Posted on 08/13/2013 4:32:30 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Can China’s New Strategic Bomber Reach Hawaii?
The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) took delivery of 15 of China’s new Xian H-6K strategic bombers, Jane’s Defence Weekly reported back in June. This report has now seemingly been confirmed by Chinese state-run media outlets, which noted that “Jane’s Defence was the first media outlet to confirm that the H-6K had formally entered active service.”
The H-6K nuclear-capable bomber is an upgraded version of the H-6 bomber, which is a locally built version of the Russian Tupolev Tu-16 Badger that Moscow first deployed during the 1950s. The PLAAF first received a TU-16 bomber from the Soviet Union in 1958 and has been modifying it ever since.
According to China’s media, the H-6K “is a medium-sized craft designed for long-range attacks, stand-off attacks and large-area air patrol. Unlike its predecessor, the H-6K can carry cruise missiles under its wings. The H-6K also maneuvers more deftly than the H-6 and requires a smaller crew to operate.”
One of the biggest improvements made to the H-6K is its engine. The new strategic bomber reportedly uses a reverse engineered Russian NPO Saturn D-30KP turbofan engine, which boosts its combat range to 3,500 km. It also packs both the YJ-12 Eagle Strike supersonic anti-ship missile, which has a range of around 400 km, as well as up to six nuclear-capable Changjian-10K (CJ-10k) air-launched cruise missiles, which reportedly each have a range of 1,500-2,000 km.
The CJ-10K is the air variant of the CJ-10 ground attack cruise missile that was supposedly developed from the DH-10 (DongHai-10). The DH-10 itself was reportedly based on the Russian Kh-55 missile. First unveiled at a military parade in 2009, Project 2049 Institute reported earlier this year that, “after more than
(Excerpt) Read more at thediplomat.com ...
Seriously? How new is the TU-16 Badger design???
Did the sequester shut down all our radar sets?
First flew in the fifties.
Age-wise, comparable to the B-52.
Gotta get back??
Just until the genuine Hawaiian BC records are radioactive dust.
Not if it gets shot down first.
Ah. The yellow peril...
“Flight of the Old Yeller Dog”-by Dalezuki BrownLee
We should sell Hawaii to the Chinese to pay off our debt. Fair trade IMHO.....less Commie house members and 2 less commie Senators
The first Badger flew in 1952 in the USSR.
On the other hand, the first B-52 ALSO flew in 1952...
I bet you want me to tell you where John Wayne's house is! Dont ya!?
Looks like the B1B without the VG...
Nicely played!
From what I hear most of the people there (Hawaii) are Chinese anyway...!
Not new at all. Difference with this one, a bit, is that its a new airframe so they will be in the picture for sometime more.
And some more range.
The value of these is as anti-shipping strike I would think.
China already has substantial numbers of aircraft with this mission, again this isn’t new, whats interesting is the current fleet with that task is getting old so they are refreshing them, so the strategic thinking is not changing.
That would be a classic weapon of the “jeune ecole” school of naval warfare (along with submarines), as opposed to the “Mahan” school, where the point is not to secure control of the seas but to annoy whoever needs to control them. Pretty useful for interdicting commercial shipping to and from Chinas potential enemies on the Pacific Rim.
Hollis Wood: "Well let me Mr Hiney Kraut, I fought your kind before...in the BIG ONE....and we kicked the ever livin' shit out of ya!....(singing) Over there....Over there....send the troops over there".
Badgers?! We don't need no stinking badgers!
55 to 60 years old. But then, that is the age of our B-52s.
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