Striving to become the world leader, China is making attempts to create world-class weapons. According to the latest reports from the foreign press, the Chinese specialists managed to get new successes within the framework of one of the most daring projects. With the successful completion of the current work, the air force of the People's Liberation Army of China will be able to receive a new air-launched ballistic missile. Such weapons can significantly affect the strike potential of Chinese long-range aviation, and can also strengthen the air component of the strategic nuclear forces.
The latest reports on the progress of the promising Chinese project came a few days ago from the American edition of The Diplomat. His journalists were able to speak with an unnamed US government official with access to intelligence information on China. The source shared some information about the Chinese project, and also talked about the latest successes of foreign specialists. According to him, a promising rocket not only exists, but also managed to pass a number of tests.
As in many other cases, the official name of the new Chinese weapon remains unknown. In this regard, American intelligence officers use the temporary designation CH-AS-X-13, which reflects the country of origin, product class and the stage of development work. Most of the information about this product is either unknown to US intelligence, or has not yet been disclosed. However, some data are given in the open press.
According to a source from The Diplomat, the CH-AS-X-13 rocket should be included in the armament complex of the modernized H-6X1 / H-6N bomber. This aircraft is another variant of the development of the Soviet Tu-16 aircraft, created by Chinese specialists. With the installation of some equipment and a certain refinement of the design, the aircraft becomes the carrier of the aeroballistic missile. The performance characteristics of the H-6 bombers make it possible to increase the permissible launch limits of promising missiles with an understandable increase in their combat effectiveness.
There are certain assumptions about the roots of the new project. So, the CH-AS-X-13 rocket could be developed on the basis of the existing DF-21. The latter is a medium-range ballistic missile used with a mobile launcher. Perhaps the Chinese designers reworked this product, thanks to which it received the ability to launch from a carrier aircraft. To solve such a design problem, serious processing of the basic product might be necessary. However, it cannot be ruled out that the aeroballistic rocket is a completely new development based on well-known solutions and components.
The Diplomat writes that the new rocket is built on a two-stage scheme. Composite materials can be used in both housings to reduce their weight. The lightweight design should reduce the stress on the carrier, allowing for certain benefits. Also, the product must have a detachable warhead with a warhead of one type or another. Solid propellant engines are used on both stages of the rocket. In general, the new aeroballistic missile may be similar to some other Chinese-developed weapons.
There is still no exact information about the type or power of the warhead. At the same time, unnamed government sources The Diplomat indicate that the Chinese missile will be able to carry a nuclear warhead. Whether a variant of a rocket with a conventional warhead is being worked out is unknown.
Due to the launch from the carrier aircraft, which provides initial acceleration and ascent to a certain height, a two-stage rocket can show high combat characteristics. American intelligence officers believe that the CH-AS-X-13 product with an air launch is capable of delivering a warhead to a distance of up to 3 thousand km from the launch point.
According to known data, the project of a promising aircraft missile with the symbol CH-AS-X-13 has already left the stage of design work, and now Chinese specialists are busy testing new weapons. Sources of The Diplomat in US intelligence claim that the first flight of the H-6 bomber, which became the first carrier of an experimental aeroballistic missile, with such a weapon took place back in December 2016. At the same time, they did not specify at which test site such tests were carried out, and how the rocket showed itself. In fact, only the very fact of the first launch at the end of the year before last is known.
During the past 2017, rocket scientists and the Air Force have carried out three more test launches of prototype missiles. Any details of a technical nature remain unknown. The place, time and results of the checks are also not specified. The fifth test launch was carried out at the very end of January. It is curious that it was the information about the fifth tests that became the actual reason for the wave of publications in the foreign press.
American intelligence either does not have detailed information about the Chinese tests, or is in no hurry to share them. However, some features of the last two launches were clarified. In them, the carrier of the CH-AS-X-13 prototype was the H-6K long-range bomber - one of the latest aircraft modifications, capable of carrying modern missile and bomb weapons, and also equipped with in-flight refueling equipment.
