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China sends long-range bomber to border with India
- Footage broadcast on CCTV shows H-6K on flight to mountainous region
- Images calibrated to send warning to ease tensions, analyst says
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The People’s Liberation Army has deployed at least one long-range strategic H-6K bomber to its borders with India in a move meant as a warning to the Indian military not to escalate tensions over winter, analysts said.
To mark the PLA Air Force’s 72nd anniversary on November 11, state broadcaster China Central Television aired footage that included a brief shot of an H-6K flying over a mountain range, indicating the aircraft had been sent to the Himalayas.
The aircraft was armed with short-range KD-63 missiles – and not the long-range CJ-20 cruise missiles that it is also designed to carry.
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A Beijing-based military source said the H-6Ks were usually based in Shaanxi province but had been stationed in Kashgar in the neighbouring western region of Xinjiang on a temporary basis since last year.
The aircraft came under the Western Theatre Command, which includes the Xinjiang and Tibet military districts and is responsible for the border security along the contested frontier with India.
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“It’s very easy for the PLA to fly H-6Ks to the China-India border, because the aircraft are stationed ... under the Western Theatre Command,” the source said.
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