CHINA-PLAAF: LONG-RANGE AIRCRAFT

 A report in the official China Daily published on July   , stated that at a Central Military Commission (CMC) meeting, the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) was referred to as a “strategic force” a title usually reserved for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Second Artillery Corps. 


There was also discussion of developing a new bomber capable of striking targets as far as the “second island chain” – an area stretching from the Kurils in the North through Japan, the Bonins, the Marianas, the Carolines and Indonesia in the South. The PLA’s definition of a long-range strategic bomber is a minimum range of 8,000 km (5,000 miles) without refueling and the capacity to carry a payload of more than 10 tons of air-to-ground ammunition. According to the  Chinese Military Aviation blog, new long-range strategic bomber designs have been under development at the 603rd Aircraft Design Institute (a partner of Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation) since the 1990s.
 






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