China has set itself the goal of achieving two important milestones in the coming decades. The first is “stop being the factory of the world“to become a producer of higher value products and services. The second is to develop a military modernization plan whose goal is to get a “world class” army capable of rivaling the greatest powers in the world.
Confronting the United States, on the ground or in a military deterrence scenario, would not be an easy challenge. After all, we are talking about the country that spends the most annually on defense and that has some of the most advanced military technology. However, China does not want to be left behind, and although it is years away from catching up with this country, it seems to be focused on doing so.
Chinese military rearmament
The Asians have already developed fifth-generation fighters, the Chengdu J-20, to compete with the American Lockheed Martin F-35, and claim to have laser rifles capable of “instantly charring” human skin and hypersonic “carrier killer” missiles. (USS Gerald R. Ford beware!). Now, they could present their first “invisible” bomber.
Yes, China could have an aircraft equivalent to, or even superior to, the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit from the United States, at least that is what has been rumored for several years and, finally, in 2022 we could know the truth. In 2020, everything seemed to indicate that Xi Jinping would reveal the Xian H-20, but apparently the pandemic disrupted the Asian giant’s plans.
According to the local media Global Timesthe head of the China Flight Test Establishment Ge Heping announced that they plan to conduct a flight of “an important type of aircraft of strategic and historical significance”. Although the state official did not specify the designation or nature of the aircraft, Chinese analysts believe that it is the new stealth bomber.
One of the clues to believe this, they explain, is that China would not describe another aircraft as being of strategic and historical importance. They also indicate that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force has been dropping some clues about its new flying star. In relation to the latter, they posted a video in which the aforementioned aircraft would be reflected in the case of a pilot.
Thus, we would be close to finally seeing this project materialized. But what makes it so special? Let’s see. As we can see the reflection of the pilot’s helmet, the Xian H-20 would have a “flying wing” design” which, like the American B-2 Spirit, would reflect radio waves so as not to be detected by radar, allowing it to enter enemy airspace.
As is often the case in this type of defense project, even after they are presented, most of the specifications remain secret, but rumors suggest that it will have a estimated range between 8,000 and 12,500 km, although it is not clear if it could be refueled in flight. The American B-2 Spirit has a range of 11,100 km and can refuel in the air.
It is also believed that it will be able to carry a variety of conventional and nuclear weapons, including up to four next-generation hypersonic cruise missiles. At the propulsion system level, everything seems to indicate that it will work with Russian NK-321 engines because the improved variant of the WS-10 would not be ready for implementation yet.
Images | Toutiao (Artistic rendering of the Xian H-20)
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