Yŏng'an Y-4
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| Yŏng'an Y-4 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Y-4HR at Wŏnju airbase. | |
| Role | strategic bomber |
| National origin | DPRM |
| Manufacturer | Yŏng'an Aircraft Corporation |
| First flight | 1971 |
| Introduction | 1974 |
| Primary user | Menghean Navy |
| Produced | 1973-1989 |
| Developed from | Tupolev Tu-16 |
The Yŏng'an Y-4 (Formal designation: 영안 4호 폭격기 / 永安四號爆擊機, Yŏng'an Sal-ho Pokgyŏkgi, "Yŏng'an No.4 Bomber;" Short designation 영안-4 Yŏng'an-Sal "Yŏng'an-4") is a tactical bomber which was manufactured in Menghe as a license-produced copy of the Letnian Tupolev Tu-16. It is produced by the Yŏng'an Aircraft Corporation in Gangwŏn province.
Most surviving airframes have been converted to the Y-4HR model, a maritime strike variant. This package includes new engines, avionics, and surface search radar, as well as additional hardpoints and safety systems. The Menghean Navy plans to keep the Y-4HR in service until 2035, when it will be replaced by a new bomber project tentatively titled P-014.
Development
Description
Y-4HR
Full list of variants
Army service
- Y-4G
- Original service variant, based on the early Tu-16. Used a crude Menghean-designed bombsight and could not interface with missiles.
- Y-4N
- Special variant adapted for nuclear attacks. Fitted with extra electronics and painted with anti-flash white on the belly and sides. First identified in 1986.
- Y-4D
- Proposed variant for delivering standoff nuclear munitions based on the YDH-23 missile. Had the same wing-hardpoint layout as the Y-4HN but lacked the nose radar.
Navy service
- Y-4HG
- Anti-shipping variant modeled on the Tu-16K-10. It had a rudimentary surface-search radar under a partial glazed nose, and two large under-wing hardpoints for anti-ship missiles. Introduced in 1976.
- Y-4HN
- Maritime reconnaissance variant with a large radar in the nose and additional radomes and ELINT antennas along its airframe. Capable of guiding missiles from other bombers toward targets.
- Y-4HD
- Anti-shipping variant designed to carry the YDH-23 supersonic anti-ship missile on two hardpoints, one under each wing. Had a large radar set in the nose, identical to that on the Y-4HN, but lacked the latter's ELINT equipment. Introduced in 1985.
- Y-4HR
- Comprehensively upgraded anti-shipping package introduced in 2008. Features new electronics, engines, and radar, as well as a revised hardpoint layout.
Auxiliary aircraft
- Y-4GGB
- Tanker variant with wingtip-mounted probe and drogue for in-flight refueling.