H-20 bomber (with H-X, JH-XX)

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
It was incredibly doubtful that they would have rolled out a new bomber at the parade.

first problem are they really going to try and roll that mother down a street? If we use the B2 as a base for size. That’s a bomber roughly 52 meters wide. That’s a big bird to roll down the street.
Second you can’t just fly it. If the aircraft hasn’t made its maiden flight and started testing flying it over a major city would
Be an act of idiocy. If something went wrong and it fell from the sky could you imagine the horror. Not humiliation but horror. Beijing is not the place for a Plane crash.

As such you only want to fly something pretty well into at least flight tests. Towing demonstration pieces even mock ups is fine but as we saw at the Russian Victory day parade when a crewman stalled a T15 Armata. You don’t want to rush things. It’s fine to have troops holding new rifles as long as they don’t shoot them. It’s fine to roll around new missile housings, drone Mockups and demonstrators but you don’t fly them if they aren’t ready for prime time.

so the. How do you do it? You can’t fly it it’s two big to tow though a major city what then?

“We break from the parade to the factory where despite having not a single VIP on hand they are going to roll out the new Bombers...”
Not happening. No way this is a major prestige program. They want the VIPs from the party and PLAAF on hand. They want Red carpet and gift bags. Smoke machines laser lights and dancing girls. Photo ops of Xi in the cockpit smiling and waving. Heck even better if a major American official is in country.


Yeah...So...
Nobody saw a VLO Bomber or a Supersonic LRB at the October Parade. I saw the military parade to the fullest ( I hope many of others did too). It was very neat to see many strategic deterrence tools. I was let down a bit for no show of the SB or LRB. The reasons are more likely to be that the product has not escaped the prototyping stage and or has been deemed too secretive and sensitive for such an occasion. Certainly, It is best shown flying over enemy territory rather than over Beijing.


Ok so it’s September 2019 where is this bomber ?



===


I think it would be a good idea to have a common reply to this question since people genuinely seemed to think it was reasonable to believe that there might even be a chance of seeing H-20 at the parade.

Let's make this clear -- at Chinese national day parades they do not show equipment unless it has entered service in at least some form, which directly means that it must have finished development.
There has been no instance to memory of the PLA showing prototypes of new weapons or weapons still in development during a national day parade or even an anniversary parade like VJ day or PLA anniversary parade.

For example, J-10B first flew in late 2008. With the 60th anniversary parade in October 2009, J-10B did not show up during the parade because it was still in development.

For H-20, there has been no indication that it has even been rolled out yet, let alone made its maiden flight or finished development (!!!).
Therefore, there should have been no reasonable expectation to believe that the H-20 would have made any sort of appearance at the National Day parade.

Some articles which suggested we might see H-20 at the parade should have been roundly dismissed and did not deserve to be taken seriously.



Again -- only weapons that have entered service and finished development turn up at the national day parades. H-20 has not even flown yet, let alone finished development and entered service, so it goes without saying that H-20 would not have turned up at the parade in any form.
 

Iron Man

Major
Registered Member
That 'The Next' phrase must be pointing to the alleged H-20 teaser video right?
qEdjb3k.jpg
This image would seem to imply that the H-20 is a cranked kite design. Or perhaps this is a drone and not the H-20....
 

Klon

Junior Member
Registered Member
AVIC:
THE NEXT……
See you soon
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

By Liu Xuanzun in Tianjin Source:Global Times Published: 2019/10/10 20:48:41

b4d03cb8-aaa7-4e63-a628-ef28d23bef37.jpeg

A screen shot shows the mysterious aircraft featured in a nine-second video by Aviation Industry Corporation on Tuesday.

Following the unveiling of the latest member of China's '20 series' of warplanes, the Z-20 utility helicopter, China's warplane manufacturer has teased a mysterious new entry, sparking speculation among military enthusiasts about a possible H-20 stealth bomber.

"Maybe in the future not far from now, China's '20 series' aviation equipment will welcome 'The Next,'" reads a statement sent to the Global Times on Thursday from Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), maker of China's warplanes.

The words "The Next" reminded Chinese military enthusiasts of a video AVIC released in May 2018, which featured computer-generated footage showing a mysterious aircraft with the caption of "The Next."

There is speculation the aircraft could be China's in-development stealth bomber, the H-20.

AVIC's statement, which mainly introduced the Z-20's participation in the ongoing 5th China Helicopter Exposition in Tianjin, did not explain the nature of "The Next" aircraft.

In 2013, the Y-20 large transport plane developed by AVIC made its maiden flight; in 2016, the J-20 stealth fighter jet made its first public flight at the 11th Airshow China; in 2019, the Z-20 utility helicopter made its parade debut at the National Day parade, the statement said, noting that each development had an interval of three years.

The rapid growth of the "20 family" and its members' successful development shows AVIC's growing innovation capabilities and breakthroughs in development speed, AVIC said, noting that it also shows China's increasing transparency and confidence in aviation equipment.
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


Press X to doubt.

(that this is the H-20)

To be fair to Rogoway the article does acknowledge that it's likely a study looking at the B-2 and that H-20 probably won't look like that.

So, while it's possible that China could have gone with a direct knockoff of the B-2, it isn't all that probable, and these images don't prove that either way. What the do prove is that China continues to work to better understand the flying wing concept any way they can and, for all we know, these photos could have been taken yesterday or years ago.


A more accurate title would be "Wind tunnel studies of B-2 planform done at Chinese institutes" but that won't generate as many clicks.
 

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
He does recognise this fact. And we all know H-20 won't look exactly like B-2's exact layout. It's no mystery anymore that Chinese military practices against drones that resemble US stealth platforms only in a much smaller size to their real counterparts so a more accurate reflection of RCS can be achieved in training.

But I'm sure during the H-20's aerodynamic development, the engineers would have played around with Northrop's design. It always pays to know why someone who went before you chose a certain path.
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
I'm pretty sure China's tested wind tunnel models of F-22 as well (though I can't come up with the picture of it).

TBH I would be surprised if China hadn't done wind tunnel testing of major aircraft types of the world, and I'd be surprised if the US and other aviation powers of the world hadn't done so as well.
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
I'm pretty sure China's tested wind tunnel models of F-22 as well (though I can't come up with the picture of it).

TBH I would be surprised if China hadn't done wind tunnel testing of major aircraft types of the world, and I'd be surprised if the US and other aviation powers of the world hadn't done so as well.

Henri K has been kind enough to tweet a picture of the one I was thinking about of the F-22 air tunnel model.

IMG_20191028_103536.jpg
 
Top