Chapter 948: What to do with domestic bombers?
About two hours later, the plane finally arrived at Lintong Yaocun Airport in Haojing City, Qin Province.
Although Chang Haonan first raised the idea of acquiring Tu-160 after the attack in September, the Air Force showed the utmost importance to this matter.
Less than a month later, the 108th Regiment of the 36th Air Division received an order to reorganize and reorganize. It handed over the original equipment reorganization system to the other two brother units, while it entered a state of reorganization and preparation. The second strategic bomber to be adopted by the Chinese Air Force——
In fact, the reason why the Air Force leaders chose this unit was based on historical considerations.
The 36th Air Force Division, formerly the Fourth Independent Regiment of the Air Force, is the only unit of the Chinese Air Force that has been equipped with strategic bombers (Figure 4), and the only unit that has had formal nuclear-related positions.
Although these nuclear-related positions have been eliminated long ago, in 2001, many older generation commanders and fighters who had previously engaged in related work were still working hard at their jobs.
After all, it is not completely dated.
It won’t be a black eye when you recover.
Of course, the "recovery" mentioned here only refers to the restoration of nuclear-related positions and nuclear-related establishments.
As for restoring space-based nuclear capabilities...
There is no timetable yet.
On the one hand, China has just joined the WTO, and Americans’ attention has finally been attracted to the Middle East. It is at the most critical stage of keeping a low profile and is not suitable for large-scale nuclear expansion.
On the other hand.
Also more important.
The few nuclear warheads currently in China's hands are developed according to the requirements of ballistic missile delivery and are not suitable for air delivery.
There is not even an air-launched nuclear vehicle...
So, there is indeed a long way to go.
As the plane slowly descended, Chang Haonan gradually saw clearly the situation at the airport on the ground through the porthole.
The runway and taxiway had obviously just been renovated and reinforced, and there were even some engineering vehicles painted in military green parked not far away. They probably hadn't had time to evacuate yet.
Even the marking lines above have been repainted, and the colors look much brighter than those at other airports.
On one side of the runway, two rows facing each other, with a total of 4 metal roofs, have been built.
Even looking down from a plane, you can see that its span is extremely huge.
At least sixty or seventy meters.
Judging from the quantity, it is obviously specially prepared for those few Tu 160s.
On the other side, there is a regular apron.
Two rows of H-6 bombers are parked above.
The total number is about a dozen.
“Mr. Qiao.”
Chang Haonan pointed out the window and asked Qiao Chenqing next to him:
"Are these H-6s the current equipment of the 108th Regiment?"
The latter knew the situation here well, and shook his head without even taking a look outside:
"Strictly speaking, It's the previous equipment of the 108th Regiment."
Looking at Chang Haonan's curious eyes, he paused and continued to explain:
"On paper, these aircraft have been handed over to the 36th. The other two regiments of the division.”
"However, in order to enhance the confidentiality of Yaocun Airport, the 106th and 107th regiments transferred to Wugong last month. Because the 108th regiment's modification task was too urgent and they had not had time to complete the handover process, they still stopped here. . ”
As he spoke, the plane had landed at the end of the runway and began to slow down.
This also made Chang Haonan notice the white radomes under the noses of several of the aircraft, as well as the very smooth belly due to the removal of a turret -
H-6H.
The latest model of the H-6 family.
After the plane entered a smooth taxi, Qiao Chenqing also noticed Chang Haonan's gaze:
"There are several H-6Hs here that were only delivered in small batches last year."
"But... "
He showed a slightly helpless smile:
"It's a bit behind the times... so the current position is a bit embarrassing..."
Chang Haonan was a little nervous when he heard this, but in the end he suppressed his laughter.
After all, in the final analysis, this incident was caused by him.
According to the original plan, this "new" bomber, which was launched in 1995, should enter service at the beginning of the 21st century, and serve as the main missile carrier aircraft of the Chinese Air Force for a long period of time, combined with television guidance The KD63 missile undertakes most of the precision strike missions on the ground.
From the perspective of the time, there was actually nothing wrong with this idea.
In the mid-1990s, there was no mention of the J-10 and J-11, which seemed to have nothing to do with them.
