By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Policies You may unsubscribe at any time.
It has been reported that U.S. officials have been rather dismissive of China’s yet-to-be-unveiled H-20 stealth bomber. According to reports, the new Chinese bomber is “not really a concern.”
“They want to show that they’re a great, you know, military power,” a U.S. defense official said during a press conference. But “that doesn’t necessarily mean it actually delivers them the kind of capability that they would need or at the quantity that they would need,” they added.
Featured Video RelatedCalled the Xi’an H-20, the sixth-generation bomber is China’s answer to America’s B-2 “Spirit” and upcoming B-21 “Raider” stealth bomber fleet. However, after reviewing some preliminary information on the bomber, it is not all it is hyped up to be.
“The thing with the H-20 is when you look at the system design, it’s probably nowhere near as good as US LO [low observable] platforms, particularly the more advanced ones that we have coming down,” a Pentagon intelligence official said, according to Breaking Defense.
Little concrete detail is known about the H-20, but according to official Pentagon investigations, it probably has a range of around 6,214 miles (10,000 km). It will carry conventional and nuclear payloads and should be capable of mid-air refueling.
Depending on sources, the H-20’s payload is expected to be more than 45 tons, but this is speculation. Critical for all concerned, however, is that the bomber has not yet been publicly unveiled.
This has been promised for several years, but nothing has materialized as yet.
“It’s coming soon, just wait,” People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Deputy Commander Wang Wei told Hong Kong Commercial Dailyin March, adding that “it is worth the excitement.”
In U.S. officials’ view, the new H-20 probably is nowhere near as capable as the nation’s existing B-2 or planned B-21 stealth bombers. This is, in part, due to the sophisticated engineering required to make these things a reality.
“They’ve run into a lot of engineering design challenges in terms of how to actually make that system capability function in a similar way to a B-2 or a B-21,” the official added.
However, America is leagues ahead of its competition in this area, and the planned B-21 is one of the world’s most advanced aircraft.
“As the world’s first six-generation aircraft, B-21 forms the backbone of the future for US air power, delivering a new era of capability and flexibility through advanced integration of data, sensors, and weapons, and is rapidly upgradable to outpace evolving threats,” Northrop Grumman explained earlier this year.
This is not the first time U.S. officials have publicly been nonplussed with Chinese military technology claims. In a recent statement, another Pentagon official stated that the J-20 stealth fighter, a key part of China’s plan, is “still a highly capable system,” but did not fully meet China’s original parameters.
In September 2022, former Pacific Air Forces Commander General Kenneth Wilsbach told reporters that the J-20 is not “anything to lose a lot of sleep over.”
