The Xian H-8 bomber was a Chinese military aircraft

Military aircraft

A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat:...

 and a possible successor to the aging twin-engined H-6

Xian H-6

The Xian H-6 is a license-built version of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 twin-engine jet bomber, built for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force....

 jet bomber. The prototype was reported to be an enlarged H-6 with underwing engines, but that the project was canceled in the early 1970s before the bomber went into production.

Development

Originally proposed by Xi'an Aircraft Factory

Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation

Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation , also known as Xi'an Aircraft Company Limited is a Chinese aircraft manufacturer and developer of large and medium-sized airplanes. It is based in Yanliang District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. It is joint partners with 603rd Aircraft Design Institute of...

 in June, 1970 as a 4-engined version of Xian H-6

Xian H-6

The Xian H-6 is a license-built version of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 twin-engine jet bomber, built for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force....

, design begun in February 1971 after the proposal was granted by the state. In 1973, People's Liberation Army Air Force

People's Liberation Army Air Force

The People's Liberation Army Air Force is the aviation branch of the People's Liberation Army, the military of the People's Republic of China...

 (PLAAF) issued additional requirement of incorporating capability against sea targets, and formally joint the project. By the end of 1977, the first sample was completed and the maiden flight was followed in January, 1978.

The aircraft was able to climb 40% faster than H-6, and the range is also increased by a third to 8,000 km. More weapons could be carried, including bombs of various sizes, sizing from 100 kg to the massive 9 ton ones. The bomb bay was sized at 8.6 meter x 1.8 meter x 2.72 meter, capable of holding a maximum of 18 tons of ordinance, i.e. 2 of the 9 ton bombs, though to achieve maximum range, the payload had to be greatly reduced to 7 tons. Nuclear bombs could also be carried, as well as anti-ship and land attack missiles, and in the latter configuration, a total 3 missiles are carried, one under each wing, and a third semi-buried in the bomb bay. The permanent weapon of the aircraft is a tail gun mount incorporating a twin 23 mm gun.

The crew totaled 6, seated in two separate pressurized compartments. Pilot/mission commander, co-pilot/flight engineer, navigator/observer, and bombadier/flight mechanic were seated in the forward pressurized compartment, while the electronics warfare/communication officer and tail gunner/assistant communication officer seated in the pressurized compartment in the rear. The avionics of the aircraft borrowed heavily from the reverse engineering similar American systems obtained from the downed Boeing B-52 and other American aircraft provided by North Vietnam during the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

.

Specification

• length: 48.50 meters
• wingspan: 46.47 meters
• wing area: 293 square meters
• height: 13.85 meters
• empty weight: 63 tons
• normal take-off weight: 155 tons
• maximum take-off weight: 163 tons
• normal payload: 7 tons of bombs
• maximum payload: 18 tons of bombs
• normal range: 8,000 km
• maximum range: 11,000 km with 7 ton payload
• maximum ceiling: 14 km
• maximum speed: 1,000 km/h
• cruise speed: 800 km @ low & medium altitude, > 850 km @ high altitude
• crew: 6

Variants

• Xian H-6I - Prototype of Xian H-8. Powered by 4 Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 512 engines, originally purchased as spare engines for Hawker Siddeley Trident
  Hawker Siddeley Trident
  The Hawker Siddeley HS 121 Trident was a British short/medium-range three-engined jet airliner designed by de Havilland and built by Hawker Siddeley in the 1960s and 1970s...
  
   China had bought. Program first begun in 1970 and maiden flight was made in 1978, with state certification received in the following year, and the designation subsequently changed to Xian H-8 somewhere between 1978 and 1979, as it was prepared to entered series production. In comparison to the original H-6, the fuselage is lengthened and the engines are rearranged to be carried in individual pods under the wings. Ferry range is increased to 8,100 km (with standard payload), and combat radius is increased to over 5,000 km (with nuclear payload).
• Xian H-8 - Follow-on of Xian H-6I, which replaces the Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 512 engines with Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 202 engines to reduce operational cost and to simply logistics. However, this was not enough to save the program and during the massive military downsizing in the 1980s, China canceled the program in 1980 before the start of the scheduled production.
• Internet speculation has described the H-8 bomber as a new advanced Chinese stealth aircraft
  Stealth aircraft
  Stealth aircraft are aircraft that use stealth technology to avoid detection by employing a combination of features to interfere with radar as well as reduce visibility in the infrared, visual, audio, and radio frequency spectrum. Development of stealth technology likely began in Germany during...
  
  , but it is unlikely that China has such an aircraft in service.