02-02-2013, 21:23
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חבר מתאריך: 13.11.04
הודעות: 16,823
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China’s Future Bomber Requirements Murky
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130131/DEFREG03/301310016/China-8217-s-Future-Bomber-Requirements-Murky?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
דגשים עיקריים - המומחים מסכימים כי מדובר בידיעה לא מבוססת ואף נטולת צידוק מבצעי מבחינת הסינים
Specifically, there are unconfirmed reports that China and Russia are working on deals that include refurbished Tupolev Tu-22M3 Backfire long-range strategic bombers and Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers. What analysts do know is that China’s military is upgrading its Xian H-6 medium-range bomber, a licensed variant of the Tu-16. The upgrade, known as the H-6K, includes a re-engineered Russian NPO Saturn D-30KP turbofan engine, larger air intakes, die-electric nose radome and a redesigned flight deck. The engines boost its range to 3,500 kilometers and allow it to carry both land-attack cruise missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles.
Richard Fisher, a senior fellow of Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said China has begun outfitting the H-6K with a new supersonic, 400-kilometer-range anti-ship missile, YJ-12 Eagle Strike, which also might be outfitted on the Xian JH-7 Flying Leopard fighter-bomber and Shenyang J-11 fighters. Fisher said he does not believe recent reports out of China that Russia may sell refurbished Tu-22M3s to China. China chose to upgrade the H-6 over offers to buy the Tu-22M3 over a decade ago, he said.
Vasily Kashin, a researcher with Moscow’s Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said the Tu-22M3 deal is “highly unlikely” and that the same set of rumors has emerged sporadically over the past 10 years. “The fact is that the Tu-22M3 production line was shut down some 20 years ago” and “resumption of their production is technically possible but would be a huge project requiring billions of dollars of new investments and extensive research.” Kashin compared it to the U.S. restarting production of the B-1B Lancer bomber or F-111 Aardvark fighter-bomber.
Dean Cheng, a China specialist at the Heritage Foundation, said that another reason the Tu-22M3 would be of little interest to China is that the JH-7 fighter-bomber has characteristics and payload comparable to the Tu-22M3 and a “far smaller radar cross section.” If anything, Cheng said, the Chinese might be more interested in procuring the Russian Raduga KSR-5 (AS-6 Kingfish) air-launched cruise missile and anti-ship missile, carried by older Tu-16 Badger bombers. “I’d venture that the AS-6 Kingfish might be of greater interest than the Tu-22 airframe, much as the Chinese supposedly bought the Sovremenny destroyers because it was the only way the Russians would sell [anti-ship] SS-N-22 Sunburns to them,” Cheng said. |
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