China's indigenous bomber program

Roger604 said:

Hmm.... could you elaborate on the reason? Why did China junk all their variable wing geometry projects?

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Mainly for the same reason we are looking to retire or have retired every swing plane in the planet from the F-111 to the F-14 to the MiG-23s and the Concord. It is also for the same reason why every country on Earth has not followed up on their VG designs. In fact, as we moved from the generation that made swing wings, the next generation afterwards were all fixed wing.

The complexity makes the swing wing planes difficult and costly to maintain, and somewhat fragile.

China studied VG from various procured examples of MiG-23s, mainly from Egypt (said MiG-23s are now in display in the Minsk theme part). Originally the intention was not just the Q-6, but even a variable wing version of the JH-7. There may be more.

China rightly dumped the idea when she found out the complexity of such, went completely straight wing on the JH-7, which was inspired by the Su-24. Note how China has not procured the Su-24 either, even though that would also have been a logical plane in China's forces.

You know, the Russians are just looking for a reason to make extra money and unload their Backfires to someone gullible enough.

That's a persuasive analysis. So what should China do to acquire an aerial anti-ship capability beyond the range of the JH-7A's?

Roger604 said:

That's a persuasive analysis. So what should China do to acquire an aerial anti-ship capability beyond the range of the JH-7A's?

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you don't think YJ-83 has a long range? It also has the ability to fire YJ-91 and Kh-31. I would say the most important task right now is to develop a radar to replace JL-10A. I'd like to see something that has even better range vs ship targets and better resolution and such.

Actually, the one thing I'm wondering about it whether or not China will try to get su-34.

tphuang said:

you don't think YJ-83 has a long range? It also has the ability to fire YJ-91 and Kh-31. I would say the most important task right now is to develop a radar to replace JL-10A. I'd like to see something that has even better range vs ship targets and better resolution and such.

Actually, the one thing I'm wondering about it whether or not China will try to get su-34.

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YJ-91 whats that ??????? can you care to enlighten us on this missile
EDIT (here's your info, didn't want to post an oneliner responding):

Roger604 said:

That's a persuasive analysis. So what should China do to acquire an aerial anti-ship capability beyond the range of the JH-7A's?

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It already has. It's called the H-6H loaded with YJ-62/63 missiles.

How far?

Sea to sea version of the YJ-62 is said to be 280km. That's usually code speak for "it's really over 300km but I have to say under it so I can export it without breaking MTCR rules."

Air to sea version of an AshM usually flies significantly farther than the sea to sea based version for obvious reasons. So you add it up.

China may still be considering the Kh-59MK from the Russians, which has a range of 285km (remember the code speak). It would have to consider more purchases of the Su-30MK2 or MK3, or the Su-34 as a suitable platform for that missile.


From darth

YJ-91 whats that ??????? can you care to enlighten us on this missile
EDIT (here's your info, didn't want to post an oneliner responding):

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Basically it's a Chinese copy of the Kh-31P but with a different seeker of Chinese origin with possible Israeli influence.

tphuang said:

you don't think YJ-83 has a long range? It also has the ability to fire YJ-91 and Kh-31. I would say the most important task right now is to develop a radar to replace JL-10A. I'd like to see something that has even better range vs ship targets and better resolution and such.

Actually, the one thing I'm wondering about it whether or not China will try to get su-34.

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probably not in large numbers. The su-34 is just entering service with russia. It really depends the needs of the pla. the plan would operate su-32s, the naval su-34. But is an su-32 needed when you have a improved jh-7a(comming out in the future).

If the jh-7b fails to meet requirements, then the plan might persue the su-32,or the su-32 may serve as a stopgap measure if futher development is required.

as for the army, id like to see them get som new helicopters before mmoving on to attackers

tphuang said:

you don't think YJ-83 has a long range? It also has the ability to fire YJ-91 and Kh-31. I would say the most important task right now is to develop a radar to replace JL-10A. I'd like to see something that has even better range vs ship targets and better resolution and such.

Actually, the one thing I'm wondering about it whether or not China will try to get su-34.

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Question: what is the range of the JH-7A armed with YJ-91, 83, or Kh-31?

Can it reach from the coast line of Fujian past the east coast of Taiwan?

Roger604 said:

Question: what is the range of the JH-7A armed with YJ-91, 83, or Kh-31?

Can it reach from the coast line of Fujian past the east coast of Taiwan?

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I've seen certain stats that say JH-7 with two YJ-82 loaded on two pylons, plus two wing tip missiles (air-to-air), and fully fueled can achieve a combat radius of 900 Km.

YJ-82 has a launched weight of 715 Kg, while YJ-91 shows 610 Kg. So you can assume a little more range added onto the 900 Km cited for JH-7 carrying YJ-82. That's plenty of range to get to a launch point East of Taiwan.

This is a little Kanwa news on China and Tu-22M3. It's no surprise to me that the Russians haven't found any interest from China on the sale of Tu-22M3:
a few key reasons:
1. political issues with USA/Japan since this is a strategic weapon to some
2. second hand bombers
3. use of Russian weapons
4. fighter-bombers are already in PLA

The missile can be fired from far off enough to prevent the aircraft firing from getting shot down. I'm not sure on YJ-82 or YJ-83, but the YJ-83 supposedly has a range of 150 kilometers or about 93 miles, which is pretty close to being on the coast of China, but that's distance between the coastlines. However, there's a good chance of the JH-7A being able to get close enough and not be worried about Taiwanese air defences.