China began to develop two types of strategic bombers
17 September, the website china-defense.com, on its own forum, posted information about the Chinese developments of the two strategic bombers of the newest generation. It is not clear from the article that the development of the bombers is carried out by one company or different companies independent of each other. Military experts Li Xiaoning and Ma Dingsheng disseminated information about these studies.
Li Xiaonin says that the classic heavy bombers are Tu-95, Russian-made Tu-160 and American B-52. These airplanes are “flawless platforms” for the long-range bombardment of enemy targets, being outside the zone of its air defense. In China, a fundamentally new bomber is being developed using two methods - the H-8 (flying wing technique) and the H-9 (or H-10, a supersonic aeronautical bomber using the duck technology), since the existing H-6 (copy Tu-16) is very outdated and requires replacement. According to the Chinese expert, in the near future a fundamentally new, “revolutionary” aircraft will appear.
Ma Dinsheng reports that the most important tasks for Chinese strategic bombers are the fight against enemy aircraft carriers and the targeting of ground targets with nuclear targets. A new bomber must have a missile in its arsenal. weapon with a range of shooting up to 1000 km, so that the enemy’s air defense could not deliver an aimed strike. Chinese technological equipment lags behind the US by 20-30 years, admits Ma Dinsheng. H-6 was created in the 60-ies of the twentieth century. The basis was taken by the Soviet Tu-16. This bomber is definitely outdated, because it is very noticeable on the enemy radar equipment. The disadvantage is its low combat load and flight range. That is why the chances of breaking through enemy air defenses are small, and therefore, according to a military specialist, we simply must create a new generation bomber that will replace the outdated H-6.
Further Ma Dinsheng says that China will not copy the Russian TU-160 and the American B-1 and B-2, and in this area will prefer its own development. His opinion on this issue is as follows: “The newest high-speed bomber H-9 is obliged to fly in the atmosphere, as well as to rise to suborbital heights. The equipment of such an aircraft will include a combined power plant with four advanced Taihan engines for flying in the atmosphere, as well as two special rocket engines for the possibility of flying beyond 100 km altitude beyond the atmosphere. On this basis, the aerodynamic method of this aircraft will be completely different from the existing one. According to the specialist, the aircraft will resemble a ballistic missile, with a small elongation wing under the “duck” scheme. In the equipment of the airframe will include an all-view surveillance system. Aircraft trim will be made of carbon fiber composite materials. The internal weapons bay will take 6 cruise missiles with satellite and radar guidance. On the outer pylons is also not possible missile suspension.
Bomber H-9 will take off from ordinary military airfields. The atmosphere will reach speeds of up to 2-3 M, and when you climb 15000 m, you will turn on ramjet engines, which will be able to bring the airplane to an altitude of 100 km above sea level. To achieve this height, the aircraft will be able to increase the speed to 8 M, reach the enemy’s territory as quickly as possible and deliver missile and bomb strikes on targets. Landing at its airport H-9 will make as an ordinary plane using the turbofans.
The aircraft will have its main flight time outside the atmosphere, therefore, the aircraft will be controlled through onboard systems that will be directly connected with the satellite constellation. The arsenal of the H-9 will include the so-called “sensible” missiles, which themselves will be able to reach the target without the intervention of the electronics of the bomber.
Ever since 1995, China has developed a strategic bomber FBS-1 (Hong-7). Its design properties - combat load of at least 18 T, maximum speed of flight 1,2 M, the newest cruise missiles with a range of flight over 10000 km were to be included in the arsenal of the aircraft. It was also designed to carry out refueling in the air. At that time, China elementary tried to reproduce the technologies of the Soviet Union in this area. Ma Dinshen asserts has not existed its own educated design school. At the moment, there is already a good design base in China, and therefore the new bomber will be developed on the basis of the most modern aerodynamic schemes and technologies.
When developing a promising H-8 (“flying wing”) bomber, stealth technologies are widely used and studied. The Flying Wing has unique properties in reducing infrared and radar signatures. The engines are located deep inside the aircraft, thanks to this, a sudden decrease of the EPR and IR signatures is achieved. This plane actually has no “seams” and looks great, says La Xiaonin.
Carbon fiber-based composite materials are widely used in aircraft designs. Thanks to the use of these materials, it is possible to reduce the weight of the airframe, increase the volume of fuel, and, consequently, the possible combat load and range of its flight will increase. In addition, these materials have excellent stealth properties. The equipment of the aircraft will include a digital computer program control system that will replace the hydraulic machines. The necessary data for the upcoming flight is entered into the on-board computer, which will significantly reduce the load on the crew.
The arsenal will consist of 6 KR Red Bird-3 ("Red Ptah-3") with an aimed range of fire up to 3000 km, 6 missiles may still be installed on two external pylons. Consequently, the airplane in total has the ability to carry up to 12 KR. Also, a bomber instead of the KR can be equipped with bombs of various types and precision missiles. In the arrangement of the aircraft will include the most advanced avionics and EW system. In the future, in the new versions of the aircraft can be used plasma stealth technology.
Great interest is given to the study of the most advanced radio-absorbing materials. In China, a new generation of RPM is currently being created. This coverage not only lowers the EPR of the aircraft, but also significantly reduces the radiation power of the onboard radar systems of the aircraft itself.
4 newest turbofans will allow the aircraft H-8 to carry out a cruising supersonic flight at a speed of 1,4 M, and, without refueling in air, the range can be reached 11000 km. This would mean that a strategic bomber, taking off from an airfield in Heilujiang, is capable of launching missile strikes at any target in the United States.
Information