Although the performance of Thunderbolt 8 is good, it also has its own shortcomings, that is, its weight is large, reaching 120kg, which is not only much higher than 90kg of AIM-9L, but also higher than 105kg of R-73. It can be said that it is the heaviest short-range air-to-air missile in active service, and the derivative problem is the poor adaptability of the carrier. At the beginning of introducing the strange snake -3, China felt that the weight of the J-7 was relatively light. After the missile is hung up, its center of gravity moves backward, and the impact force is great when it is launched, which is difficult for the pilot to control. Therefore, it was actually difficult to mount this type of Lightning 8 on the mass-produced J -7II aircraft at that time.

After that, the first missile that can mount this type is actually the ground attack model of 歼 7- 歼 7H. 歼 -7H strengthened the wing and added a counterweight of 100 kilograms to the nose, which solved the problem that the center of gravity moved backward. Although it solved the problem, it also paid the price of fighter performance decline, which gave people the feeling that it was not worth the candle. From this point of view, Thunderbolt 8 seems to be in an awkward position at the beginning of its birth: The 歼 -8B has not been mass-produced due to airborne radar and fire control system, but the mass-produced 歼 7II series cannot be installed.

Therefore, in order to solve the problem of 歼 7 mounting lightning 8, Chengdu Aircraft Company and Northwestern Polytechnical University cooperated to successfully develop 歼 7E aircraft. Its biggest feature is that the original delta wing is replaced by a double delta wing, thus solving the problem that the J-7 series needs the nose counterweight to mount the lightning 8, and the advantages brought by the double delta wing, such as improving the lift coefficient and increasing the wing area, also improve the maneuverability of the J-7 series, so this machine is a more successful improved model in the J-7 series. However, the 歼 7E only solved the problem of whether the Thunderbolt 8 missile can be mounted. Due to the limited space of the J-7 series, at that time, only relatively simple ranging radar could be used, and PD radar and helmet sight with search ability were lacking, so it was difficult to support advanced attack methods such as lock after launch, off-axis launch and follow-up launch of Lightning 8. So for the J -7E, Thunderbolt 8 is just Thunderbolt 5 which increases the attack distance. This is undoubtedly a waste for the missile itself. At the beginning of this century, the J -7G aircraft equipped with Condor -80 small PD radar, helmet sight and data link was put into service, and the combat capability of Thunderbolt 8 was truly brought into full play.