{"id":54400,"date":"2020-03-20T06:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T19:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=54400"},"modified":"2020-03-19T20:33:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T09:33:26","slug":"the-return-of-the-interceptor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-return-of-the-interceptor\/","title":{"rendered":"The return of the interceptor"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Every year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies publishes a thorough assessment of the capabilities and defence economics of militaries around the globe. The 2020 edition of The military balance<\/a><\/em> covers 171 countries and provides a disconcerting deep dive into Chinese military technology.<\/p>\n

The IISS\u2019s sober analysis of the People\u2019s Liberation Army Air Force\u2019s stealthy new fifth-generation J\/H-XX jet adds substance to what had been only educated guesswork in a number of forums. So, what does the development of this sophisticated aircraft mean for Australian operations risks in the 2020s?<\/p>\n

The IISS notes that the J\/H-XX is a fighter bomber, an old term for multirole combat aircraft, but what stands out is that it\u2019s capable of carrying long-range air-to-air missiles. It suggests the platform is connected to the PL-15<\/a> beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, or BVRAAM, and potentially an even longer range ramjet-powered hypersonic PL-21<\/a> missile. Sources<\/a> suggest the PL-15 is already in service with a range of 200 kilometres, while the longer range PL-21<\/a> is still in development and may have a range up to 400 kilometres.<\/p>\n

The function of these weapons, whether launched from a J\/H-XX or the J-20<\/a> already in service, is to attack vital platforms such as airborne early warning and control aircraft and air-to-air refuellers. For example, in attacking a carrier battlegroup as part of an anti-access\/area-denial operation, a key goal would be to destroy E-2C Hawkeye<\/a> early warning aircraft. That would force the carrier taskforce to use ship-based radar in active mode, allowing long-range anti-ship missiles, both ballistic and cruise, to target it more easily.<\/p>\n

Australia lacks a long-range strike capability and is dependent on either forward-based tankers and aircraft operating in uncontested airspace or forward support hosted by a nation closer to the action. Neither of those options is assured in a future conflict with an adversary such as China. If the PLAAF were to shoot down the RAAF\u2019s E-7A Wedgetails and KC-30 tankers at the start of a conflict, our strike and air combat capability would be rendered ineffective.<\/p>\n

The J\/H-XX should be a concern to RAAF planners. A 2018 report<\/a> in The Diplomat<\/em> discussed both the H-20, a new strategic bomber in development for the PLA Air Force, and the \u2018regional fighter bomber\u2019\u2014the J\/H-XX. It noted that the first information on the J\/H-XX emerged in 2013 in the form of a model of a new combat aircraft . It was presumed to have supersonic performance with a combat radius of up to 2,000 kilometres and to be able to carry BVRAAMs within side weapons bays. It appeared to be designed to be stealthy, with a design reminiscent of the US YF-23 Black Widow fighter. The article suggested that:<\/p>\n

Such an aircraft would leverage a combination of stealth, speed, [and] onboard electronic warfare capabilities, to penetrate well monitored and defended airspace to target high value targets \u2026 Potential targets may include anything from carrier strike groups \u2026 to well defended airbases and radar sites \u2026 The aircraft\u2019s large internal payload capacity and side BVRAAM bays may also hint at a secondary long range, high persistence interceptor role.<\/p>\n

The article speculated that the J\/H-XX\u2019s secondary role as a long-range, high-persistence interceptor involve equipping it with PL-15s or even PL-21s. It concluded that the J\/H-XX either wasn\u2019t being pursued or wasn\u2019t at an advanced stage of development.<\/p>\n

Yet the 2019 China military power<\/em> report<\/a> by the US Defense Intelligence Agency suggested that the J\/H-XX was in development, and now the 2020 IISS report supports this. The DIA report noted that:<\/p>\n

The PLAAF is developing new medium- and long-range stealth bombers to strike regional and global targets \u2026 which probably will reach initial operational capability no sooner than 2025. These new bombers will have additional capabilities, with full-spectrum upgrades compared with current operational bomber fleets, and will employ many fifth-generation fighter technologies in their design.<\/p>\n

The report noted in a table that the \u2018tactical bomber\u2019, classified as a \u2018fighter bomber\u2019, would carry advanced electronic scanned array radar, long-range air-to-air missiles and precision-guided munitions.<\/p>\n

This suggests China recognises the value of long-range airpower not only for strike but also for offensive counter-air operations. It\u2019s a return to the interceptor concept that disappeared in the 1980s, when the RAF\u2019s Tornado F-3 ADV<\/a> served as the last true interceptor aircraft in Western air forces. The Soviets persisted with interceptors with the MiG-25 Foxbat and Russia sustains its MiG-31 Foxhound fleet even now. So it\u2019s interesting that China is developing an aircraft that can be a multirole platform that would bring back long-range air defence\u2014an interceptor by any other name\u2014for both offensive and defensive application.<\/p>\n

If the J\/H-XX becomes operational later this decade, it will give the PLAAF the ability to undertake offensive counter-air operations directly against Australia\u2019s air approaches north of Darwin. Operating from Chinese military bases on disputed territories in the South China Sea, PLAAF J\/H-XXs equipped with PL-21 BVRAAMs could hold at risk RAAF aircraft over the Molucca and Banda seas. RAAF tankers operating out of Tindal would be at immediate risk, as would the Wedgetails. \u00a0Sustaining a combat air patrol to defend those vital combat enablers would become a logistical nightmare<\/a>, so the safer option would be to simply not fly them. That would leave our F-35 fighters, F\/A-18F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers operationally constrained.<\/p>\n

To defeat the prospective threat posed by PLAAF strategic airpower, including the potential challenge posed by the J\/H-XX operating in a long-range offensive interceptor role, we\u2019d need longer range airpower<\/a> ourselves. Sadly, that\u2019s what\u2019s missing in Western air forces\u2014a mid-range capability between tactical fighters and strategic bombers. But not, it would seem, in the PLAAF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies publishes a thorough assessment of the capabilities and defence economics of militaries around the globe. The 2020 edition of The military balance covers 171 countries and provides …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":54402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[225,52,577],"class_list":["post-54400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-air-power","tag-china","tag-peoples-liberation-army"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe return of the interceptor | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-return-of-the-interceptor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The return of the interceptor | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies publishes a thorough assessment of the capabilities and defence economics of militaries around the globe. 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