so you mean... H-20 = H-6Z?
H-20 bomber (with H-X, JH-XX)
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
by78
General
The design has movable vertical stabilizers that are tucked away after takeoff. It's a general concept that has spawned a few design patents from some academic institutions, as seen and .
Anyway, the model is nothing official. The company (Xi'an Meilian Aviation/西安美联航空技术有限责任公司) behind the concept is not affiliated with AVIC. Its major area of expertise is producing for the civil aviation market, which explains the guy in an airline pilot uniform in one of the images, which is itself a dead giveaway that this has nothing to do with H-20. There's no way XAC would let a mere civilian pilot near the project.
So nothing to see here, but as usual, that is trying to put a sensationalist spin on it. I still can't get over the fact how someone can be so stupid and dishonest at the same time.
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The design has movable vertical stabilizers that are tucked away after takeoff. It's a general concept that has spawned a few design patents from some academic institutions, as seen and .
Anyway, the model is nothing official. The company (Xi'an Meilian Aviation/西安美联航空技术有限责任公司) behind the concept is not affiliated with AVIC. Its major area of expertise is producing for the civil aviation market, which explains the guy in an airline pilot uniform in one of the images, which is itself a dead giveaway that this has nothing to do with H-20. There's no way XAC would let a mere civilian pilot near the project.
So nothing to see here, but as usual, that is trying to put a sensationalist spin on it. I still can't get over the fact how someone can be so stupid and dishonest at the same time.
So either this is all a campaign of disinformation well laid out to confuse us enthusiasts and analysts or is there actually something to this configuration and the H-20 actually looks like it? ... maybe a first leak similar to the first painting of the B-2 back then?
It’s possible that a cranked kite + folding tails configuration was studied extensively, but that may not mean it was selected (one need to only think of SAC’s J-XX submission). If this is indeed the case, it might suggest that higher maneuverability requirements for the H-20 was at least at one point seriously looked at, which in turn may suggest that for whatever roles or missions the H-20 was expected to perform there might have been a thinking that simply maximizing stealth might be insufficient for the levels of desired survivability set for this plane.
That’s my point … either a well-set campaign of misinformation by showing an older proposal or study but I won’t condemn it as an outrightly stupid or even only fan-made model?
here another image
by78
General
Not disinformation per se, but probably a product of the enthusiast community based on published patents and academic papers, which may or may not have much to do with H-20. I'd pay more attention to the flying wing models that have appeared at PLAAF's RCS testing facility. They have a much higher chance of being connected to the H-20 than a model presented by a company known for flight simulators.
Anyway, I don't know the origin of that silver model in your image. I'd like to know the context: who's behind it, where it was shown, etc. I guess it's not the model I'm interested in per se, but the source of its unique layout. Who proposed it and for what purpose? Was it from an institution affiliated with AVIC and/or was it just an academic exercise done to advertise in-house design expertise? I'm not saying that there is no chance that it's related to the H-20, but I'm skeptical.
Who knows, the J-20 turned out to be exactly the same as depicted in one of the earliest artist impressions. We had known what it looked like all along, but we just didn't know it at the time.
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MwRYum
Major
Which is why I'm still stick to my yardstick i.e. USAF Chief of Staff droning on for minutes at the news briefing, with the artist rendering of H-20 and low-res satellite image on his left, and a slew of Senate Arms Service Committee members on the right ready to pledge more budget to USAF...
MwRYum
Major
There're a bit more of such going on lately I must say, but so far it entire no newsworthy information or anything besides what we already knew, and plenty of media outlets doing their unprofessional take on such.
Wind tunnel models are rarely ever academic exercises. Digital models are typically about as far as academic exercises go.
It depends, how does one define an "academic exercise"?
AVIC have done wind tunnel models of B-2 and F-22, and I suspect most of the major aviation institutes and companies of the world would've done modelling of the major aircraft types that exist in the world given making a wind tunnel model and using a bit of computer time is relatively simple (compared to actually developing an entire aircraft).