At least PL5B or PL7 can give Q5L the ability to counterattack (PL7=Chinese Magic 1)
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Both PL-5 and PL-7 would be too strong for its future ARB br. Since its going to 9.3 arb BR, PL-2 should be a better option for it.
I would prefer Q5L to obtain PL5B and PL7, and then move all BR as a whole to 10.7
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It is 90000 tonnes tnt equivalence, the smallest human atomic bomb of only 100 tonnes tnt equivalence is 500lb, the Hydrogen bomb must include an atomic bomb, and the hydrogen bomb with a 90000 tonne equivalence would be much more than 1 tonne. It is at least 2.5 tonnes and that is without the safety mechanism which is pretty heavy as well. Reminder this is not modern nuclear war heads, this is a last century very early H bomb.
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No. Chinese nomenclature was confusing back then. 甲 was different to -I and also different to -A.
甲 was the nuclear strike variant, 乙 was the AShM variant, and Roman numerals were used to denote regular upgrades/variants until English alphabet took over decades later. Some variants were re-designated from Roman to English, others didn’t. You can read more about variants in the two Chinese books linked above.
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In other news, the Q-5L will finally receive countermeasures. No AAM though.
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They should have at least given PL-2s
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In short, no. But it almost happened.
强-5乙 was developed for the PLANAF specifically to carry torpedoes, hence the nose with a better visibility and houses a surface search radar. Five prototypes were made and at least one was photographed flying with a 5-digit serial, which only became a thing in the 1970s. The plane was first pitched in 1966 and test flown since 1971 but it only received the Type Designation in 1980 due to the slow progress of its Type 317 radar, a copy of the R-14A recovered from a crashed F-105D in Vietnam.
There were plans in 1978 to retrofit 强-5乙 with YJ-8 (鹰击-8) AShM but the heavier missile meant the plane needs to shave weight elsewhere. A minaturized Type 317 radar, known as 317甲, was then developed to reduce weight. Due to the slow progress on the radar, the AShM variant was cancelled in the late 70s and the missile went on to serve with the Type 024III missile boat.
The PLAN restarted the Q-5 AShM variant in the mid-80s after the success of YJ-8 AShM’s trials on missile boats, so they decided to have another go at it. This time it’ll carry the revised YJ-81 AShM and be directed with the JL-7 radar from J-7III. Development only went as far as flying a regular Q-5 with a mockup missile to test its handling characteristics, and the project was shelved for good because JH-7 can carry four YJ-81s, is faster, and has a longer range.
So basically there were three 强-5乙 models:
- 1971: Type 317 radar, 2x RAT-52 (鱼-2) torpedoes. 5 Prototypes built.
- 1978: Type 317甲 radar, 2x YJ-8 AShM. Aerial missile launch tests conducted. Cancelled due to the lack of progress in radar development.
- 1980s: JL-7 radar, 2x YJ-81 AShM. Cancelled before anything were built.
Source: 东风乍起-中国强-5强击机传纪 Page 51-52
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Q-5L at least deserves a PL-5 given how new it is. Ideally PL-7. Giving it PL-2 is like giving the A-10 AIM-9B.
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We all know gaijin. They will say giving it PL-5B/C will make it 11.0
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Q5L should get the TL-10 at least, it was tested earlier before, which is similar to the AGM65, but smaller.
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Iirc the Q-5Bing with AShms did get tested, but not with very good results
Could be wrong, been a while since i read the book containing information on it.
Q-5 with the ugly nose cone?
Both the Q-5Bing with Torpedoes and Q-5Bing with AShMs have the weird noses
Q5 is better to obtain two PL5B or PL7 rounds, BR maintains a balance of 10.7
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something like a TT A-5C but with CAS ability would be good, TT Q-5s are almost same in air battle and it’s boring
That would be A-5M
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A-5M seems no good cas ability, only unguided weapons
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But at least we can consider it as A-5C’s TT counterpart
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Add Q-5L some missiles can also do.
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