October 1st, 2019 will be the 70th anniversary of PR China, and a grand military parade will be held on Tiananmen Square then. According to the latest Weibo post of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), H-20 stealth bomber of China will probably make its debut in the parade.
AVIC’s miniblog mentioned that “The 70th anniversary parade is on the countdown…a new member of China’s aircraft family cannot wait to see you…THE NEXT…See you very soon.”
“The next” was firstly mentioned in a video titled “Big Country Taking Off” released by AVIC on May 8th, 2018, in which a mysterious plane is being covered by a blanket and only outline of its front can be seen. Judging from the outline, this is a plane with flying wing layout.
H-20 stealth bomber’s flying wing design is like the US B-2 bomber and is a “strategic project” as called by the Chinese military. It was reported that H-20 bomber’s components were already in production. And a Chinese military aviation website emphasized that “H-20 can break through modern air defense systems and penetrate enemy territories.”
And a blurred photo exposed on the Internet of China seems to reveal that two J-10 fighters were defending a giant flying-wing fighter, which has been suspected as H-20 conducting a test flight.
It’s speculated that the range and combat radius of H-20 stealth bomber will be more than twice that of H-6K, and the overall combat performance will be more than five times that of H-6K. At the same time, with the rapid development of military informatization level, H-20 bomber can also be built as an “air bastion” linking the ground, air and space systems. As a mobile command center, it can better carry out long-range strategic strike missions and extend the air force’s strategic capabilities.
And the biggest point of H-20 is the word “strategy”. In the future, China Air Force’s new generation of long-range strategic strike platform will make itself more effective as a combination of air and space, attack and defense, and strategic military services. In addition, H-20 will complement the space-based shortcomings of China’s “three-in-one” strategic nuclear power system.
The “trinity” nuclear forces are undertaken by the Rockets, the Navy, and the Air Force respectively, shouldering the ability to simultaneously deliver strategic nuclear weapons from land, sea, and air. Its carriers will be the Rocket Army’s intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Navy’s strategic nuclear submarines and the Air Force’s long-range strategic bombers.