If this is true, it is a huge increase in capability for the PLAAF.  Now improved Chinese C4ISR is way more important than ever in order to effectively use their new bombs.

One does not need to turn off a GPS, what is requred is regional jamming of the signal or a switch to encription.

The GPS guidance, as mentioned, is not necessarily that difficult.  Operation in an ECM environment may be more difficult. An unanswered question here is whether this guidance system includes INS.  GPS alone would seem a poor choice.

 

 

Reefdiver, you're right, but read again.  The above article states the LS6 advertises use of an INS: "This will be a major selling point for their own LS6 (which, like JDAM, has a back up inertial guidance system)."  Unless I missed something, which is certainly very possible, this article appears based primarily off of a Kanwa article reporting on the Zhuhai (sp?) arms show last year.  I await further evidence that this bomb is really in production yet, although I hope that evidence is long in coming.

 

Another aspect to using this bomb will be which aircraft are properly wired/integrated to use it?  Our JDAMs require 1553 buses out to the pylons so they can download data to the bomb, among other things I'm sure.  Not all Chinese aircraft have all their pylons so equipped, for example.

 

Wonder who would be interested in buying bombs with this particular coverage? Mao and Marx will be rolling in their graves like an INS when they hear this: The CCP will sell us the bombs we will vapourize them with!

This is a great jump for them. Partiularly with regard to their most likely enemy(Taiwan). They just cut their sorties per target by 1/2 to even a 1/3rd. Huge force multiplier this is. Once their ability to target things abroad meet or exceed this capability(near real time) things could get very interesting in that region. What is even more worrisome for their enemies is if they put this capability into their BMs and SLCMs. All things considered the PRC is moving toward having a very poweful first strike or OOTB capability.

 

Took them about ten years to get to were we were in 1997/1998 with similar weapons. The PRC has the advantage of piggy backing off of our R&D. This allows them to focus their efforts on proven technology and then impliment PRC manufacturing techniques which shave off a lot of the cost when compared to western weapons of similar capability.

 

 

-DA

It is not difficult to make a GPS bomb.

The question is indeed resistance to jamming.

Chinese GPS system will be extended BTW.And eastern China is still the place where the bomb could likely be used.

 

Their JDAMs could have a [fortunately for us] large failure rate.

 

Herald