What kind of development process has China experienced in developing air-to-air missiles?

China began to study air-to-air missiles in the late 1950s. At first, it imitated the missile products of the former Soviet Union, and later added its own improved technology in the manufacturing. Later, I independently developed my own air-to-air missile.

1958, according to the spirit of the Sino-Soviet friendship treaty, K -5M air-to-air missiles were introduced into the former Soviet Union through negotiations. This missile is guided by radar beam, and consists of radio control, autopilot, automatic control of rolling stability, warhead, radio fuze, rocket engine and battery compartment. The warhead is conical, spindle-shaped and cross-tailed. The maximum flight speed is Mach 2.5, the maximum launch distance is 6 kilometers, and the altitude is 2500 meters to 16500 meters. Mainly used to attack large fighters. On the basis of studying and digesting this missile, researchers in China made a copy design. In the study and research, after more than a year's efforts, a sample bomb was developed and the first test failed. At this time, all the experts who helped China develop missiles were withdrawn, and China people had to rely on their own strength to develop air-to-air missiles. Encouraged by the spirit of self-reliance, China's military technical experts finally produced qualified imitations. Thunderbolt 1 air-to-air missile was successfully trial-produced. In the shooting test, the prototype bomb basically reached the technical performance of the original bomb. China is finally able to produce its own air-to-air missiles.

After successful imitation, researchers in China began to improve their research. The improved targets include: the missile adopts infrared automatic guidance, the combination of trigger fuze and non-trigger fuze, duck aerodynamic layout, hemispherical blunt warhead and so on. After hard work, an improved product was finally developed. The product was named Thunderbolt 2 air-to-air missile. The technical progress of this type of missile is mainly reflected in: improving the sensitivity of the detector, increasing the detection distance of the seeker, strengthening the anti-interference ability against the background of the sun and the sky, reducing the possibility of early fuze explosion and increasing the launch distance at low altitude. The new missile is slender and cylindrical, with two pairs of triangular rudder surfaces, and its flight speed is Mach 2.2. After the design of this type of air-to-air missile was finalized, it was approved and mass-produced to equip troops. For a period of time, this type of missile became the main attack weapon of the air force combat aircraft.

On the basis of imitation and improvement, combined with new materials and technologies, China entered a period of completely independent research and development. After decades of efforts, China military technical experts have developed a series of air-to-air missiles with international advanced level, and adopted an attitude of respecting history and China culture in naming the newly developed missiles. Later air-to-air missiles were dubbed "Thunderbolt", forming a veritable "Thunderbolt" series.