Chinese H-6 Bombers Make First Ever Deployment Off Coast of Alaska: How Did They Get So Far?

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has for the first time deployed H-6 strategic bombers for operations off the coast of Alaska, which represents a major expansion to the operational reach of the aircraft. An official press release revealed regarding the deployment: U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) “detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two PRC [People’s Republic of China] H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on July 24, 2024. NORAD fighter jets from the United States and Canada conducted the intercept.” The H-6s were notably accompanied by Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers as part of a joint operation. Unlike the Tu-95 and Tu-160, or America’s three classes of strategic bombers, the H-6 was not designed for intercontinental range operations, and is a much lighter aircraft with a lower endurance. The aircraft’s ability to operate near Alaska has fuelled speculation from a number of Western sources that the pair may have deployed from bases in Russia to reach the area. 

The H-6’s range has notably been improved significantly in the decades in which the class has been in service, with the integration of new more fuel efficient turbofan engines increasing endurance considerably, while new variants using modern composite airframe materials have made the aircraft lighter and allowed for the carriage of more fuel. Furthermore, the Chinese fleet of tanker aircraft capable of providing aerial refuelling has growing considerably with the introduction of the YY-20, which is based on the Y-20 airlifter that is currently the world’s largest military transport in production. The introduction of longer ranged missiles for the H-6 has further contributed to significantly widening their reach, allowing them to comfortably strike targets such as Guam, Wake Island and Hawaii. Nevertheless, deployments near Alaska are not expected to occur frequently, although they are expected to become common after the People’s Liberation Army inducts its first intercontinental range bomber, the H-20, into service. The H-20 stealth bomber is considered a direct rival to the American B-21 Raider which first flew in November 2023.