Xian H-6 - Design and Development

Design and Development

The first domestically produced H-6 was completed in 1968 and evidence of bombing training was recorded by U.S. spy satellites on August 13. 1971. By March of the following year, the CIA estimated that the PRC had 32 aircraft operational with an additional 19 awaiting completion.

The H-6 was used to drop nine nuclear devices at the Lop Nur test site. However, with the increased development in ballistic missile technology, the nuclear delivery capabilities that the H-6 offered diminished in importance. The CIA estimated in 1976 that the H-6 had moved over to a dual nuclear/conventional bombing role.

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