THE AIRBORNE DETERRENT

摘要

The choice of the UK's nuclear deterrent in 1960 came down to two competing American systems: Polaris, a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and Skybolt, an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM). The rationale behind both was that, unlike their surface-launched counterparts or bombers on quick reaction alert (QRA) like the 'V-Force', they were immune to being caught on the ground in a pre-emptive strike. Since the mid-1960s the SLBM has become the favoured deterrent (see 'Not the Weapon of Choice', Aeroplane April 2021) while the ALBM has sunk without trace in the West, although China has developed and tested ALBMs derived from the DF-21 and DF-17 ballistic missiles, which are intended to arm the People's Liberation Army Air Force's Xian H-6K offshoots of the Tupolev Tu-16 'Badger'.