Although a quasi-strategic bomber carrying a two-shot air-launched high-flying ASBM was unveiled at a local aviation exhibition last year, it was the first time that the aerial launch was once again made public. As a result, experts from all walks of life of the superpowers immediately attached great importance to it! After a meticulous analysis of the launch images, the final conclusion was that the actual combat capability of the air-launched version of the ASBM was very powerful, and to a certain extent, it was even indefensible. Now the scene of the missile being launched from the air and then quickly igniting and accelerating the flight actually confirms that the two missiles that were publicly attached at last year's air show are not model bombs that are temporarily mounted for the purpose of making external claims, but live bombs that have been confirmed to be in service! The reason why it is difficult to defend is that the air-launched version of the ASBM system is more flexible and mobile in battlefield use than the land-launched version and the ship-based version of the ASBM, and the actual combat range is also longer; it can not only strike at fixed targets on islands, but also instantly destroy any fleet lurking in the deep sea, and is the most powerful of all comprehensive anti-ship means at present!
Although the appearance of a quasi-strategic bomber is an old design from the 60s of the last century, all the internal subsystems have long been renewed. Its all-glass cockpit, including intercontinental long-range large-capacity data transmission capabilities, even surpasses all B2 and B1B in service, and only the latest B21 can be compared. Moreover, the structural strength of this model is amazing, so it can be mounted to the limit of super-heavy and ultra-large ammunition for low-altitude and ultra-low-altitude ultra-long-range penetration. If the whole route is high, then the flight distance of internal fuel can be as high as 10,000 kilometers, and after a refueling in the air, the total flight range will exceed 13,000 kilometers, which is already a standard intercontinental bomber, so it has a huge combat radius of more than 5,000 kilometers. If we add to this the effective range of at least 2000 km of the missiles themselves, then the strike radius can be up to more than 7000 km, which is already close to the strike range of submarine-launched ICBMs. After a successful penetration, it can attack any US military base east of Alaska, North Australia, Guam and the Apennine Peninsula at will.
and any maritime cluster west of the International Date Line up to the east of the Red Sea and north of 20 degrees south latitude. It is important to know that the maximum combat distance of land-based ASBMs is only 4500 km, and the ship-based ones are closer. Therefore, air-based ASBMs do have quite an amazing strike radius and combat flexibility. Even taking into account the large air resistance of the bomber group at ultra-low altitude and the obvious compression of the extreme combat radius, the minimum strike distance will not be less than 6,000 kilometers. Not to mention the fact that more than one air-launched ASBM has been shown in the past. This time the launch is actually a short-range model, that is, one aircraft is mounted on the main wing, and the missile body is relatively short, roughly within the length of 8 meters, and only the tail of the missile body has a stable wing. The other one that has been unveiled in the past is huge, with a total length of more than 12 meters, and the most obvious feature is that there are aerodynamic winglets at the base of the warhead. This larger model has a significantly longer range, and it is not impossible to take off from the mainland and bombard Hawaii 8,000 kilometers away.
According to the fine style of "modesty and prudence" that a certain major country has always had, if it does not have a more powerful system in hand, it will never show its secondary system to the outside world in advance. Now the public air-launched version of the ASBM is not to highlight the missile itself, but more likely to imply that the giant stealth big bat and the built-in ASBM intercontinental strike system have been formed. That's not a maximum range of 8,000 kilometers, but a night trip of 36,000 miles, and all the Fords and Nimitz are destroyed on the docks in San Diego and Norfolk!