The state run China News Service disclosed on March 30, 2015, that the PLAAF had used its H-6 strategic bombers for the exercise in the airspace of the Western Pacific for the first time. Photos published by the PLA Air Force indicated the bombers taking part in the drill were the H-6K variant. With a combat radius of 2,000 kilometers, the H-6 bomber could launch attacks against US military facilities on Guam. Colonel Shen Jinke, spokesperson for the PLA Air Force, also said the bombers flew over the Bashi channel between Taiwan and the Philippines before reaching the airspace of the Pacific.