At about 8:00 am on June 28, two Y-20 strategic transport aircraft of the Chinese Air Force arrived at the Kabul Airport in Afghanistan. The aircraft were loaded with a large amount of daily necessities donated to the victims of the Afghanistan disaster. Judging from the images of the airport scene, this time the Y-20 was loaded with infrared interference bombs in the middle of the fuselage. This situation is quite similar to the previous situation when the Y-20 dispatched more than 20 consecutive sorties to transport the FK-3 air defense system to Serbia , so it has also attracted attention from the outside world. However, Serbia, which is thousands of miles away, is different from Afghanistan, which is very close at hand. There is a clear difference between , Western Europe, , which has a stable overall environment, and Central Asia, which has been constantly war-torn. In this Afghan environment, the Y-20 only relies on infrared interference. Can the bomb be safe? Are there any advanced fighter escorts? It has also become a topic worthy of discussion.
The rear of the Y-20 fuselage that arrived in Afghanistan was loaded with infrared interference bombs
First, we can make a simple comparison of the specific contents of the two operations before and after the Y-20. In the previous operation, starting on April 9, 6 Y-20s flew back and forth between Serbia and China for 4 consecutive days, flying a total of 22 sorties (only 4 sorties were dispatched on the second day). Since the single flight distance reaches 8,000 kilometers, which exceeds the maximum flight distance of the Yun-20, after the Yun-20 departs from the military airport in central my country (due to strategic maneuver considerations, most of the IL-76 and Yun-20 equipped by the Air Force Deployed in the central region of (), it flew to Guizhou to install the exported FK-3 air defense system, then turned to the northwest and departed from the western region. Afterwards, it landed in Turkey at the intersection of Asia and Europe, replenished fuel and then took off via Bulgarian airspace to arrive in Serbia.
Yun-20 has sent humanitarian aid supplies to Afghanistan
During this process, the Yun-20 has a long single flight time, a long distance, and passes through many countries. It is obviously impossible to dispatch fighter jets for escort. Once any problems are encountered, it can only rely on Yun-20 will solve it on its own. Therefore, the Y-20s dispatched at that time were all loaded with jamming bombs , and the aircraft should also be equipped with electronic jamming devices to deal with possible unexpected situations. In contrast, the flight distance of the Y-20 to Afghanistan this time was much shorter. After all, Afghanistan borders the western part of my country. The Kabul Airport where the Y-20 landed is only about 550 kilometers away from the western border of my country. Even if factors such as air detours are taken into account, the actual single flight distance will not exceed 1,000 kilometers, which is completely within the combat radius of the Air Force's J-16HT2, J-20HT2 and other J-20HT2 heavy fighter jets, and is theoretically fully capable of dispatching Conditions for fighter escort. Of course, this is only theoretical.
The Y-20 flying to Serbia was equipped with a variety of interference bombs
Today, the level of military equipment of the Afghan government army is relatively poor. Most of them are backward or damaged equipment received from the US army or previous government forces. Modern air defense has extremely high technical and financial requirements. The Afghan army has not actually built a complete air defense system, and is unable to effectively deal with third-generation semi-fighters such as the , J-10, C and J-16. For stealth fighters such as the J-20 He is even more helpless, and even has no ability to discover. However, a country's airspace is a symbol of its sovereignty. Entering it without permission can easily lead to unpredictable consequences. The most typical case was that in 1983, a South Korean passenger plane deviated into Soviet airspace and was intercepted by the Soviet Air Defense Force's Su-15 fighter . It was shot down by two air-to-air missiles . No one on the plane survived. Since the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union was very tense at the time, this incident once added fuel to the regional situation and almost triggered a more serious military conflict.
C-130J transport aircraft continuously fired interference bombs
Moreover, the two Y-20s went to Afghanistan this time. After all, they were performing humanitarian rescue missions. J-20 stealth fighters were quietly dispatched to escort them as a precaution, although they were unlikely to be The Afghan army discovered it, but it may still be discovered by surrounding parties. Once confirmed, the consequences may be extremely serious, and I believe the military will not take this risk.There is another option here, which is to reach an agreement with Afghanistan on the J-20 cross-border escort before the operation begins, and enter Afghanistan openly, but neither side will make it public. This is a more reasonable choice, but the possibility of actually realizing it is also very small. On the one hand, Afghanistan just expelled US troops last year, and there is a natural resistance within Afghanistan to the entry of foreign military forces. Even in the name of escort, it is impossible to completely eliminate this influence.
The stealth performance of the J-20 is very good
On the other hand, this approach is also difficult to reassure surrounding countries. Once realized, it is very likely that the foundation of friendship laid by the transport of anti-epidemic materials through the Yun-20 will be destroyed. It will also become difficult to complete operations like the Yun-20 flying to Serbia via the airspace of multiple countries in April. Big increase. Therefore, the conjecture that "J-20s go abroad to escort Y-20s arriving in Afghanistan" is almost impossible to realize no matter what aspect is considered. Of course, this does not mean that when the Y-20 goes to Afghanistan, it cannot receive support from other air force fighters.
The J-16 fighter jet is also equipped with hundreds of jamming bombs on both sides of its tail cone
The straight-line distance from Kabul to my country's western border is only about 550 kilometers. This distance exceeds the detection range of the general fighter radar , but the power of the radar is more This is not the case for the airborne early warning aircraft , which is larger and has a longer detection range. For example, the Su-35S fighter jet produced by the Russian Aviation Industry is a third-and-a-half-generation fighter jet equipped with the passive phased array radar . Russia stated in publicity that the "Snow Leopard-E" radar equipped on the Su-35S has the greatest workload The distance is 400 kilometers. This number exceeds the typical combat range of the normal active phased array radar , so it was once considered to be "watered-down propaganda" by the Russian aviation industry. But later the outside world discovered that Russia was actually using the radar's special "gazing" range for publicity.
