China shows off drones recycled from Soviet-era fighter jets

MELBOURNE, Australia – China has for the first time showed off retired 1950s era fighter jets that have been converted to unmanned drones, with satellite photos of two of its east coast bases near Taiwan showing a large number of the jets on site.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command published the photos of two Shenyang J-6s on its Weibo social media account during a post about the ceremony marking the start of the training cycle for the second half of 2021 for a training brigade.

The photos were taken at an unknown airfield, with the ceremony also including a banner for the occasion that was digitally altered to remove the identity of the training brigade. The five-digit serial numbers on the J-6s that would identify the unit they belong to have also been digitally blurred.

Speaking of J-6s, the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command recently released photos showing the PLAAF’s J-6 unmanned aircraft conversion. Blurred serials suggest active service; at least 50 can be seen in @planet imagery from September at 1 of 2 bases known to be operating the type pic.twitter.com/HvvMrpnjtB — Mike Yeo 杨启铭 (@TheBaseLeg) October 20, 2021

Speaking of J-6s, the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command recently released photos showing the PLAAF’s J-6 unmanned aircraft conversion. Blurred serials suggest active service; at least 50 can be seen in @planet imagery from September at 1 of 2 bases known to be operating the type pic.twitter.com/HvvMrpnjtB

This practice of blurring the serial numbers, which could be used to identify the unit the aircraft is assigned to, is common to officially released images of People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft, suggesting that the J-6s are still in active service.

Both aircraft were otherwise left unpainted, although both carried three hardpoints for external stores on each wing.

The J-6 is a Chinese copy of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 interceptor, whose manned version was officially retired from PLAAF service in 2010. By that time, the type was regarded as obsolete by all measures, with the basic J-6 not even equipped with a radar.

Since then, numerous J-6s have been seen on satellite imagery of two airbases in China’s coastal provinces opposite Taiwan. The airframes on these bases, Liancheng in Fujian province and Yangtang-li, which is also known as Xingning, in neighbouring Guangdong province, are parked in neat rows at the airbases.

Reports emerged from 2013 that China had converted the type into unmanned aircraft, for use either as a decoy to overwhelm adversary air defences by their sheer numbers or as a rudimentary unmanned combat aircraft.

A satellite photo of Liancheng, taken on Sept. 15 and provided to Defense News by Planet Labs , showed 50 J-6s on the group, with nine of these pictured next to the base’s 7,830-foot runway.

Updated imagery for Xingning is not available, however satellite imagery taken in April 2020 showed 29 J-6s at the base, with older satellite imagery of the base published on Google Earth showing aircraft taxiing on the ground in March 2013, October 2014, and as recently as December 2018.

They have also been seen at different parts of the bases in satellite photos taken over the years, further suggesting that these aircraft are active and have not been mothballed.

Liancheng and Xingning are some 275 miles away from Taiwan, putting the self-governing island that China sees as a rogue province well within range of the J-6. China has yet to officially acknowledge the existence of the conversion of the J-6 into unmanned aircraft.

Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.

澳大利亚墨尔本——中国首次展示了退役的 20 世纪 50 年代战斗机，这些战斗机已被改装成无人机。卫星照片显示，中国位于台湾附近东海岸的两个基地停放着大量此类战斗机。

中国人民解放军东部战区在其微博社交媒体账号上发布了两张沈阳歼-6战斗机的照片，同时还发布了一篇关于某训练旅2021年下半年训练周期开始仪式的帖子。

这些照片是在一个不知名的机场拍摄的，仪式现场还挂着一条横幅，但横幅上的信息经过数码处理，抹去了训练旅的标识。J-6战斗机上原本可以识别所属部队的五位数序列号也被数码模糊处理。

说到歼-6，解放军东部战区近日公布了空军歼-6无人机改装照片。模糊的序列号表明这些飞机可能正在服役；在@planet 9月份拍摄的图像中，可以看到至少50架歼-6，它们位于已知装备该型飞机的两个基地之一。pic.twitter.com/HvvMrpnjtB — Mike Yeo 杨启铭 (@TheBaseLeg) 2021年10月20日

说到歼-6，解放军东部战区最近公布了一些照片，展示了空军歼-6无人机的改装情况。模糊的序列号表明这些飞机可能正在服役；在@planet 9月份拍摄的图像中，可以看到至少50架歼-6，它们位于已知装备该型飞机的两个基地之一。pic.twitter.com/HvvMrpnjtB

这种模糊序列号的做法（序列号可以用来识别飞机所属部队）在官方发布的中国人民解放军空军（PLAAF）飞机图片中很常见，这表明歼-6战斗机仍在服役。

两架飞机除涂漆外，机翼上均有三个外挂点。

歼-6是中国仿制苏联米格-19截击机的机型，其有人驾驶版本已于2010年从中国人民解放军空军正式退役。到那时，无论从哪个角度来看，该机型都被认为是过时的，基本型的歼-6甚至没有配备雷达。

此后，卫星图像显示，中国沿海省份与台湾隔海相望的两个空军基地出现了大量歼-6战斗机。这两个基地分别是福建省连城空军基地和邻近的广东省阳塘里空军基地（又名兴宁空军基地），这些飞机整齐地排列在基地内。

2013 年有报道称，中国已将该型飞机改装成无人飞机，用作诱饵以凭借数量优势压倒敌方防空系统，或用作简易的无人作战飞机。

9 月 15 日，Planet Labs 向《防务新闻》提供了一张连城卫星照片，照片显示该基地有 50 架歼-6 战斗机，其中 9 架停在基地 7830 英尺长的跑道旁。

目前尚无兴宁基地的最新图像，但 2020 年 4 月拍摄的卫星图像显示该基地有 29 架歼-6 战斗机，而谷歌地球上发布的该基地较早的卫星图像显示，飞机分别于 2013 年 3 月、2014 年 10 月以及最近的 2018 年 12 月在地面滑行。

多年来拍摄的卫星照片也显示，这些飞机出现在基地的不同区域，这进一步表明这些飞机仍在服役，并没有被封存。

连城和兴宁距离台湾约275英里，这意味着中国视为叛离省份的这个自治岛屿完全在歼-6的射程之内。中国尚未正式承认歼-6被改装成无人机的存在。

Mike Yeo 是《防务新闻》的亚洲通讯员。