Looking to maintain its place in today’s headlines, the Chinese PLAAF recently showed a video of its Xi’an H-20 stealth bomber. Resembling both the USAF’s B-2 Spirit and B-21 Raider stealth bomber, rumors concerning its development have persisted for several years, although it wasn’t until this past weekend that actual footage surfaced of the aircraft’s maiden flight.
According to The War Zone, “The U.S. military says it still does not expect China’s long-awaited H-20 bomber to make its “debut” – unclear if this means its entrance into operational service or just its emergence publicly – until sometime in the next decade. Earlier this year, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) deputy commander was quoted as saying the unveiling of the aircraft, at least, would be coming “soon.” There have been reports for years now that the bomber, expected to be a stealthy flying wing design broadly reminiscent externally of the U.S. B-2 Spirit, could be about to break cover.
“A general assessment of the state of the H-20 bomber program is included in the U.S. military’s latest annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments. The Pentagon released an unclassified version of the report today, which also says that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is still developing a stealthy medium-ranged bomber referred to in the past as the JH-XX.
“The PLAAF is seeking to extend its power projection capability with the development of a new H-20 stealth strategic bomber, with official PRC state media stating that this new stealth bomber will have a nuclear mission in addition to filling conventional roles,” the report states. “The PLAAF is developing new medium- and long-range stealth bombers to strike regional and global targets.”
“The PRC is developing a new generation of long-range bombers, likely named the H-20. The H-20, which may debut sometime in the next decade, will have a range of more than 10,000 km [nearly 6,214 miles], enabling the PLAAF to cover the Second Island Chain and into the western region of the Pacific,” another section of the report says. “The H-20 bomber’s range could be extended to cover the globe with aerial refueling. It is expected to employ conventional and nuclear weaponry and feature a stealthy design.”
The Second Island Chain mentioned here refers to an area of the Pacific to the west of a boundary stretching between Japan and eastern Indonesia and includes the U.S. territory of Guam. The remarks here about the H-20 are also largely identical to what the Pentagon included in its China report last year.”
Most analysts agree that the unveiling of both the H-20 bomber and several smaller sixth generation aircraft are designed to strike fear in the hearts of their adversaries even though it isn’t clear if any of these new aircraft measure up to their western counterparts. Still, it does demonstrate progress on multiple fronts should a cold war turn hot in the mid 2020s.