The situation with the H-6X1 / H-6N bomber, which is supposedly to become the standard carrier of the aeroballistic missile, is not yet fully clear. At the end of last summer, photographs of a previously unknown modification of a fairly old bomber were published, but the exact information about it was not reported. Soon a version appeared explaining the goals and objectives of the updated aircraft. It is assumed that it is he who should become the main carrier of the CH-AS-X-13 rocket.
Apparently, while the carrier plane and the promising rocket for it will have to undergo tests and show their real capabilities only within the ranges. Like any other new development, they need full-scale testing, which takes a certain amount of time. Sources of The Diplomat claim that the CH-AS-X-13 missile may enter service with the Chinese Air Force only in the middle of the next decade.
A high-performance aeroballistic missile can seriously affect the strike potential of long-range aviation of the PLA. According to various estimates, the H-6 bombers of the latest modification, adapted for the use of promising missiles, will have a combat radius of 6 thousand km. Thus, under ideal conditions, such an aircraft, using the CH-AS-X-13 product, will be able to attack a target at a distance of about 9 thousand km from its base. At the same time, a warhead of sufficient power will be delivered to the target, capable of inflicting significant damage on the enemy.
It is already noted that the emergence of medium-range aeroballistic missiles will become a serious threat to a potential enemy. Such weapons compare favorably with aircraft weapons of other classes and have certain advantages over them. So, the range of an independent rocket flight at the level of 3 thousand.km will allow the missile carrier not to approach the enemy's air defense zones. Moreover, under some circumstances, the exit to the launch line and the launch of the rocket may go unnoticed. All this increases the combat survivability of the aircraft and the likelihood of a full-fledged fulfillment of the assigned task.
Soon after the launch, the CH-AS-X-13 rocket should enter a ballistic trajectory. Like some other strike systems, it rises to a considerable height, after which the dropped warhead continues to move towards the target by inertia. On the descending part of the trajectory, the warhead must accelerate to high speeds that make it difficult to intercept. In this respect, an aeroballistic product can show higher survivability compared to cruise missiles.
As far as we know, a promising product, so far known under the name CH-AS-X-13, may become the first middle-class aeroballistic missile adopted by the People's Liberation Army of China. So far, its Air Force does not have such weapons, which, in an understandable way, affects their potential. The emergence of a fundamentally new system with high technical and combat characteristics will lead to understandable consequences of a military-political nature.
Even a cursory glance at the globe makes it possible to determine which areas may be "targeted" by a promising missile with a firing range of 3 thousand km. At the same time, one should not forget about their carriers, capable of carrying the launch line 6 thousand km from their airfields. Thus, the entire Asia-Pacific region and part of the surrounding areas are under the control of the latest modification H-6 bombers, armed with CH-AS-X-13 missiles. It's not hard to imagine a list of countries that will be concerned about China's new weapons.
However, so far the situation does not look threatening and allows you not to panic. According to the available data, the Chinese project CH-AS-X-13 is currently at the stage of testing prototypes, which will continue for several more years. If the information in the American press is true, then the new missile will be able to enter service only by 2025. In the remaining time, all interested countries will be able to study the situation, draw up their plans and take certain measures. In addition, in the near future, there may be new information about the Chinese development that can influence the search for solutions.
Curiously, at the moment, the Chinese aeroballistic missile project is not the only one of its kind. A few weeks ago, the Russian leadership spoke for the first time about a domestic project of an aeroballistic missile called the Dagger. A characteristic feature of this product, according to official data, is hypersonic speed in the final flight phase, which increases combat effectiveness and practically excludes successful interception. At the same time, the missile is distinguished by its relatively small dimensions, due to which it can be carried by the MiG-31BM interceptor.
As it turned out, in parallel with the creation of the Russian project, design work was carried out in China. A new rocket for the PLA Air Force went into testing the year before last, and, as far as is known, is still at this stage. To date, five test launches have been carried out, and it is expected that more reports of similar tests will be received in the near future. Further work may take several years, after which the CH-AS-X-13 product will have a chance to enter service. Whether the new Chinese project will be successful, and whether the air force will be able to obtain a fundamentally new weapon with high potential, will become clear later.
