On Wednesday, the US military sent a message saying that two Tu-95 strategic bombers of the Russia Aerospace Forces and two H-6 bombers of the Chinese Air Force were found in the Alasksky airspace, and the US and Canadian air forces immediately dispatched four fighters to "track and intercept" them. According to the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, this scene took place during the annual strategic patrol carried out by the Chinese and Russian air forces. Compared with the battle patrol in previous years, this year's battle patrol is still very bright, after all, in previous years, the battle patrol route basically "drew a map" around Japan, and this year it arrived at the doorstep of United States, and the signal released is self-evident. It is precisely because of this that the US military is very sensitive, and it is again issuing statements to hype up and sending fighter jets to "intercept".
In addition to the highlights of the battle patrol route, another point worth paying attention to is the range of the H-6. It is reported that this appearance in the Alaskan airspace is the first time that the H-6 has been in service for so many years, and the reason why it has not been to this airspace before is mainly because of the distance, taking off from China's coastal airports, it takes more than 10,000 kilometers to go back and forth, which is a big challenge for the endurance of the H-6. And judging from this operation, the range of the H-6 seems to have made a breakthrough. Judging from the information released by the US military, there were only four bombers on this battle patrol between China and Russia, and there were no fighter escorts and no air tankers to provide refueling support. This is nothing for the Russian Tu-95 strategic bomber, after all, its range can easily break through 10,000 kilometers. But for the H-6, the significance is not ordinary.
It is not yet known whether the military personnel optimized the range of the H-6 to improve its endurance again, or whether it was upgraded on the existing model of the H-6 and launched the latest model. We all know that there are many models of the H-6, and many netizens joked that the H-6 will be improved and upgraded, and the 26 English letters will not be enough. Through this battle cruise, the H-6 showed the outside world its extraordinary endurance, and at the same time seemed to explain such a question to the outside world: why is China not in a hurry to launch a more advanced strategic bomber, the H-20? At present, the range and bomb load of the H-6 have been criticized by many people, who believe that the H-6 is not a strategic bomber in the true sense, and there is a big gap between the combat capability and the strategic bombers of the United States and Russia.
Therefore, many people hope that China can launch the H-20 as soon as possible and catch up with the United States and Russia in the field of strategic bombers. It was rumored that the H-20 was about to come out, but it is still nowhere to be seen. As a result, many people believe that in the process of developing the H-20, China has encountered a technical bottleneck and will not be able to come out for a while. There may really be a reason for this, but judging from the performance of the H-6 in this combat tour, the reason why China is not in a hurry to launch the H-20 may be because the Chinese Air Force does not need the so-called strategic bomber in the real sense at the moment, because the H-6 is completely sufficient. Some people may say, you are Kong Yiji's performance, but in fact, this is not the case, we develop weapons and equipment according to the needs of the country, and do not engage in an arms race.
At present, the H-6 can indeed meet the needs of the Chinese Air Force, unlike the United States Air Force, which pursues global strikes. Since the H-6 can meet the needs of the Chinese Air Force at this stage, there is no need to let the H-20 come out in a hurry, and reserve sufficient time for the H-20 to develop it, so as to "work slowly and carefully" to ensure that once the H-20 comes out, it will be a high-quality product and amazing enough.