New Video Emerges of Chinese H-6N Bomber Toting Massive Ballistic Missile Underneath

China is very secretive about its hypersonic weapons program, including those deployed with People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) troops. However, images and film shot by observers have given valuable insight into the systems, which form just part of the PLARF’s vast and unequaled arsenal.

New video emerged on social media on Wednesday of a Chinese Xi’an H-6N strategic bomber carrying a very large ballistic missile underneath its belly. The aircraft is a heavily modified version of the Soviet-built Tu-16 (NATO reporting name “Badger”), which the People’s Liberation Army has designed to carry ballistic missiles and extra-large cargo such as drones.

空军轰6N挂载空射弹道导弹视频 pic.twitter.com/S4r03bcgK0

— lqy🇨🇳🇨🇳 (@lqy99021608) April 19, 2022

Observers were unable to positively identify the weapon, but speculated it could be related to the YJ-21 anti-ship missile, which was separately reported on Wednesday as being test-fired by a Type 055 guided-missile cruiser.

Such weapons have been dubbed “carrier killers” due to their long range, heavy striking power, and ability to evade US fleet defenses. China has developed a bevy of such weapons designed to keep US fleets well away from waters near the Chinese mainland, severely limiting the offensive potential of their aircraft.

Sputnik previously reported on several videos filmed by observers in late 2020, showing the new H-6N bomber variant carrying massive missiles that observers judged as likely to have been DF-17 hypersonic glide vehicles. The ultra-fast weapons get an early boost by a rocket engine before shedding their motor and zipping toward their targets at speeds exceeding Mach 5, or more than 3,800 miles per hour. At such speeds, few air defenses can hope to detect them, much less intercept them.

An oblique image of China's Xian H-6N bomber carrying an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) in "Modern Ships" magazine

© Sputnik

The Pentagon has long speculated that China was modifying its DF-21 anti-ship ballistic missile with hypersonic capability, dubbing the experimental weapon the CH-AS-X-13. According to The Diplomat, the missile has a range of 3,000 kilometers, which when added to the H6-N’s 6,000-kilometer range gives it a strike potential similar to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

The US once attempted to build its own air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) as part of the Skybolt program, but found the weapon unwieldy, and after ICBMs entered the scene, the Skybolt was made obsolete. Today, apart from China, only Russia fields an ALBM: its Kinzhal hypersonic cruise missile. The US has attempted to catch up, but has not yet built a viable hypersonic weapon.