Even the JH-7 cannot guarantee the localization rate.
As a result, production of the imported Spei MK202 was stopped soon after the spare parts were exhausted.
Therefore, the H-6 is my country’s only air-based and ground-based weapon platform that can maintain quality and quantity and serve.
In order to ensure sufficient range and power, the KD63 design prototype chose the earlier YJ-6 anti-ship missile, so it can still reach a range of nearly 70 kilometers while carrying a 500 kilogram warhead.
The price is that the bomb weighs an astonishing two tons.
Only the H-6 can carry it. Both directions went to belong to yes.
Originally, this was supposed to be a beautiful story of machine-gun cooperation and mutual achievement.
However...
Times have changed.
When the H-6H and KD63 both completed testing and finally entered small batch trial production, the time had already reached 2000...
Although the speed was much faster than the original timeline.
Unfortunately it’s not fast enough.
At almost the same time, the fully domestically produced and multi-purpose J-11B was to be equipped in small batches.
After major changes, the J-10A with full multi-purpose potential has also entered the end of testing.
As for the JH-7, which could not be built in large numbers back then and was requested by the navy and air force...
Now it has become nothing more than Mrs. Niu.
The emergence of a large number of cutting-edge tactical aircraft has also prompted the Aerospace Science and Industry Missile Research Institute to pick up the previously abandoned medium-sized air-to-ground missile project, KD88.
The Eighth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology has already established a new supersonic air-to-air/air-to-ground universal missile project.
This is the PILE 13/KD13 that Chang Haonan recommended previously.
Both models have entered the final stages of target testing.
Not to mention other models that are still in the development process.
In short...
Almost squeezed out the living space of H-6H.
However, in order to protect the Haofei Group's business and to keep the research and development capabilities of China's domestic bombers on hold, low-speed production is still maintained and used as an emergency transitional model.
It can only be said that the future of a piece of equipment not only depends on the efforts of R&D personnel, but also takes into account the development of the historical environment.
Some equipment that was originally planned to be just for transition, ended up transitioning into the main force.
And some equipment that was originally used as the main force, but in the end had to be reduced to transition...
...
From the landing of the plane to the stop and disembarkation, there are still many things in between. It will take a while.
In addition, we just happened to be chatting about the H-6.
Therefore, Qiao Chenqing asked casually
"Xiao Chang, do you think... does this H-6 have the potential to be improved further?"
This seemingly simple question made Chang Haonan a little confused for a while.
"I think... there should still be some"
After about half a minute, he hesitated and said:
"Although the performance of the Figure 16 platform is somewhat lagging behind, in some special cases, a weapon that can carry large-sized weapons may still be needed. platform. "
"At present, our country's stealth technology is not yet mature, and if we develop a new, non-stealth medium bomber from scratch, it will have nothing to do with continuing to improve on the H-6. There is a qualitative difference... Therefore, it is better to choose a more cost-effective solution. "
"Anyway... when it comes to space-based strategic deterrence, we theoretically have it..."
Chang Haonan said and glanced at the distant skyline.
According to the plan, the four Tu-160s should have taken off long ago and will probably arrive here before the sun sets.
"That's true..."
Qiao Chenqing also collected her thoughts at this time.
Reason tells him that at least during his tenure, the vast majority of China's bomber forces will still have to accompany the H-6...
However, Chang Haonan next to him did not completely stop. think.
In addition to the airborne equipment, the core improvement of the previous generation H-6K was to change the turbojet 8 to D30KP2/turbofan 18, thus greatly extending the range.
Guam can even be directly included in the combat radius.
However, in this life, after the production of Turbofan 10 is finalized next year, the Turbofan 20 project will be approved in advance.
Even most of the IL-76s that China has on hand already use the MF model of PS90A-76.
In this case, if we go back and imitate D30KP2... it seems a bit abstract.
However, the special structure of the H-6 engine located at the root of the wing cannot accommodate a large bypass ratio turbofan engine...
"It's a hell of a thing."
Chang Haonan complained in his heart:
“D30KP2, a seriously outdated product, has actually found a carrot position that cannot be replaced by others...”
(End of this chapter)