H-20 bomber (with H-X, JH-XX)
- Thread starter Deino
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Surely of a ucav rather than h-20. Given the proportion of where the crew cabin would go, it seems more suited as a ucav and have expected ivav dimensions, proportions, and location of equipment housing... As opposed to crew compartment being that bulbous (relative to aircraft proportions and shape) and so far back from the nose.
Xi Yazhou's latest video on the recent CFTE announcement. According to him:
1. It's not necessarily H-20. Maybe it's J-35. Maybe it's J-20AS with GJ-11 or Dark Sword.
2. H-20 is not going to be exactly like B-2. PLA doctrine requires bombers to be able to drop unguided munition with relative precision. B-2 sucks at dropping iron bombs for aerodynamic reasons so H-20 will look different from B-2.
3. Even it's H-20, it's not realistic to expect the final form of H-20. It's more likely to be a technology demonstrator similar to YF-22.
We might have our answer for why the H-20 could be looking at foldable tails.
Has the H-6 been able to carry out the same task as instructed by the PLA doctrine? Or B-1B and B-52 for that matter?
For real, lel at the idea of the H-20 dropping iron bombs. If I said I want a Lambo with a big trunk to stack groceries, what I want isn't a Lambo.
I've noticed Xi's takes are sometimes really questionable. I guess he does that when he doesn't have a good source or he's doing some SFA duty. It seems highly implausible to me that words like "historic" and "strategic" apply to a J-20 with someone riding shotgun holding a drone remote control or a carrier stealth fighter. They're important developments, but ultimately evolutionary (not revolutionary) systems. A stealth bomber is in an entirely different category.
I do not take Xi YaZhou to be particularly reliable, and many of his suggestions (both in this commentary and in past ones) don't really pass the smell test.
H-20s having a requirement to drop dumb bombs with "relative precision" is stupid.
I also don't see how the idea of folding tails would benefit it in that regard, unless it was like requiring H-20s to have better control at lower altitudes (which would be one of the only few ways to enable dumb bombs to have more accuracy) --- but that leads to the rather retarded conclusion that anyone would design a modern bomber (let alone a VLO strategic bomber) that emphasizes low altitude performance!
Utterly ridiculous.
It does sound like a pretty dumb requirement. But if, *if* that requirement is true then maybe the need for extra stability to fulfill that kind of requirement explains why folding tails was at least considered.
Or his take is accurate and from official sources and the PLA is the one with strange and questionable requirements. We're all just assuming the PLA think act and operate the way we feel is appropriate. Only one group is privileged with the necessary information to determine what's appropriate.
Who knows. They could simply be autistic on this point.
This h-20 topic is kind of limited only to wild speculation except on the unanimous agreement that it will be a vlo strategic bomber.
Who knows. They could simply be autistic on this point.
This h-20 topic is kind of limited only to wild speculation except on the unanimous agreement that it will be a vlo strategic bomber.