Arif Rana
ISLAMABAD: China’s new bomber H-6N can carry the new large supersonic semi-autonomous drones, revealed at the National Day parade.
“The semi-recessed area under the fuselage of the H-6N is designed to carry either the WZ-8 or the CJ-100,” an anonymous military source reportedly told.
The WZ-8 is the supersonic drone and the CJ/DF-100 is a large new missile. H-6 was “expected to be armed with hypersonic weapons”. These need ballistic missiles to boost them up to five times with the speed of sound.
With China developing hypersonic weapons in recent years, its attack range and speed could become even greater than a conventional cruise missile, potentially capable of hitting targets up to 3000 kilometres away within hostile territories within just a few minutes.
Aerial refuelling could expand the H-6N’s operational range by 500 kilometres over the H-6K to more than 4000 kilometres,” the military source told. “So, in theory, the CJ-100 could take the H-6N’s strike range to about 6000 kilometres.