World's Longest-Range Air-to-Air Missile Integrated onto Chinese J-10C Fighters

Photographs that appeared on Chinese social networks on May 11th showed that the Chinese J-10C fighter, a so-called 4+ generation aircraft, has external DF-4/3 pylons, which are associated with the integration of the PL-17 air-to-air missile. This is an extremely long-range weapon, which until now has been primarily associated with the heavier twin-engine J-16 fighter. Specialized sources state that these pylons were used for mounting the PL-17 on the J-16, while the British RUSI assessed at the beginning of the year that the PL-17 is carried externally on the J-16 platform in operational use.