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Chinese H-20 Bomber

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018...r-designation/

China confirms ‘new long-range strategic bomber’ designation

MELBOURNE, Australia — China’s official state-run media has confirmed the designation of the country’s newest long-range strategic bomber, with analysts speculating that the prototype is expected to make its first flight soon.

In a documentary reportedly broadcast in August, China Central Television referred to the “Hong-20” as the “new long-range strategic bomber” under development for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, or PLAAF, confirming for the first time the H-20 designation that has previously been used elsewhere to describe the program. The documentary added that “great progress” is being made on the Hong-20’s development, although it did not provide other details. “Hong” is the standard abbreviation for the term “Hongzhaji,” or bomber in Chinese, although this is usually shortened to just the “H” in Western literature.

Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator quoted by the semi-official Global Times newspaper, said he expects the first flight of the bomber to occur soon. However, Andreas Rupprecht, who has authored several books on Chinese military aviation, previously wrote for the Jamestown Foundation that he expects first flight of the new bomber to occur sometime in early 2020, based on the development cycles of other Chinese military aircraft. The existence of the bomber program was confirmed by PLAAF commander Gen. Ma Xiaotian in 2016, although Rupprecht wrote in the Jamestown Foundation’s report that it has been under development since the late 1990s or early 2000s.

The new bomber is being developed by the Xi’an Aircraft Company and is expected to be a stealthy flying-wing design with an internal weapons bay and nested engines within its body to enhance low observability.

It’s been reported that Chinese military officials said a new strategic bomber should be capable of striking targets beyond the second island chain without aerial refueling while carrying a payload of at least 10 metric tons, leading to speculation that targets such as Hawaii would be within range of cruise missiles launched by the new bomber......

Flying target. One supposes that the Chinese have invested quite a bit in EW to support those aircraft.

It's a B2 rip-off. I've seen at least one photo of it on the internet - from some time ago - where the assumption was that it was most likely a movie prop!

This photo looks like there is a tailplane that has been badly painted out

Ah, CCTV 7, the military channel. It had the best looking presenters of all the channels. War films covering two thousand years of Chinese history, lessons on how to strip and reassemble an assault rifle and sight and load an artillery piece.

Ok - they're now only 25-30 years behind...........................

To my untrained eye the design looks a bit muddled, also those angly surfaces can't be great for stealth.

https://sputniknews.com/military/202...guam---report/

Quote:

The H-20 is supposed to be fitted with nuclear and conventional missiles, have a maximum take-off weight of at least 200 tonnes and a payload of up to 45 tonnes, travel at subsonic speeds, and theoretically fire four powerful hypersonic stealth cruise missiles, according to previous reports.

China is developing a next-generation long-range stealth bomber capable of carrying out nuclear strikes on US targets in Guam and beyond, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

The Chinese state defense company, Norinco, has released new computer-generated images of the Xian H-20 strategic bomber, providing the first look at the warplane that has been in production for years. The bomber appears to have a missile bay, two adjustable tail wings, an airborne radar, and two air intakes on either side of the cockpit, identical to the USAF B-2 Spirit, which first flew in the late 1990s.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by dead_pan (Post 11051724)

To my untrained eye the design looks a bit muddled, also those angly surfaces can't be great for stealth.

They are actually just what you need. A straight or flat surface will reflect EM energy in a straight line as a function of the arrival/closure angle. That means quite tightly focused reflected energy with a narrow Field of View which is harder to detect. With curved surfaces the reflected energy goes off at multiple angles, so although at a lower energy level due to the wider dispersion, you have a much wider capture aperture and greater detection Field of View. It's like the difference between a shaving mirror or a disco ball*.

*Disco ball is what we looked at before cell phones were invented.