H-6 Bomber Aircraft Discussions

Hendrik_2000 said:

Beside those 2 reasons It could be to increase the robustness of the system in case the supporting infrastructure is down. You still have alternatives, It is all speculative

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Do you mean the "kill chain" needed for the targeting or some other support infrastructure ?

I don't quite understand how using a plane would help if the "kill chain" is down - considering the range of the ballistic missile you would still need information from other sensors and if you could get this information to the H-6K in the air you should also be able to get the information to your normal missile batteries.

Perhaps the PLAAF just wants to get in the "ballistic missile game" and not leave it completely to the rocket force ?

Pretty good idea.

A H-6K carried ASBM would be more flexible and mobile, extend the striking range and widen the A2AD area. Also, this would allow for off-angle attacks as well, if the H-6Ks come in from a different direction.

This adds another layer of redundancy to the ASBM leg of the A2AD strategy.

schenkus said:

Do you mean the "kill chain" needed for the targeting or some other support infrastructure ?

I don't quite understand how using a plane would help if the "kill chain" is down - considering the range of the ballistic missile you would still need information from other sensors and if you could get this information to the H-6K in the air you should also be able to get the information to your normal missile batteries.

Perhaps the PLAAF just wants to get in the "ballistic missile game" and not leave it completely to the rocket force ?

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Satellite and plane is not the only one vehicles that can carry sensor . How about stealth and small UAV? or something like Divine eagle UAV only smaller and stealthier. They are cheap and can be distributed over large area, long endurance etc




Hongjian via China Defense Forum

Divine Eagle Hunts

The offensive applications of the Divine Eagle are demonstrated here, as two Divine Eagles mark out not just the enemy aircraft carrier, but also its escorting warships and aviation wing, while vectoring friendly aircraft and ships into combat. One presumes that the Divine Eagle would also be able to find targets for the infamous DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile.

Networked UAV like this guy
UCAV 'Swarm' concept using C4ISR technologies has been successfully tested on Chinese Rainbow-4 drones.

Insignius said:

A H-6K carried ASBM would be more flexible and mobile, extend the striking range and widen the A2AD area. Also, this would allow for off-angle attacks as well, if the H-6Ks come in from a different direction.

This adds another layer of redundancy to the ASBM leg of the A2AD strategy.

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Or you could just use a bigger missile.

The kill-chain will remain the same, and this is the main weakness of the ASBM. Even though it is called "weakness", it can be made redundant as well with multiple sensors platforms, so taking them all out would be easier said than done.

I think in the future, China should further invest in space-based sensors, especially increasing the Synthetic Aperture Radar equipped satellites to enable all-weather targeting capabilties. At a certain quantity of orbiting satellites, there is basically no way for a CSG to hide anymore, even if they know the orbits and passes of all the satellites.

Insignius said:

Pretty good idea.

A H-6K carried ASBM would be more flexible and mobile, extend the striking range and widen the A2AD area. Also, this would allow for off-angle attacks as well, if the H-6Ks come in from a different direction.

This adds another layer of redundancy to the ASBM leg of the A2AD strategy.

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It could be this is not an ASBM or ICBM at all. It could be that this is a Satellite Launcher, much like the Pegasus.

Lethe said:

Or you could just use a bigger missile.

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This, exactly, is what I would actually wish to prevent, if I decide to take my ASBMs into the air.
Bigger missiles mean bigger and more vulnerable TELs that might not fit inside the smaller "tactical" tunnels of the Underground Great Wall anymore. Also, they would be more expensive and harder to maintain due to their increased solid-fuel load.

Small, DF-11/DF-15 sized ASBMs, but with a range exceeding that of the DF-21D would be perfect. And this is only achievable via air delivery.

The idea that dispersed TELs are more vulnerable than H-6s operating from a handful of known airfields is nonsensical.

The last thing an ASBM system needs is more complexity and corresponding points of failure

Insignius said:

This, exactly, is what I would actually wish to prevent, if I decide to take my ASBMs into the air.
Bigger missiles mean bigger and more vulnerable TELs that might not fit inside the smaller "tactical" tunnels of the Underground Great Wall anymore. Also, they would be more expensive and harder to maintain due to their increased solid-fuel load.

Small, DF-11/DF-15 sized ASBMs, but with a range exceeding that of the DF-21D would be perfect. And this is only achievable via air delivery.

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On the other hand with ballistic missiles longer range means higher speed and higher speed means a much more difficult intercept.
The way I understand it a DF-15 is much easier to intercept than a DF-21 which is much easier than an ICBM, so a small number of air delivered DF-15s might not be a big problem for a BMD Aegis ship.

Lethe said:

The idea that dispersed TELs are more vulnerable than H-6s operating from a handful of known airfields is nonsensical.

The last thing an ASBM system needs is more complexity and corresponding points of failure

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Agree no comments ... or LOL

schenkus said:

On the other hand with ballistic missiles longer range means higher speed and higher speed means a much more difficult intercept.
The way I understand it a DF-15 is much easier to intercept than a DF-21 which is much easier than an ICBM, so a small number of air delivered DF-15s might not be a big problem for a BMD Aegis ship.

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Only DF-21D is anti ships
These things is curious.... right now the more big AShM arming a bomber was Soviet AS 1 - 6 betwee 5 -12 t the DF-21D do 15 t ! i don' t think serious in more when you see these views !