We all are looking forward to the H-20. What does it look like? Some people say it will be a larger version of the J-36, while others think it is more like a bigger J-50. In my opinion, the answer is quite obvious — it is more likely to be the "twin brother" of the J-50, a super-sized version!
Okay, let's take a look at the two "candidates":
The J-36 has a very sci-fi appearance, with a large wing sweep angle, clearly designed for speed. However, its tailless flying wing base is like a flat frisbee, making it awkward to fit a long "spear" inside, leading to a "chubby" look. This increases drag during high-speed flight. In other words, the J-36 configuration is not suitable for carrying thick and bulky ballistic missiles, as it would slow down the plane due to the thick fuselage and excessive flight resistance.
In contrast, the J-50 has a "Lambda" wing shape, naturally built for high-speed performance, with a slender and smooth body. When enlarged, this slender fuselage becomes the perfect "private suite" for missiles, both regular and comfortable. Moreover, it has a unique secret weapon — the full-moving wingtip!
You shouldn't underestimate this flexible wingtip. On a large aircraft like the H-20, it is a miracle! It acts like a pair of extremely flexible "fingers," allowing precise adjustment of the flight attitude, reducing drag, saving fuel, and flying farther. More importantly, it can stabilize the aircraft precisely when launching missiles, ensuring absolute stability.
So, the conclusion is clear. The J-36 is an excellent vanguard, but the H-20 has to do something more challenging — "carrying a spear and running a marathon while sprinting." An enlarged version of the J-50 configuration directly inherits the "high-speed genes," has a "standard missile compartment," and even comes with a "flight stabilization miracle," making it a perfect solution tailored specifically for the H-20!
Okay, if you want to talk more professionally, let's put it another way. Before evaluating the aerodynamic configuration of the H-20, it is essential to first clarify its unique mission profile, which determines the design priorities: First, the ability to carry large weapons: it must be able to internally carry long and heavy air-launched ballistic missiles, requiring a regular, long, and structurally efficient missile compartment. Second, excellent flight performance: not limited to subsonic stealth penetration, but pursuing high subsonic or supersonic cruise and penetration capabilities to compress enemy reaction time.
Third, extreme range and efficiency: as a strategic deterrence platform, it must have an intercontinental operational radius, requiring a very high lift-to-drag ratio throughout the mission profile. Finally, omnidirectional stealth capability: this is a threshold requirement for modern strategic bombers. Both the J-36 and J-50 configurations are recognized as having this capability, so they are not considered differentiating factors in this article.
The J-50's Lambda wing and full-moving wingtip represent a deeply optimized conventional layout. Its large sweep angle wings and fuselage form an efficient lifting body, with the core design goal being excellent transonic/supersonic performance. The full-moving wingtip is not just a control surface, but an active flight control system that integrates roll control, trim optimization, drag reduction, and flutter suppression.
The J-36 represents a hybrid flying wing layout, aiming for high-speed performance through a main wing sweep angle of up to 49°, while using a tailless design and a prismatic fuselage to achieve stealth and maximize internal volume. Its design reflects an engineering approach that seeks a balance between the inherent advantages of the flying wing (stealth, volume) and high-speed performance.
Although both configurations point towards high speed and stealth, after a detailed analysis, the J-50 path shows a stronger match for the specific needs of the H-20.
The J-50's Lambda wing is a well-verified supersonic aerodynamic solution, with a small change in the aerodynamic focus with Mach number, low trim drag, and achieving a better lift-to-drag ratio during high subsonic cruise. The full-moving wingtip can act as an "active lift-to-drag ratio optimizer," further exploring the range potential by finely controlling the wingtip vortices and lift distribution.
Its naturally elongated fuselage provides the most direct and ideal structural space for accommodating air-launched ballistic missiles. The missile compartment can be arranged along the fuselage axis, with a clear structural load path and minimal disruption to the aerodynamic shape. The full-moving wingtip offers unparalleled control redundancy and flexibility. For large bombers, it has significant value in maintaining stability during heavy weapon deployment, recovering attitude under complex airflow, and suppressing structural fatigue during long-duration flights. This is a "dimensional" control capability.
The J-36 path: although the large sweep angle helps reduce drag, the tailless delta wing layout usually faces significant cruise trim drag, requiring negative twist design for trim, which results in some loss of cruise efficiency. The high-speed performance is achieved at the expense of economy. Although the flying wing layout has a higher internal volume ratio, its core volume area is "pan-shaped."
Establishing a continuous long rectangular large missile compartment inevitably challenges the main load-bearing structure, possibly causing local thickening of the fuselage, which increases drag and affects high-speed performance. Its control relies on split rudders on the trailing edge of the wings, with relatively limited control authority and redundancy, posing greater challenges in handling the unique flight states of large platforms.
Comprehensive analysis shows that the J-36 path, represented by the large-sweep-angle tailless delta wing, is an excellent multi-purpose strike platform solution focusing on high speed and stealth.
However, the H-20's mission setting is more extreme and focused. It requires the platform to be not only stealthy, but also fast; not only capable of carrying bombs, but optimized for specific giant munitions; not only capable of flying, but able to achieve optimal efficiency and stable control throughout the entire mission process.
Under these strict criteria, the enlarged configuration based on the J-50's Lambda wing, with its innate high-speed genes, naturally compatible structural layout for large missile compartments, and advanced flight control capabilities achieved through the full-moving wingtip, provides a more reasonable engineering solution and a more accurate mission match. Therefore, the probability that the H-20's final aerodynamic configuration approaches the enlarged version of the J-50 is much higher than the other path. This conclusion is a rational inference based on current technical information and engineering logic.
Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7564224439647289898/
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