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

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Biscuits

Major
Registered Member
taxiya said:
One more thing to add. The appearance can be different as well. The appearance of the first J20 prototype 2001 on the tarmac of CAC, or the appearance of the first operational J-20 in a public air show years later. Both the starting point and ending point can mean differently.

Besides that, there is a chance that H-20 prototype may be spotted some time in 2019 because around August 2018 a very large S-shaped exhaust duct for x-type aircraft was fabricated and handed over to 1st Institute in Xi'an. So the first prototype of H-20 could be in the process of assembly right now. But I don't think XAC is in a hurry to have it taxing on any PLAF or PLA or National day unlike induction of operational piece.
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It being a nuclear capable bomber means that it’s development path may be more similar to DF-41 or Type 094. That is, we don’t see much of it until it is on the verge of entering service.

I believe that prototype(s) do exist, PLA has some experience with flying wing through the sharp sword drones, and like you said in your post they premade some parts for the plane as far back as last year. Since it’s not an aircraft carrier, it should not take an entire year from part delivery to finish building.

But these prototypes will be kept out of public sight unlike the J-20. They’ll only be shown once they are at least finalized.

That said, is the general consensus that this will be a pure bomber with flying wing design and not a “JH-20” type that is to the J-20 what the JH-7 is to J-7? China is apparently making a variable cycle engine as well which would prove useful on a “5.5gen” striker
 
T

Tirdent

Junior Member
Registered Member
Biscuits said:
But these prototypes will be kept out of public sight unlike the J-20. They’ll only be shown once they are at least finalized.
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There's an interesting aspect to this - did J-20s only appear on commercial satellite imagery once the aircraft had been officially disclosed to the public? This in one area where the world today is significantly different to 30 years ago, when only governments had access to space-based IMINT of sufficient resolution to distinguish aircraft types.

Biscuits said:
That said, is the general consensus that this will be a pure bomber with flying wing design and not a “JH-20” type that is to the J-20 what the JH-7 is to J-7?
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Yes. I don't think the VCE is a near-term project (e.g. connected to the WS-15 programme), so the schedule iwould appear not to be aligned with the expected timeframe for H-X.
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
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Tirdent said:
There's an interesting aspect to this - did J-20s only appear on commercial satellite imagery once the aircraft had been officially disclosed to the public? This in one area where the world today is significantly different to 30 years ago, when only governments had access to space-based IMINT of sufficient resolution to distinguish aircraft types..
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I actually don't remember when J-20 was "officially" disclosed to the public. The PLA and Chinese state media indirectly acknowledged the existence of the aircraft fairly early on from what I recall.
 
by78

by78

General
How legitimate are these? Are these old? Have they been debunked? These appear to be studies on several blended wing bomber designs...

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K

Klon

Junior Member
Registered Member
by78 said:
How legitimate are these? Are these old? Have they been debunked? These appear to be studies on several blended wing bomber designs...
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I'm pretty sure that the design in picures 1, 2 and 4 was made by an amateur and isn't particularly realistic (or new). There has been a lot of talk about the bomber these days, including new (speculative) designs.
 
SinoSoldier

SinoSoldier

Colonel
These are all fan made images with no authoritative backing whatsoever.

However, if the image of the engine duct posted a few months ago indeed shows a component of the H-XX, then it can be implied that the H-XX will be significantly larger than the B-2. Some of the latest artwork from 草根设计师-CAD implies that as well although I'm not sure how credible or realistic the images are.
 
F

flateric

Junior Member
Everything except 3 and 4 has nothing to do with H-20. 'Bomber' on pics 1 and 2 can be good for kid's manga or anime.
3 is an illustration from NWPU students paper on S-shaped exhaust ducts. NWPU traditionally have close ties with XAC, but this doesn't mean that configuration shown is authentic tailpipe of H-20 or any other real vehicle. Call it 'generic'.
4 quite may be a test specimen for tech validation, but I doubt that photos of original H-20 castings/spar would be released at this stage of project. Moreover, waffle structure on it barely optimised in terms of structural efficiency and weight.
Last cranked kite images are of agile UCAV (real or generic) and again has nothing to do with subsonic H-20.

My 5 fen.
 
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