the wings of an H-6K of the 24th Air Regiment, 8th Air Division, tail number 11196. In 2022, at the annual China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition (colloquially known as the Zhuhai Airshow), an H-6K of the 8th Air Division's 24th Air Regiment (tail number 11097) was observed carrying what some western defense analysts suspect is the first air-launched model of the CM-401 anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM). For years, H-6K bombers of the 10th Air Division's 28th Air Regiment (AR) have routinely joined other military aircraft of the PLAAF (including J-11s, J-16s, Y-8s, Su-30s, KJ-500s, and various UAVs) in unannounced incursions into the Taiwanese and sometimes Japanese Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ) carrying a variety of payload munitions. These incursions have gained international attention, especially in annual joint patrols between bombers of the Chinese 28th Air Regiment and Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers including during meetings of the Quad. In the PLAAF, H-6 aircrews () consist of four personnel: the pilot in command ( or ) who sits in the left pilot seat, the co-pilot () who sits to his right, an electronic warfare and communications officer (), and a navigator () bombardier () who may also be referred to as a weapons control technician (). Both the electronic warfare and communications officer and the navigator/bombardier sit directly behind the two pilots. Within a larger bomber formation, pilots may serve the role of 'lead pilot' () with command over a multiple-bomber formation. When a pilot commands two multiple-bomber formations of the same type, he is referred to as the 'airborne commander' (). PLAAF pilots use the term to describe a wingman. Variants New variants were produced in the 1990s: the H-6G was a control platform for ground-launched cruise missiles and the H-6H could carry two land-attack cruise missiles. In terms of the missiles carried, five immediate possibilities were considered by PLAAF: the indigenous HN-1, HN-2, HN-3, DH-10/CJ-10, and a variant of a Russian-designed cruise missile. The CJ-10 was apparently chosen as the main missile carried by the H-6H. Subsequently, the H-6M cruise missile carrier was also introduced, with four pylons for improved cruise missiles and a terrain-following navigation system. Apparently these variants did not include internal weapons bays, and the designs also omitted most or all of the previous defensive gun turrets. H-6K The H-6K, first flying on January 5, 2007, entered service in October 2009 during the celebrations of the