SinoSoldier
Colonel
What could this be?
Turns out to be Q-5 specialized for thermonuclear weapons delivery (note the serial 0266).
Why they would display a Q-5 (note S/N: 0266) at the airshow is beyond me.
Zhuhai Air Show 2018
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
Turns out to be Q-5 specialized for thermonuclear weapons delivery (note the serial 0266).
Why they would display a Q-5 (note S/N: 0266) at the airshow is beyond me.
Because it’s an essential piece of China’s aerospace history.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
Then it belongs in a museum, which it did prior to the airshow team dismantling the thing.
Maybe linked to a further H-20 PR teaser relating how far the Chinese nuclear bombers have come since the Q5... otherwise you’re right, seems like a strange attempt
¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Zhuhai is a big deal for Chinese aerospace, and it’s also an exhibition. It’s not unusual to take items with historical significance to large important exhibitions.
Actually that makes a *lot* of sense.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
To be honest, that sounds a bit like wishful thinking (but would be awesome if true!). I don't think the Chinese would pull off something that is so revealing and provocative on a political/strategic level.
Not everything China does, especially stuff handled outside the direct purview of the central government, is intended as a message to external audiences (for better or worse). The government doesn’t typically choreograph every little detail of meaning for their ancillary arms’ activities. One need only think of the misread in the foreign press about the J-20’s first flight test for a glaring example. I can see how putting on display the continuity between the Q-5 and H-20 could have great sentimental value for those in the Chinese aerospace industry, and it’s not hard to imagine Chinese SOE managers and event organizers possessing a penchant towards grand sentimental gestures of progress without having thought about the implications to a foreign press, however flat footed that may appear in an international context.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Nessie gets away again 
SinoSoldier
Colonel
Not sure if it is the same Q-5, but it was placed on the same kind of truck and was arranged in the same manner as this one.