After the Taiwan Air Force showed off the combat power of the F-16 Viper in the "elephant walk" formation at the Chiayi Air Base, now from across the ocean, a counter formation from mainland China emerged, showing an elephant walk of the strategic bomber squadron, which became the backbone of China's offensive power , namely the Xian H-6K.
In a video released by China's Defense Ministry, a formation of several Xian H-6Ks from the 95148 Squadron 24th regiment of the 8th bomber division, in elephant walk formation at an unspecified airbase, can be seen. This propaganda video shows the level of combat readiness of China's bomber fleet.
For the record, elephant walk is a term popularized by the US Air Force (USAF) to refer to a long line of planes marching tightly towards the runway just before takeoff. These activities are often carried out before the minimum take-off interval (MITO).
The term elephant walk first appeared during World War II, when a large fleet of Allied bombers was about to carry out a massive attack on installations belonging to Nazi Germany. At that time it involved 1,000 aircraft departing from several bases belonging to the Allies. In the context of the Xian H-6K elephant walk, it reflects unit capability, teamwork, and pilot readiness to fly a fully armed strategic bomber.
Among the 12 Xian H-6 variants, the H-6K is called the newest and most sophisticated. Despite its old school design, the H-6K is considered a new bomber, because it only flew for the first time on January 5, 2007, and officially began operating with the Chinese Air Force in October 2009, coinciding with the 60th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China.
The Xian H-6K underwent quite basic modifications, namely the structure reinforced with composite materials, enlarged engine inlets for the use of the Russian-made Soloviev D-30KP2 turbofan engine. In fact, since 2009, China has been producing the WS-18 engine which is a copy of the D-30 engine for the H-6K.
Modifications to the pilot room have now adopted a glass cockpit equipped with a large size LCD multi-function display. That's just a change from the innards, from the outside appearance the H-6K is certain to be slightly different compared to other variants.
If the other H-6 generations still use the glazed navigator station concept, then the 'glass room' on the H-6K has been removed, instead it is embedded with a radome for the radar platform. Then the bomb room, aka the bomb bay in the hull, was also removed, instead the bomb room was changed as an additional fuel tank.
Not only that, which was removed, the machine gun turret at the bottom of the body (belly turret gun), which was previously occupied by the 23 mm caliber NR-23 canon, was removed and replaced for surveillance sensor mounts and a navigation radar to guide missiles.
The Xian H-6K can carry six units of CJ-10A subsonic cruise missiles or YJ-12 supersonic anti-ship missiles (three missiles each on the left and right wings), can also carry 6-7 LACM (Land Attack Cruise Missiles).
There are still weapon variants that can be carried, so that the total payload prepared reaches 12 tons. Not to mention, many sensors and electronic devices are believed to be embedded in the H-6K, such as the edge antenna on the vertical wings.
Quoted from eurasiantimes.com (5/11/2022), an H-6K is said to be carrying a mysterious missile that was detected in a video report by China Central Television (CCTV). Chinese military officials did not specify the type of weapon in question, one of the mysterious missiles was seen with "2PZD-21" written on the body.
Chinese media reports state that it looks like an air-to-ground missile with a shape very similar to a ballistic missile.
As soon as photos started flooding social media, the most striking observation made by experts was that the missile bears a close resemblance to the Russian-produced Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic aero-ballistic missile, which could have an anti-ship variant.
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