Well, how effective are those early warning satellites at targeting stealth aircrafts? If they are rivaling or even surpassing the radar and sensor systems' technologies of the present and near future, then China wouldn't have KJ-700 and KJ-3000 to begin with.
H-20 bomber (with H-X, JH-XX)
- Thread starter Deino
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Well, how effective are those early warning satellites at targeting stealth aircrafts? If they are rivaling or even surpassing the radar and sensor systems' technologies of the present and near future, then China wouldn't have KJ-700 and KJ-3000 to begin with.
You don't need to target subsonic bombers with satellite. Just knowing where they are is good enough. Then you can send interceptors to literally shoot them down with Guns. Subsonic Bombers are completely helpless once they are detected and do not have escorts.
Because no country has yet deployed a complete low orbit early warning satellite and the related technology is still under development, we can only speculate on future development based on current technology. Considering that omnidirectional stealth aircraft may not include stealth against overhead radar, and the difficulty of masking supersonic infrared signals(6gen fighter jets), low orbit early warning satellites may to some extent squeeze the survival space of stealth aircraft in the future.
If it's that easy, then the USAF wouldn't bother with developing B-21 in the first place - Let alone allocating funds which aims to speed up the production rates of the B-21 with the latest Pentagon budget.
US has taken numerous failed weapon projects in the last 20-30 years.
But even more so, plenty of weapon systems have seen widespread development and funding only to be found to be defeated by new technology. Stealth rests entirely on detection avoidance, if that is broken due to newer tech, they become as useful as a non-stealth bomber. That is, a very expensive cruise missile launcher.
Maybe that's why H-20 is supposedly also pursuing supersonic speed. That way, even if there is chance of detection, H-20 can kinda run away.
Deep penetration strike into enemy territory without complete destruction of AD is simply no longer feasible in my opinion. No matter how much stealth you bake into a bomber.
The best benefit of a stealth bomber is to get closer than non-stealth bomber. Which will allow them to launch smaller, more numerous land-attack missiles compared to a non-stealth bomber, which can only rely on extremely long range standoff missiles.
Well, there's your answer. Nothing is 100% effective at their roles and functionalities.
Satellites are expensive and, more importantly, very very easy to shoot down. Even if a satellite + launch costs only a million USD each, it would still be much easier to clean the skies of satellites than to put them up since the technology to down a satellite and to put one into orbit are almost identical except for the one required to maintain a stable and durable orbit being significantly more technologically and mathematically challenging and expensive. Moreover satellite coverage is quite spotty so unless you have thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of satellites orbiting a segment of sky a stealth bomber might be able to sneak around the coverage. This is especially problematic since satellites have very predictable orbits and a bomber can navigate such that it minimizes the risk of being spotted early. Moreover the USAF can designate a protective screen of their own fighters around the launchpoint of the B-2/B-21, such that China won't be able to get their own fighters close enough to get a track on the stealth bombers if they can't defeat the USN/USAF screen in very short order. One really big benefit of having a carrier fleet is to form an aerial 'bastion' for bombers to operate out of so that you can launch a LOT of missiles at the target whilst still dedicating your own naval fighters towards full OCA/DCA setups.
This is combined with the fact that China isn't the only adversary the US is looking to face. Even if China is, internally, considered to be beyond the reach of B-21 (which is imo very unlikely but possible) they still have non-China targets that they still want to bomb like Iran or Russia or whoever they think will benefit them to bomb. The emergence of a certain weapon system needs to be taken in the context of the country's larger strategic requirements.
You’re all going down the wrong tangent. It’s about the entire kill web, stop fixating on satellites and AEW&Cs.
It is the combination of all these things which spells doom for slow stealth aircraft.
- Large manned AEW&Cs
- AEW and ISR drones (incl. acting in concert as mesh networks)
- SAR and optical satellites with AI-assisted detection
- Fighters and CCAs with IRST
- Large low frequency radar ground arrays
- Masses of cheap CCAs searching the skies
- PLACSF / PLAISF AI tools scraping Bubba’s videos of B-2s sortieing from Whiteman AFB that he posted on Reddit or an internet forum
- AI helping to coordinate and orchestrate all of the above
- And then there’s the Air Cruiser that flies higher, faster, sporting 2x absolutely massive EO housings and AESA-equipped telephone poles in its IWB
I don’t know about everyone here, but I’d have soiled myself if I was a subsonic VLO bomber pilot going against that.
I’d want to (i) be very stealthy; (ii) be capable of going reasonably fast in the region of mach 1.8 if I need to; and (iii) carry very long range hypersonic standoff munitions (invariably also of the long, “telephone pole”, variety).
It is the combination of all these things which spells doom for slow stealth aircraft.
- Large manned AEW&Cs
- AEW and ISR drones (incl. acting in concert as mesh networks)
- SAR and optical satellites with AI-assisted detection
- Fighters and CCAs with IRST
- Large low frequency radar ground arrays
- Masses of cheap CCAs searching the skies
- PLACSF / PLAISF AI tools scraping Bubba’s videos of B-2s sortieing from Whiteman AFB that he posted on Reddit or an internet forum
- AI helping to coordinate and orchestrate all of the above
- And then there’s the Air Cruiser that flies higher, faster, sporting 2x absolutely massive EO housings and AESA-equipped telephone poles in its IWB
I don’t know about everyone here, but I’d have soiled myself if I was a subsonic VLO bomber pilot going against that.
I’d want to (i) be very stealthy; (ii) be capable of going reasonably fast in the region of mach 1.8 if I need to; and (iii) carry very long range hypersonic standoff munitions (invariably also of the long, “telephone pole”, variety).
How will USAF pilots navigate without GPS?
Will they use stars in the sky or Chinese beacons? Besides, "stealth bombers" are not very stealthy for LW radars.
Some people think China can't beat the US in a friendly game of who can shoot down the most enemy satellites the fastest.How will USAF pilots navigate without GPS?
Besides, "stealth bombers" are not very stealthy for LW radars.