The H-6D was the first major upgraded variant of the H-6. It was also the first variant of the H-6 family in service with the PLA Navy. A naval variant of the H-6 was first proposed in the late 1960s, but the development did not begin until 1975. The State Council and the Central Military Commission officially approved the H-6 naval bomber project in October 1977, with the preliminary aerodynamic study was carried out between 1977~1980. The modification of the HY-2 ship-to-ship missile for air launch was finished in 1978. The modification of the H-6 airframe was completed in 1980. The fire-control and automated navigation system for the maritime strike mission was completed in 1981.
The first H-6 naval bomber prototype ‘01’ rolled out in June 1981 and made its first flight on 20 September 1981. The second prototype was completed and flew in 1983. Flight testing of the aircraft was carried out between 1981~1984. The aircraft was certified for design finalisation in 1985 and was officially designated H-6D. A total of nine examples were built in 1985~86, with five delivered to the PLA Navy and four sold to the Jordanian Air Force. An additional nine examples had been delivered to the PLA Navy by 1990.
Improvements and modifications on the H-6D include:
A pair of under-wing pylons for missile carrying
Removing the front 23mm cannon and nuclear weapon mounting in the weapon bay
ZJ-6 fire-control system (for the YJ-61 anti-ship missile)
Type 773 Doppler navigation radar and automated inertial navigation system (INS)
Environment control system for missile heating and radar cooling
An enlarged under-chin radome to house the HL-6D (Type 245) target acquisition/illumination radar
HM-3A optical bombing sight
Larger engine intake
Redesigned airframe structure and internal fuel tanks
The aircraft carries two YJ-6 (export name: C-601) liquid-propellant, semi-active radar-homing anti-ship missiles on the under-wing pylons. Derived from the HY-2 ship-/land-based anti-ship missile, the YJ-6 is fitted with a 380kg semi-armour-piercing high-explosive (HE) warhead, and can attack surface target 120km away at a speed of 0.9 Mach. The bomber’s internal weapon bay was retained for conventional level bombing missions. The H-6D has now been replaced by the improved H-6M.
A PLA Naval Aviation H-6D carrying two YJ-61 anti-ship missiles (Source: Chinese Internet)
H-6E/F
Following the PRC’s failed attempt to acquire the Tu-22M Backfire medium-range bomber from Russia in the early 1990s, the PLAAF was forced to continue upgrading the existing H-6 design to fulfil its long-range strike capability requirements in the early 21st century. The H-6 production line at XAC was reopened to build the new improved H-6E and H-6F variants. These new bombers replaced the older H-6A built in the 1970s and 1980s to perform tactical strike missions.
The difference between the E and F variants is minor. The most noticeable feature is the removal of the nose cannon. Both variants are believed to be fitted with an automated navigation system which uses three navigation methods: inertial, GPS, and Doppler navigation radar. The original manually operated optical bombing sight was also replaced by an automatic fire-control system. These improvements enable the bomber to fly in all-weather, day/night conditions without having to rely on visual reference on the ground for navigation. Such a capability is particularly useful for operations in the maritime environment.
Despite the improvements in the long-range flight capability, the H-6E/F can only carry free-fall bombs for conventional level bombing missions. These bombers are not capable of penetrating modern land-based air defence. Instead they are intended for long-range offensive counter-maritime operations against surface ships or isolated small islands far away from the coast, where the air defence firepower faced by the bomber is likely to be weaker. Such a capability is particularly useful in a possible conflict in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait.
A PLAAF H-6E bomber in the light grey colour scheme (Source: Chinese Internet)
A mixture of H-6As in the white colour scheme and H-6Es in the grey colour scheme (Source: Chinese Internet)
The modernised cockpit of the H-6E (Source: Chinese Internet)
H-6H
The H-6H is the air-to-surface missile launch platform developed in the late 1990s to meet the PLAAF requirements for a long-range strike capability in the early 21st century. Development of the H-6H began in January 1995 and the first prototype rolled out in April 1998, followed by a second prototype in July the same year. The first flight of the aircraft took place on 2 December 1998. The two prototypes have their onboard missile fire-control systems installed and tested in November 1999 and the initial flight testing was completed in April 2000. Two missile firing tests were carried out in November 2002, with both missiles hitting their targets.
The H-6H carries two KD-63 (KongDi-63) air-launched land-attack cruise missiles (LACM) under its wings. The missile appears to be developed from the YJ-6 air-launched anti-ship missile, but with an X-shape tail. Its turbojet may be based on that of the HY-4 land-based anti-ship cruise missile. The KD-63 reportedly uses inertial/GPS mid-course with a TV terminal guidance seeker, carrying a 500kg warhead to a 150~200km range at a speed of Mach 0.9.
The H-6H has all of the 23mm cannon turrets removed. The bomber features an enlarged under-chin radome similar to that of the H-6D to accommodate the fire-control radar. It also has a distinctive black-colour radome located under the rear fuselage, possibly for command link between the missile and the bomber.
PLAAF ground crew pushing a YJ-63 air-to-surface missile mounted on a trolley (Source: Chinese Internet)
H-6H bombers of the PLAAF 36th Air Division. This photo was shot when these aircraft were still carrying the old serial numbers 50X7X, which has been since then changed to 407X7 (Source: Chinese Internet)
