Chinese and Russian bombers that conducted a joint patrol near U.S. territory in November for the first time represented practice for conducting a strategic nuclear attack on the United States, according to a joint report by an Air Force think tank and a Japanese Defense Ministry think tank.
The report said nine joint Chinese-Russian bomber flights since 2019 were mostly non-threatening, including a July 2024 strategic bomber patrol near Alaska.
But that changed dramatically in November when the PLA air force used H-6N bombers with Russian Tu-95 bombers within range of Guam in what the report said was “a clear threat against the USA,” the report stated.
“On the second day of patrols, November 30, the PLAAF for the first time formed a strike package and sent the strike package to the western Pacific Ocean,” the report said.
The Chinese bombers carry a nuclear-armed air-launched ballistic missile likely based on the DF-21 ballistic missile with a range of about 1,335 miles.
“The patrol’s flight path through the Miyako Strait connects directly with the western Pacific Ocean, and the PLAAF can put a massive U.S. Air Force base on Guam within range of that ALBM just from a point at which one of its H-6Ns entered the Pacific Ocean,” the report said.
The report added that the PLA unit that dispatched the bomber, the 106th Brigade, has as its primary mission a nuclear strike.
Thus, “it is likely that the combined patrol of November 30 also represents the first serious training to conduct a nuclear strike against Guam from the air.”
“So, one can say that the combined patrol that has come closest to U.S. territory was the patrol near Alaska, but the combined patrol that has presented a clear and serious threat to U.S. territory was that of November 30.”
The threat was likely intended as a “political signal” to the United States from Beijing, the report said.
The strategic message was that China fears U.S. alliance building in Asia will hurt China’s ability to annex Taiwan and joined with Russia in threatening U.S. territory, the report said.
The report was published by the Air Force China Aerospace Studies Institute and the Japanese Air Self Defense Force’s Air and Space Studies Institute.
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