The Chinese Air Force Sure Is Buying A Lot Of Bombers

The U.S. Air Force is cutting bombers. The Chinese air force is adding them. That mismatch could weigh on the USAF’s budget priorities under the incoming administration of president-elect Joe Biden.

Just three countries have bombers. The Russian air force has 135 Tu-22s, Tu-95s and Tu-160s. The U.S. Air Force operates 156 B-1s, B-2s and B-52s. China’s bomber fleet is bigger by far. According to a new count by plane-spotter Thomas Shugart, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force possesses as many as 231 H-6s.

And alone among the three bomber-operators, China is actually building new bombers. True, Russia is rebuilding many of its bombers and the U.S. Air Force is about to begin buying new B-21 stealth bombers. But Beijing has the advantage of a hot production line churning out new planes.

And fast. According to Shugart’s count, the PLAAF has added around three dozen H-6s—upgraded copies of the twin-engine Soviet Tu-16—in just two years. The Chinese bomber fleet now includes a number of variants of the H-6, including the H-6J anti-ship missile-carrier, the H-6K land-attack missile-carrier and the new H-6N, which can be refueled in mid-air and could carry a new hypersonic missile.

Shugart spotted H-6s and no fewer than 10 bases. “I’m sure this is all normal, ho-hum stuff for a nation with a growing economy and a few local tensions with its neighbors,” Shugart sarcastically tweeted.

To be fair, the H-6 is smaller and less sophisticated than America’s own bombers are. Most H-6s lack aerial-refueling gear and thus suffer serious range limitations that aren’t a problem for U.S. bombers, all of which are refuelable. H-6s with their lumps, bumps and conventional materials are decidedly non-stealthy, especially compared to the flying-wing B-2 and B-21.

Still, the H-6s together represent the world’s second- or third-most-potent long-range aerial strike force. And that could be a factor as the U.S. Air Force looks ahead to at least four years under Biden.

The service long has planned to buy at least 100 B-21s to fly alongside 74 re-engined B-52s through the 2050s. But the American bomber fleet probably will shrink before it grows again. The USAF is asking Congress to let it send 17 of the most worn-out B-1s to the boneyard in 2021.

Even before the PLAAF added dozens of new H-6s, the USAF was considering asking lawmakers for more than just a hundred B-21s. If the U.S. flying branch aims to match China’s own bomber force, it will need at least 160 of the new stealth bombers.