According to the newspaper, a photo posted on the People's Liberation Army website, shows a J-11B fighter jet armed with an unknown rocket almost one-fourth of the length of the 22-meter-long plane.
Images of a J-16 strike fighter carrying a nearly identical rocket earlier appeared online.
Newly released pic shows J-11B carried the unnamed long range AAM in last year's Red Sword exercise. pic.twitter.com/PHMGfz3u6G
— dafeng cao (@xinfengcao) January 16, 2017
The newspaper quoted military expert Fu Qianshao as saying on Thursday that China was apparently developing a new missile capable of destroying high-value targets, such as early warning aircraft and flying tankers, which normally stay far from combat zones.
Fu also said that while most of the existing air-to-air missiles had a range of about 100 kilometers, the new missile would be able to destroy targets up to 400 kilometers away.
"Successful development of this potentially new missile would be a major breakthrough in the [Chinese] Air Force's weapons upgrade," the expert said.
He added that the ultra-long-range missile would be able to enter the stratosphere at an altitude of up to 50 kilometers and fly there until it spotted its target and then swoop down to destroy it.
Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!
