[sukhoi-30mki]

An H-6K. Photo via Chinese Internet

[rlmorel]

"...Without aerial refueling, an armed H-6K can cruise 1,900 miles or so before needing to turn around..."

Short legs.

[arthurus]

“it seems reasonable to assume that China has assessed what is necessary and is investing aggressively to satisfy those requirements.”

And if they can't figure it out the Democrats in power in America will sell it to them.

[GreyFriar]

Sukhoi,

Thanks for the article and pic. This is another old bird that is being kept around due to having room for improvement. Too bad we didn’t take advantage of the fact that Grumann did the same in planning for the F-14; the F-21 was to be essentially a product improved F-14 with new capabilities. Just like the old F-84 went through various straight and swept wing variants.

[Orc]

The H-6K replaces the original AM-3 turbojets — which one analyst called “thirsty and maintenance intensive by current standards” — with much more efficient D-30 turbofans. AM-3 was developed in 1948, D-30 is a 1963 design, originally made to power Aeroflot civilian airliners of that era. The latter was absolete by 1980s too, even by Soviet standard. Well, finally moving to 1960s technology is certainly a leap for the Chinese, but somehow I see no reason to be impressed much.