PLA Air Force earns nod with its H-6K bomb that can launch long-range, precision strikes. (Photo : Reuters)
According to military observers, the People's Liberation Army Air Force is now capable of launching long-range, precision strikes.
"The fact that our H-6K bombers have performed several long-distance drills far into the Pacific Ocean indicates that the H-6K fleet has become capable of conducting various operations such as long-range precision strikes," Fu Qianshao, an Air Force aviation equipment expert, remarked in a China Daily interview.
Fu added that in the past, the group's bombers "could only deliver air-dropped bombs and so [they are] unable to conduct precision attacks."
Nonetheless, "with the adoption of some of our most advanced aeronautic technologies, [H-6K] is able to carry and launch air-to-surface cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles, which means it can take out multiple targets on the ground or at sea within one mission," he noted.
The expert also said that such capability is indispensable for any air force.
"The PLA has defined its air force as a strategic force and pledged to obtain offensive capability for it. An air force with strategic aspirations must be able to perform long-range precision strike operations, so the H-6K is undoubtedly a valuable asset to the PLA Air Force," Fu shared.
The H-6K is the recent H-6 bomber variant. Military observers regard this is possibly the only genuine strategic bomber in all of the variants of the five-decade-old bomb family.
The first H-6 was designed in the 1950s and was developed based on the Tu-16 Badger of the Soviet era. It was retired by Russia in the early 1990s.
"Even though the plane lacks stealth capacity, it still can carry out long-range strikes thanks to the capability of launching airborne cruise missiles," Fu remarked.
