Q-5 Nuclear Weapon Carrier

The Q-5 [Qiang-5 / Strong-5 / Attack-5 , the export version being designated A-5] is a single-seat, twin-engine supersonic fighter developed by the Nanchang Aircraft Company of China.

In 1958, in order to meet the requirements of the Air Force for advanced attack aircraft, Shenyang First Aircraft Design Office formulated the tentative plan for the supersonic jet attack aircraft. The new aircraft was originally named "Eagle 302". In August of that year, the Aviation Industry Bureau decided to assigned te Q-5 to Nanchang Aircraft Factory (aka Hongdu) for development. Hongdu aircraft design director Gao Zhen and other accepted the task, seconded the first aircraft design studio in Shenyang Lu Xiaopeng as the chief designer.

From the MiG-19 / F-6 fighter improved on the basis of the overall structure of the strong 5 attack quite distinctive: First, the use of both sides of the intake mode to improve the intake efficiency; Second, the use of tapered nose to expand the pilot's Third, according to the cross-sound area law bee waist-shaped fuselage, to ensure the supersonic flight capability of the aircraft; Fourth, select the larger area, sweep angle slightly smaller sweepback wing to improve the lift characteristics; Fifth, set the area Larger vertical tail, to enhance the longitudinal stability; Sixth, the use of backward open at the top of the cockpit cover and streamline better back; Seven, with a variety of weapons carrying a variety of ways to attack the ability of the ground.

The design of any aircraft, whether it is not a combat aircraft, will always be a trade-off and compromise around the difference between its original design and objective conditions. Secondly, the strong -5 and the typical modern attack aircraft such as A-10, Su-25 has a very significant difference, this difference is exactly the design of its original intention. Different from the above-mentioned typical attack aircraft (or "qualified" attack aircraft) with the front-line antitank, short-range air support and battlefield interdiction as the main combat modes, the design of Q-5 in the late 1950s was originally designed at a low altitude.

In the hypothetical 1960s-early 1970s, against the background of the Soviet Union's total invasion of China, the PLA used its low-altitude, high-subsonic and supersonic aircraft to forcibly break through the field-level air defense systems of the Soviet divisions and the military. At that time it was estimated that Soviet field air defense at this level still relied mainly on antiaircraft aircraft guns and antiaircraft guns) to attack the important planar targets such as the Soviet tank cluster, motorized infantry gathering area, command nodes, and logistics hubs.

In 1967, the Nineth Academy started to conduct research on nuclear weapons that were both smaller in size and weight and more powerful than the others. For the nuclear warhead miniaturization test, the Central Special Committee approved the Q-5A 11246 airdrop on November 9, In 1970, a theoretical design proposal of smaller hydrogen bomb detonation bomb (ie trigger) was proposed. In order to test the correctness of the design and to explore the characteristics of smaller detonators, a Q-55-type upper-thrown nuclear-bomb method was adopted to conduct a pilot test of smaller hydrogen-bomb detonation bombs.

On November 9, 1967, the Air Force party committee issued a mission to study the possibility of using aircraft to throw small atomic bombs. Considered the use of MiG-15Bis or MiG-17 to mount atomic bomb program, after the two types of aircraft due to the payload could not meet the requirements and give up. At that time, only the strong -5, which was still in test flight, could meet the requirements.

due to the lower F-6's overall thrust-to-weight ratio and engine thrust-to-weight ratio, it is not possible to achieve the expected high-speed flight in the case of plug-in hydrogen bombs. The hydrogen bombs must be built-in to maintain smooth appearance and reduce drag as much as possible The goal of high-speed flight. Therefore, the reason why Strong -5 abandoned the nose intake across the age of the layout is not, as most designers do so as the pursuit of the pursuit of high-performance fire - control radar installation , but simply to free up the air intake Of the body space in order to arrange the magazine, while further drag reduction, as far as possible to maintain or even increase the flight speed in the case of bombs. The final strong -5 relatively F-6 take-off weight of nearly 2 tons (mainly used to strengthen the structure, layout of armor, layout of the magazine and installation of ground sighting equipment), but the maximum speed did not fall Mach 0.2

In April 1970, the Air Force, the Third Machinery Department and the Ministry of Nuclear Industry dispatched staff to the 320th factory to discuss the feasibility of converting the Q-5 aircraft into a nuclear-powered board-borne machine and realizing rejection of the investment. Upon receiving the request of the Air Force, 320 factory officially began to reform in 1970 to develop special weapons carrier.

In order to meet the requirements of carrying nuclear bombs, Plant 320 made a number of improvements to the Q-5: the original bomb bay was canceled, a large depression was designed at the belly of the machine, and a hydrogen bomb was mounted in a semi-buried manner; F-4E aircraft wrecked seized escape device designed with the thrust off the device of the carrier, by throwing cast to ensure that the hydrogen bomb and carrier separation; install a time switch, you can send a signal to tell the ground test pilot pulled the aircraft When throwing a hydrogen bomb, the headquarters also calculated the hydrogen bomb explosion time.

Strong -5 a modified development since April 1970 began. August 1, 1970, the first strong -5 a God, the end of October to complete the conversion of 6 aircraft mission. Strong-5 A fuselage to increase fuel 2155 liters, outside the machine to increase 1560 liters, an increase of voyage; installation of 124 plants to gas bolts as the core of the projectile bomb rack; ; Installation of nuclear bomb detection and control system, electric locking hook device. Hydrogen bomb using a high-precision bomb delay.

In addition, the aircraft is also equipped with a tilt-up sights, high-precision bomb delay, special nuclear bomb monitoring and control system, electric locking hook device. In addition, cockpit sunshades have been designed to prevent the glare of the pilot's eyes from the glare of glare, and the cockpit sunshade automatically shuts off when a nuclear bomb is deployed.

In March 1977, the Central Military Commission approved the major tactical and technical requirements for the "Hurricane" No. 1 nuclear bomb and the Q-5 retrofit. By the end of 1977, 320 plant completed the design of the transformation of the design task. In June 1979, the General Staff Department and the National Defense Agency jointly announced the suspension of the development of a Q-5 variant designed to carry nuclear bombs, costing 2.92 million yuan for the entire process. After this batch of Q-5 were returned to service.