The Air Force of the People's Liberation Army of China has begun a massive conversion of outdated Shenyang J-6 fighters into unmanned aerial vehicles. This is reported by Defense News.
Speaking of J-6s, the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command recently released photos showing the PLAAF’s J-6 unmanned aircraft conversion. Blurred serials suggest active service; at least 50 can be seen in @planet imagery from September at 1 of 2 bases known to be operating the type pic.twitter.com/HvvMrpnjtB
— Mike Yeo 杨启铭 (@TheBaseLeg) October 20, 2021
These aircraft have long been the basis of the PRC Air Force. They are, in fact, a clone of the Soviet MiG-19 aircraft. The production of the "sixth" was organized in the early 60s at the aviation plant in Shenyang and lasted for almost a quarter of a century. During this time, according to various sources, about 4,000 pieces were released.
In addition to being used in their own Air Force, air defense aviation and fleet, the J-6 was also exported abroad, for example, to Albania, Vietnam, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan and other countries. They took part in various wars and armed conflicts.
Take-off weight - 8832 kg. The maximum speed is 1700 km/h. The practical ceiling is 17900 meters. The combat radius is 685 km . The crew is one person. Three 30-mm cannons, copies of the Soviet HP-30, are used as weapons.
It is possible to use air-to-air missiles, unguided rockets for strikes on ground targets, as well as aerial bombs.
In the Middle Kingdom, these aircraft were decommissioned before 2010, however, apparently, they can be useful in another capacity.
For example, to suppress air defense systems. At the same time, their use as flying targets for the purpose of training fighter pilots or calculations of anti-aircraft missile systems is not excluded.
Alexey Brusilov
