China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has introduced a combat drone that has been made by converting the retired J-6 fighter jet from the 1950s.
According to Chinese media, this drone was presented at the Changchun Air Show. The exhibition of this drone confirmed years-long rumors that China is trying to make its obsolete fleet of J-6 aircraft useful again.
Between the 1960s and 1980s, China manufactured thousands of J-6 aircraft (which were based on the Soviet MiG-19). The J-6 is a second-generation supersonic fighter aircraft; it can fly at a maximum speed of 1.3 times the speed of sound. The J-6 has a combat range of approximately 700 kilometers and can carry up to 250 kilograms of weapons.
According to the information provided with the drone at the air show, the first unmanned J-6 aircraft flew in 1995.
According to Chinese media, most parts of the old J-6 frame have been retained in the drone’s design, which makes the drone faster and cost-effective. In order to convert the aircraft into a drone, all crew-related equipment such as machine guns, auxiliary fuel tanks, and ejection seats have been removed, and an automatic flight control system, autopilot, and terrain-matching navigation have been installed. Additional weapon stations have also been added to the aircraft to enhance its attack capability.
In the details provided at the exhibition, it was stated that this aircraft can be used for strike (offensive) missions or as training targets.
Although this Soviet-era aircraft is technologically old, the large number of J-6 drones makes them economically effective for a war of attrition against the enemy. It is estimated that the PLA has about 3,000 J-6 fighter aircraft.
According to Chinese media, in the event of a conflict, these drones can be used in swarms for attacks. Being a full fighter jet and older in design, due to having less modern avionics, the J-6 drones would be relatively less vulnerable to electronic warfare systems, electronic jammers, or directed energy weapons.
This also means that in order to target this drone, traditional air defense radars would have to be activated, which would reveal the location and frequency of those radars. Then China’s electronic warfare systems or anti-radiation missiles could detect those radar sites and jam or destroy them.
