Originally posted by phrozenflame

[B]Want to get jealous of chinese???
watch this sleek dragon, Son of LAvi, Brother of Fc-1…
the king of dragons…muhahaha J-10

Please don’t use the
word “jealous”. IMHO, the word is
highly inappropriate.

Latest from the web:

And, said to be a sneak
shot also. Therefore, this plane is still
highly classified my opinion.

Originally posted by shamayel

Usually you just
see the A-5s dropping bombs,
not doing air to air.

They do more than that. It serves
a very valuable and strategical purpose —
it goes where the H-6’s might not.

Heck! I don’t even know what the term gravity bomb
here refer to mean and I still don’t (free fall maybe?). I also didn’t know
that they made up to a thousand of these buggers.

Following reference
via a site known as ” CDI Center for
Defense Information“

Air-Based Strategic Weapons

Hong-6 (B-6 or Tu-16 Badger)

Year Deployed: 1965
Dimensions: 34.8 meters length, 10.4 meters height, 34.2 meters wingspan
Weight: 75,800 kilograms maximum takeoff
Propulsion: 2 Wopen-8 turbojets
Throw-weight: 4,500 kg
Range: 3,100 kilometers
Speed: .91 Mach
Maximum Loadout: 1-3 bombs (1 bomb likely)
Weapon Load: 4,500 kilograms
Yield: Unknown
Locations: Datong (Qinghai) and other bases
Number Deployed: 100aircraft
Primary Contractor: Xi’an Aircraft Company

The Hong-6 is now the only long-range bomber in China’s inventory, since the retirement of the Hong-5, a copy of the Soviet Il-28 Beagle. The Hong 6 itself is a copy of the Tu-16 Badger, which joined Soviet forces in 1955. The Chinese acquired licensing rights and began producing their own in the 1960s. The capabilities of the H-6 are assumed the same as the Tu-16.

The primary role of the H-6 is thought to be conventional, with a secondary nuclear one. Designed as a high-altitude bomber, this obsolete aircraft has very poor qualities for penetrating air defenses. Range estimates vary, but it is within range of U.S. forces in the Pacific, as well as Russian urban areas east of the Urals. Though Russian versions carried up to four nuclear bombs, the Chinese have showed foreign observers that the H-6 has a nuclear bomb rack for only one weapon. There are approximately 120 H-6 bombers in the Air Force, with another 50 in non-nuclear anti-shipping roles (H-6D). The H-6 has been instrumental in Chinese weapon development, with modifications made to the design of operational weapons as a result of its testing. The H-6 was used to drop several live weapons in nuclear tests at the Lop Nor site in the 1960s.

To modernize its airforce, China has been purchasing aircraft and production rights from Russia. They have acquired production rights for the Su-27 and purchased 38 SU-30s – the two-seat version of the SU-27. China began production of the SU-27 in 1998. It is not clear that either aircraft is expected to take on a nuclear role, although both can be so configured.

Qiang-5 (A-5)

Year Deployed: 1970
Dimensions: 15.65 meters length, 4.33 meters height, 9.86 meters wingspan
Weight: 6,375 kilograms empty, 11,380 kilograms maximum takeoff weight
Propulsion: 2 x Wopen-6 turbofans
Maximum Weapon Load: 1,500 kilograms
Range: 400 kilometers (hi-lo-hi)
Speed: Mach 1.12
Weapon Load: 2,000 kilograms
Maximum Loadout: One gravity bomb in internal weapon bay
Locations: Unknown
Number Deployed: 30 aircraft (estimated nuclear capable)
Primary Contractor: Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Company

The Qian-5 (referred to by NATO as the A-5 “Fantan”) is a Chinese redesign of the Soviet MiG-19 fighter. The primary visual difference is the addition of a nose cone and the addition of lateral air intakes on either side of the fuselage just forward of the swept wings. The Qian-5 is a single-seat, supersonic low-level attack aircraft. There are 10 hard points for attaching munitions, as well as two 23 millimeter cannons. The pilot is safeguarded with armor plating around the cockpit as well as an ejection seat.

Nearly 1,000 aircraft were built, with 550-600 of the improved Q-5A variant. An unknown number of the Q-5As were modified to carry nuclear weapons. The assumption is that this number is small, with perhaps a regiment of 30 aircraft assigned to the nuclear role. A Q-5 used a loft bombing technique in a Chinese nuclear test in 1972. Though aging, the Q-5 retains good low-level attack capability and speed, assets the H-6 bomber lacks.

China has been working on a supersonic fighter-bomber, the Hong-7, often compared to the European Tornado. However the few that will be produced (less than 20) will be used as a naval strike aircraft, not in the nuclear role.

Gravity Bomb

Year Deployed: Unknown
Dimensions: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Circular Error Probable: Unknown
Yield: Unknown — strategic version approximately 3 megatons, tactical version 5-20 kilotons
Locations: Unknown
Number Deployed: Unknown
Primary Contractor: Unknown

Very little is known of Chinese gravity bombs other than they exist. The Qian-5 attack aircraft has been reported as carrying a tactical nuclear weapon with a yield of 5-20 kilotons. Several bombs have been dropped by Hong-6 bombers in atmospheric nuclear tests (like the one pictured above) with yields ranging from 15 kilotons (12/24/67) to 4 megatons (11/17/76). Given the range of yields in airborne nuclear tests, the Chinese probably have at least two bomb variants: a tactical one with a low kiloton yield, and a strategic one in the 1-3 megaton range.

Like the Soviets, the Chinese rely mainly on ballistic missiles to deliver nuclear weapons. This fact, and the fact that the Chinese arsenal is extremely small compared to those of the United States and Russia, explains China’s vehement opposition to relaxation or abrogation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) between the Soviet Union and the United States. China’s air delivery vehicles — the Hong-6 and the Qian-5 — are both aging platforms that lack the ability to penetrate air defenses.