I assume this is for fixed wing aircraft? We’ve just seen the disclosure of VL anti tank missile fired from a Z-19 a short time ago.
PLANAF is also more generous when it comes to videos of precision guided weapons/AAM firing.
PLA Air Force news, pics and videos
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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I assume this is for fixed wing aircraft? We’ve just seen the disclosure of VL anti tank missile fired from a Z-19 a short time ago.
PLANAF is also more generous when it comes to videos of precision guided weapons/AAM firing.
for PLAAF He initially thought it was because they only showed part of the training footage, but then asked a friend and found out it was because they weren't allowed
The unmanned J-6 are programmed to make a beeline for designated targets in Taiwan the moment they takeoff. If there is an incursion of J-6s in the ADIZ, something terrible has happened.
Great utilisation of old birds. These will scare the sh*t out of the taiwan government and can destroy designated targets!
It's mostly distraction for SAM. Basically it provides a conundrum: if you ignore the plane it would crash into key installations and cause damage, if you shoot them down you expend ammunition and expose your SAM sites.
I recall when that photo of that ceremony with two J-6 UAVs came out Shilao and Yankee told a story about them on his podcast. Someone really high up once visited them and were shown the UAVs, he was curious about them and said "can you fly one for a demo?"
The problem was the unit was design so that if they were to fire up the UAVs the kind of minimum number they can do is one regiment. So if the ask was really to take off with a whole regiment the only conclusion was it was actually a coded way of giving the order for immediate forceful reunification and they were like "Chief are the group armies already onboard their ships? This is really sudden and excellent OPSEC" before everyone realized what was happening and that request was called off.
I don't think J-7 works as well for suicide drone purpose. They have poorer low altitude/low speed performance and are produced in smaller numbers than the J-6.
I don't think J-7s (or any conversion of a manned fighter airframe) are worth converting into anything other than either a:
- target drone
- suicide drone
- testbed drone for technologies
Giving too much additional capabilities to a manned airframe converted into a drone is shoehorning UAV capabilities into an airframe that is not the best use of the UAV subsystems imo.