He Changchun Air Show It is an aviation fair organized by the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) And yesterday ended in the northeastern China. It has a propaganda character and in it the EPL shows the progress of its military aviation, which this year includes a hunting, or drone, unusual: An old hunt for the Soviet era converted into combat drone. According to South China Morning Post, it is a development that could allow massive attacks with drones in an eventual conflict over Taiwan.
The UAV has developed from a hunt that had its time of glory during the Cold war and was definitely removed by the EPL in 2005he J-6. Your public debut confirms speculation about The conversion of its great reserve of J-6 into unmanned platforms by Beijing.
China manufactured thousands of J-6, Chinese designation of the Soviet MIG-19between the 1960s and 1980s, after the USSR He would transfer the production license in the late 50 Second generation supersonic hunting It is much slower and less capable than current airplanes.
The J-6 reaches a maximum speed of Mach 1.3it has a combat radius of some 700 kilometers and can transport pumps up to 250 kilos. It also has three cannons 30 mm NR-30 and can be equipped with Air-Aire Pl-2 and PL-5 missiles.
The conversion Eliminate all crew -related systemssuch as ejectable seats and auxiliary tanks, and incorporates an autonomous flight control system, autopilot and land correlation navigation. Also Add additional weapons stations.
The exhibition described the aircraft as capable of operating both as an attack and target platform in training. China has been using these fighters in anti-aircraft practices such as DRON Objective since the 90s. According to the information set out in the Changchun Air Show, the first unmanned J-6 already flew in 1995.
China has 3,000 J-6 stored
Despite the decades elapsed, China still maintains a large fleet of J-6 that converts this program of conversion to attack drones into a profitable option for a wear war. Some estimates place China’s remaining inventory in some 3,000 J-6 stored. This does not mean that they continue to be suitable to fly as manned fighters, but they can serve as a source of spare parts or be converted into drones.
In a conflict scenario with Taiwan, drones could be used In swarms for saturation attacks or as lures to reveal air defense site.
In addition, full -size reaction aircraft, with minimal modern plane, can be less vulnerable to electronic interference or directed energy weapons that are usually used against smaller drones.
Concern in Taiwan
In Taiwan, military commentators have expressed concern about this use of J-6. ‘Dongfeng’s not scared me (ballistic missiles), I’m worried about this drone’said Lieutenant General retired last week Shuai Hua-Mog. ‘Hundreds or even thousands of these aircraft could arrive in swarm, which would be more scary than missiles’He said, noting that intercepting them with missiles Patriot American manufacturing would be very expensive, collects SCMP.
Song Zhongpingex -instructor of the EPL and military commentator, he has declared to Chinese media that the aircraft could act as Vanguard of an assault on Taiwanforcing the island to use expensive interceptors such as the aforementioned patriot or the Chinese missiles Tie Chien-2.
‘In case of conflict, the safety of manned aircraft cannot be fully guaranteed, and the cost of losing them would be high. Unmanned aircraft are needed to suppress and wear air defenses‘, says Zhongping, adding that the simplest and most profitable solution is to use the J-6 as DRON KAMIKAZE.