Unmanned J-6 fighter jets put on Fujian air base

Hong Kong, Jan. 7 (CNA) A large number of old J-6 fighter jets that have been converted into unmanned attack aircraft are being stationed at Liancheng Air Base in Fujian province, according to the latest issue of Kanwa Defense Review.

China's Huanqiu.com cited the Canadian online magazine as saying that satellite photos taken on July 31, 2011 showed there were at least 55 of the J-6 aircraft on the base.

The magazine said the air base most likely has more J-6s than any other base in Fujian, showing that the Chinese Air Force attaches great importance to the capabilities of the unmanned fighter.

Reports said the J-6, the Chinese-built version of the Soviet MiG-19 "Farmer" fighter aircraft, was produced by Shengyang Aircraft Corp. and formed the backbone of the Chinese Air Force in the 1960s and the 1970s.

The J-6 fleet was retired in the late 1990s. But because of the J-6s' maneuverability, high thrust-to-weight ratio, and light weight and their suitability for close-distance combat, the planes have since been converted into unmanned attack fighters.

The drones? No, the MiG 19s can’t go that fast. I meant the supersonic cruise missiles that have terminal closing speeds somewhere between sizzling fast and searing quick. All the drones do is soak up missiles. I doubt any ship will let a MiG 19 sized UCAV get close enough to be engaged with a Phalanx or Goalkeeper type gun-system ...something that big that close could be carrying something, could be manned, could have missiles ....it would definitely be shot at from quite some distance, since the risk of doing nothing is too great, hence it’s utility as a strategy for soaking Standard and ESSM missiles. This gives the follow-on waves of Moskits/Yakhonts/Klub/(insert favorite supersonic cruise missile type here) a far greater chance of success than it might have otherwise had. There was a wargame that was done where the person acting as red force was sinking AEGIS ships with speed boats. Got so bad they rebooted the thing and had him stop ‘being clever.’ There are threats out there, and while my money should be on the USN I am at the same time not naive to believe the US will always have the good fortune of always fighting stupid poor enemies. Someday it might fight clever rich enemies, and that is why out of the box thinking is important becAuse you can bet such an enemy will not be riding a camel praying hard to Allah to save him from jdams. Looking at Chinese military spending it is easy to see where it is geared.

I was only talking about the drones, the particular threat of which I think is overstated. Don’t believe they would overcome basic anti-air defense, let alone be engaged by AEGIS. More probably use would be against Taiwan, maybe? Hypersonic cruise missiles, whole different story. I appreciate the depth of your knowledge and intelligent posts.

They don’t need to go fast. They need to make abrupt turns to draw off interceptors. It’s easy to shoot down something coming in a straight line. An unmanned jet fighter can out maneuver a missile. It’s the “crow chasing the butterfly” principle.
We could do the same thing with old F-8, A-4 and F-86 airframes.

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