{"id":38938,"date":"2020-10-19T14:06:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T14:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/19\/video-reveals-chinese-h-6n-bomber-carrying-suspected-hypersonic-weapon\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:07:17","slug":"video-reveals-chinese-h-6n-bomber-carrying-suspected-hypersonic-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/asia-pacific\/2020\/10\/19\/video-reveals-chinese-h-6n-bomber-carrying-suspected-hypersonic-weapon\/","title":{"rendered":"Video reveals Chinese H-6N bomber carrying suspected hypersonic weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MELBOURNE, Australia \u2014 The air-launched ballistic missile that China has reportedly been developing appears to be a hypersonic warhead boosted by a conventional rocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A video that surfaced over the weekend online shows a Xian H-6N bomber<\/a> of the People\u2019s Liberation Army Air Force landing at an airfield carrying a payload on the bottom of its fuselage. The footage confirms earlier analysis that this latest variant of the bomber is capable of carrying a missile semi-recessed into its fuselage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the video\u2019s low quality, a freeze-frame analysis by Defense News<\/a> suggests the payload is a missile with a warhead and booster section that closely resembles the ground-launched DF-17 hypersonic missile, which is believed to use the booster section from a DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile combined with a DZ-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle<\/a> as its warhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense said in its annual report on China\u2019s military power that the Asian country was developing a nuclear-capable, air-launched ballistic missile, or ALBM, giving it the designation CH-AS-X-13. However, it is unknown if the payload seen in the video is the ALBM.<\/p>\n\n\n\t