That combination of small-aperture AESA hardware and robust mid-course energy management is exactly what India wants to replicate.
Astra Mark-2 is the logical beneficiary: DRDO has long signaled a step up from Astra Mk-1 with an indigenous dual-pulse motor, an improved RF seeker, and expanded no-escape zones beyond the 140–160 km class under optimal launch conditions. Media briefings this month indicate the design envelope is being pushed toward the 200 km tier, with emphasis on terminal energy retention and electronic countermeasures. If the PL-15E teardown validates compact AESA modules and propellant formulations that hold energy deeper into the shot, Astra Mk-2’s mid-course kinematics and endgame persistence could see tangible gains without major airframe changes.
A smaller, efficient AESA head reduces drag and opens volume for battery and datalink upgrades, while enabling tighter beam control for look-down shots in clutter and better resistance to deceptive jamming. Mated to a dual-pulse motor, Astra Mk-2 can cruise efficiently after booster burnout, then reignite for a terminal dash that preserves high-G maneuvering authority near the target. That profile complicates enemy break-lock tactics and extends the missile’s effective no-escape zone against fighters and enablers such as AEW&C farther inside their own WEZ.
On the tactics side, the May skirmish offered the Indian Air Force a live-fire lab in modern BVR realities. New Delhi’s planners have already telegraphed a shift toward stand-off airpower, keeping shooters outside adversary surface-to-air umbrellas like Pakistan’s HQ-9 while employing long-range air-to-air and supersonic strike weapons. Hindustan Times also reported a push to augment Meteor stocks for Rafale to avoid magazine shortfalls in future crises, a sign that India wants both indigenous depth and assured imported capacity while Astra Mk-2 ramps. In short, the IAF is aligning weapons, tactics, and inventories for contested electromagnetic environments and long-reach intercepts.
Pakistan’s use of Chinese-origin PL-15E in combat has exported core PLA air-combat concepts into South Asia, tightening the technology loop between Beijing and Islamabad. India’s exploitation of an intact missile flips that dynamic, narrowing capability gaps and accelerating Aatmanirbhar Bharat in a domain where time-to-field matters. New Delhi showcased PL-15 wreckage days after the exchange, underscoring both the intelligence haul and deterrence messaging. With the region’s air forces converging on longer-range, high-ECCM AAMs, Astra Mk-2’s maturation is no longer just a procurement line item; it is a statement about who controls the BVR geometry over the subcontinent.
