China’s state broadcaster has re-released footage from last year of a cutting-edge robotic production line for its advanced PL-15E air-to-air missiles, hours after Pakistan claimed that it used the Chinese-made weapon to shoot down five Indian fighter jets.
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CCTV first broadcast the footage in July last year. Its re-release on Thursday was interpreted on Chinese social media as an indication that the missile production line had achieved low cost and high capacity, possibly signalling an intent to expand Chinese military sales.
The footage was part of a video package highlighting the PL-15E – an export version of the PL-15 air-to-air missile designed for long-range engagements – and showed robotic arms seamlessly executing tasks like component installation, welding, and quality checks.
Experts featured in the video said that China’s shift to “intelligent manufacturing” enabled 24-hour unmanned production, with systems that can adapt to diverse missile variants to speed up production and cut costs.
“Our flexible production line at the China Airborne Missile Academy enables automated component identification, installation, welding, and quality inspection. Its assembly process is fully automated,” Yao Changhong, director of the electric equipment branch at the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), said.
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“Once the materials are ready and the software is set, the process runs automatically without the need for human intervention,” she added.
The flexible production line allows for compatibility with various products, switching production capacity based on need, and supports small-batch, multi-variety manufacturing, according to the video.