Right, if you read the Chinese article of this, it's hard to think it would point to anything over than H-20. I wouldn't consider J-35 as having great, historical significance. If you are really optimistic, you could guess this to be like a demonstrator(2001) version of 6th gen. But after J-20, does 6th gen really have great, historical significance? I don't think so.
Put it this way, if US doesn't finish developing B-21 on time, it would still have B-2, B-1B and B-52. If China doesn't finish developing H-20 on time, it has H-6K.
And if we add this to the story from earlier this year (I think around March) that H-20 was seen outside, it would make sense they would be able to make a first flight during the second half of the year. I would be curious how long this would take to join service if it in fact does make its maiden flight in a month or two. It took J-20 over 5 years go from 2001 to the first units at FTTC and another 15 months to join service (about 7 years in total). It took about 4 years for H-6K to join service. It took about 7.5 years for B-2 to join service. With those in mind, we can maybe look forward to a small number of H-20 being delivered by 2027 and joining service in 2028/2029 in the best case scenario. That would definitely be several years ahead of what US intelligence has projected.
Put it this way, if US doesn't finish developing B-21 on time, it would still have B-2, B-1B and B-52. If China doesn't finish developing H-20 on time, it has H-6K.
And if we add this to the story from earlier this year (I think around March) that H-20 was seen outside, it would make sense they would be able to make a first flight during the second half of the year. I would be curious how long this would take to join service if it in fact does make its maiden flight in a month or two. It took J-20 over 5 years go from 2001 to the first units at FTTC and another 15 months to join service (about 7 years in total). It took about 4 years for H-6K to join service. It took about 7.5 years for B-2 to join service. With those in mind, we can maybe look forward to a small number of H-20 being delivered by 2027 and joining service in 2028/2029 in the best case scenario. That would definitely be several years ahead of what US intelligence has projected.