The "Snow Leopard-E" carried by the Su-35S is a passive phased array radar
Specifically, the radar "staring" mode is to "concentrate all efforts" on a very narrow target area to achieve scanning space for distance. Effect. For example, a flashlight can change the light intensity by adjusting the focus. When the light is focused, the light beam "emitted" is brighter and farther away. When the light is relatively dispersed, the light and shadow emitted are much darker and the illumination distance is closer. Much. In actual combat, the radar "staring" mode is rarely used due to its limited scanning area. Therefore, the outside world scorned the Russian claim that the "Snow Leopard-E" has a maximum working range of 400 kilometers. But the reason why this model exists is naturally because it still has certain uses, such as this time the Y-20 was shipped out of the country.
The comprehensive performance of the J-16 radar is stronger than that of the "Snow Leopard-E"
As a strategic transport aircraft without stealth capabilities, the Y-20's radar reflection cross-section is very large. At a distance of about 600 kilometers, It is very normal for large early warning aircraft such as Air Police-2000 to continue to pay attention through the "staring" mode. This means that even if the Air Force does not dispatch its fleet for cross-border escort, it can still maintain surveillance of the Y-20 flight airspace within our country. Once an abnormality is detected, the safety of the Yun-20 can be guaranteed whether it informs and guides the Afghan army or handles it in accordance with the emergency plan. This is fundamentally different from the previous Y-20 flight to Europe in April that had no backup and could only carry multiple types of interference bombs to deal with possible air threats.
This time the Y-20 only carried infrared interference bombs
Of course, the transport aircraft was greatly constrained by the outside world when it landed from high altitude to the ground, especially when approaching the last distance of the runway. At this time, it was attacked by ground anti-aircraft weapons. It will be difficult to escape. When the Soviet army fought in Afghanistan in the last century, transport planes were shot down by Afghan guerrilla "Stingers" many times during takeoff and landing stages. In this case, the early warning aircraft and fighter jets behind the Yun-20 cannot provide effective protection. This is also the direct reason why the Yun-20 is equipped with a large number of infrared jamming bombs.In fact, modern field air defense missiles often use infrared seekers to track targets (the British "Starlight" is a rare exception), while infrared jamming bombs destroy and weaken incoming attacks by radiating, forwarding, and absorbing light wave energy. The infrared seeker effect of missile is to protect the carrier aircraft.
Afghanistan still has a certain number of American "Stinger"
The infrared interference bomb carried by the Y-20 is a very typical area source infrared decoy bomb. The "area source" refers to the interference bomb that can act in multiple wavebands and form a large area of high-heat cloud through rapid oxidation and spontaneous combustion of special internal materials, either covering the carrier aircraft or forming infrared three-dimensional characteristics similar to the carrier aircraft. Jam the infrared seeker of an incoming missile. It is generally believed that the current surface source infrared decoy bombs can effectively counter third-generation infrared missile heads, and this missile is already the performance limit of field air defense missiles available to local armed forces in Afghanistan. Therefore, this time the Y-20 flew out of the country to Afghanistan, where the security situation is not stable. Although there was no advanced fighter escort, due to the short flight distance and proper preparations, it was still able to obtain safety guarantees including large early warning aircraft, and the aircraft Infrared interference bombs are the last defense mechanism to deal with possible risks.
The Russian Mi-8 helicopter that is launching infrared interference bombs
Since the Y-20 officially entered service in 2017, the " Kunpeng " has become the pride of Chinese-made military aircraft in the eyes of the outside world. Over the years, its performance has been excellent. Not only has it performed a large number of domestic military and civilian transportation tasks, but it has also increasingly gone abroad to participate in anti-epidemic, disaster relief, military exercises and other activities, winning the attention of countries around the world. In particular, the strategic transportation operation that flew to Serbia in April this year demonstrated to the outside world the highly mature performance and operational experience of the Y-20, which is fully capable of withstanding the severe test of 16,000 kilometers of long-distance flight in a single day for four consecutive days. This is the only domestically produced military aircraft, and it has completely put to rest doubts about the performance of the Y-20 from the outside world. The Yun-20's trip to Afghanistan, an area that is not considered stable, seems to have further tested the Yun-20's actual combat performance.
The performance of the Yun-20 in the future is worth looking forward to.
In addition, the turbofan-20 specially prepared for the Yun-20 has entered the test flight stage. After large-scale application in the future, the range, maximum load capacity and other indicators of the Yun-20 will also increase. Not a small improvement, the future of "Kunpeng" is worth looking forward to. As for the joint flight of the J-20 and Yun-20 that the outside world has been waiting for, I believe it is not too far away. On the one hand, in modern warfare, the "rapid Raptor" deployment method composed of the U.S. C-17A strategic transport aircraft and F-22A is also an important direction for the development of my country's J-20, among which the Y-20 is taking on irreplaceable responsibilities. On the other hand, as the Y-20 flies farther and farther, the situation it faces becomes more and more complex, and it is only a matter of time before fighter jets are eventually needed to escort it. Of course, by then the combat environment of the Chinese Air Force and even the entire military will have undergone earth-shaking changes. The "J-20 + Yun-20" will truly become a powerful combination that keeps opponents awake at night.
