China's sixth-generation aircraft progress is rapid, with the seventh test flight conducted in late April, and US media exclaimed that the speed has exceeded expectations. The previously long-term attention-grabbing Chinese new stealth bomber H-20 seems to have disappeared without a trace. After a decade since its formal relationship was officially announced, why has there been no news of it?

01. Why hasn't H-20 arrived yet? Six generations of aircraft have already completed seven test flights.

Since December 2024 when China unveiled two types of sixth-generation aircraft technology demonstrators and completed their test flights, from last December to now, Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group's J-36 has flown three times, while Shenyang Aircraft Corporation's J-50 has flown four times. In less than half a year, China's sixth-generation aircraft have unprecedentedly consecutively conducted seven test flights. This speed is unattainable for the United States, Russia, as well as the UK, France, and Japan. US media "The Drive"直言 this indicates China's "far ahead" in the field of sixth-generation aircraft.

However, compared to this, another much-anticipated domestic stealth bomber, H-20, which first received official acknowledgment of its development progress in 2016, has not appeared even after Air Force senior officials mentioned at the "two sessions" last year that "H-20 will be revealed soon." But now that we have entered 2025, there is still no formal unveiling, almost entering a state of "no news."

Therefore, some netizens concerned about national defense have raised questions: why has there been no news after ten years since the official announcement of the next-generation stealth bomber, even without any formal test flights? After all, the sixth-generation aircraft are out, so why is the stealth bomber taking so long to develop?

In fact, from the perspective of technical difficulty and system layout, H-20 is undoubtedly one of the most challenging, complex, and largest projects in China's current military aircraft engineering. Compared to fighter jets and conventional transport planes, large strategic bombers require stricter standards in aerodynamic layout, stealth materials, avionics systems, and flight control software, and also impose higher requirements on China's overall industrial supporting system.

Although China has accumulated valuable experience in large aircraft projects such as C919 and Y-20, Y-20 mainly focuses on large transport aircraft technology, while strategic bombers need to balance range, payload capacity, and stealth penetration. These aspects require a much higher degree of integration and difficulty compared to general large military aircraft.

Indeed, H-20 represents the first time that China's aviation industry has directly moved from "medium-sized bombers" to "heavy stealth bombers." China's foundation in strategic bombers is "先天不足," as even in the field of conventional strategic bombers, China is still blank. The currently operational H-6 is developed based on the Tu-16 medium bomber, meaning that since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China has not had a fully independently developed bomber put into service.

Due to the lack of long-term technical accumulation in remote supersonic bombers like the Tu-160 series, and the absence of experience in developing multiple bombers through iterative research like the US B-1B and B-2, achieving this "one-step" leap inherently means an extremely high technical threshold.

02. From对标B-2 to redesigning to accommodate large air-launched hypersonic missiles

Moreover, according to analysis, when H-20 was initially planned, it took the U.S. B-2 "Spirit" bomber as a reference model, adopting a flying wing design, subsonic flight, and stealth penetration strike approach, aligning almost exactly with the U.S. Air Force's requirements for stealth bombers.

However, with China's rapid advancements in the hypersonic weapons field in recent years, a series of large air-launched hypersonic missiles have either entered service or are nearing deployment. This has significantly changed the requirements for bomber platforms in terms of bomb bay size, load capacity, as well as speed and maneuverability. This implies that H-20 may undergo significant redesigns during its development, which also means substantial time costs.

B-2's large aspect ratio subsonic flying wing design is limited by internal space and hanging methods, making it difficult to accommodate larger and more complex air-launched ballistic missiles or hypersonic boosters. It also cannot meet the mission requirements brought by faster speeds. Therefore, the B-2 and B-21 configurations do not meet the operational needs of the Chinese Air Force.

Different from the U.S. Air Force's use of stealth strategic bombers, China's new stealth bomber will be positioned for strategic cruise and long-range rapid strikes, particularly with the ability to carry large air-launched hypersonic missiles. Thus, its body design must be correspondingly improved, featuring higher thrust-to-weight ratio engines, larger bomb bays, and even supersonic flight capabilities to balance stealth and adaptability to oversized munitions.

Its design concept will be radically different from the tailless flying wing layout of the B-2 bomber, likely becoming a low-aspect-ratio, shorter wingspan, longer fuselage supersonic stealth bomber. These changes undoubtedly increase the development difficulty, requiring H-20 to undergo more experiments, more verifications, and a longer optimization cycle.

03. H-20's unveiling is imminent

The key strategy of China's contemporary military strategy is active defense. However, with the expansion of China's overseas interests and global layout in recent years, long-range strikes and global deterrence capabilities have also gained increasing importance.

H-20 will enable the PLA to obtain nuclear and conventional long-range deterrence capabilities and, if necessary, implement swift and precise breakthrough strikes. Hypersonic missiles play a crucial role in this process, serving as indispensable key weapon configurations.

Therefore, do not be overly optimistic about the time of H-20's debut, although quite a few netizens are highly interested in it. Of course, it is worth mentioning that with China's rapid progress in fields such as aviation engines, hypersonic weapons, stealth materials, and flight control software in recent years, the H-20 project theoretically has accelerated significantly, and it is highly likely that we will see its test flight before 2030.

After all, apart from the domestic needs of the PLA, in the current great power rivalry context, countries like the U.S. and Russia are advancing the development, testing, and deployment of their new generation strategic bombers. The U.S.'s B-21 "Raider" has already been declared operational and is being mass-produced. The international situation is further accelerating the H-20 project.

In summary, H-20's "lack of news" is to bring greater surprises later. These years of silence and waiting are all about creating a stealthy long-range bomber capable of rewriting the rules of warfare in the ever-changing tide of aviation technology and strategic demands.

Once it completes its transformative development洗礼, it will refresh the world's perception of China's aviation industry with a brand-new posture, just like the sixth-generation aircraft, which suddenly emerged and brought surprise and shock to the countrymen, leaving a lasting impression.

Some content sources in the article: 1. Lockheed Martin: F-35 upgraded to achieve 80% of F-47's combat capability at half the price, Guancha Network

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7498010381593346612/

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