China to introduce long-range stealth bomber Xian H-20

China’s next-generation strategic bomber is likely to be ready for delivery this year, but Beijing is said to be weighing the impact of its presentation at a complex time in regional relations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Military sources said the Xian H-20 supersonic stealth bomber, expected to double the country’s attack range, could make its first public appearance at this year’s Zhuhai Airshow in November, if the pandemic was sufficiently under control.

“The Zhuhai Airshow is expected to become a platform to promote China’s image and its success in controlling the pandemic, telling the outside world that the contagion did not have a major impact on companies in the Chinese defense industry.” said a source.

But the bomber’s appearance in this year’s airshow could escalate tensions by directly threatening countries within its attack range, especially Australia, Japan and the Korean peninsula.

“The Beijing leadership is still carefully considering whether its commission will affect the regional balance, especially as regional tensions have been intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said another source.

“Like intercontinental ballistic missiles, all strategic bombers can be used to deliver nuclear weapons … if China were to claim that it has pursued a national defense policy that is purely defensive, why would it need such an offensive weapon?”

Tensions in the region have worsened in the past month with a war of words between Beijing and Washington over the pandemic, and both sides increased naval patrols of the Taiwan Strait and the seas of southern and eastern China.

The US Department of Defense USA He has estimated a cruising distance of more than 8,500 km for the H-20, the latest in China’s new-generation 20 series of fighter jets, which includes the stealth fighter jet J-20, the giant transporter Y-20. and the Z-20 medium-lift utility helicopter.

The arrival of the H-20 would mark the completion of China’s “nuclear triad” of ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles and air-launched weapons.

Chinese state television said the H-20 could alter the strategic calculation between the United States and China by doubling the attack range of its current H-6K, called the country’s B-52.

The H-20 has reportedly been designed to attack targets beyond the island’s second ring, which includes US bases in Japan, Guam, the Philippines, and other countries, from bases in mainland China.

The third chain of islands extends to Hawaii and the Australian coast.

It will be equipped with nuclear and conventional missiles with a maximum takeoff weight of at least 200 tons and a payload of up to 45 tons. The bomber is expected to fly at subsonic speeds and could unleash four powerful hypersonic stealth cruise missiles.

However, like China’s first active stealth fighter jet, the J-20, development of the H-20 bomber’s engine has been delayed, according to sources.

For the J-20, engineers developed high-thrust WS-15 turbofan engines, but the jet is understood to use Chinese-made WS-10B or Russian-made AL-31FM2 / 3 engines, compromising its maneuverability and stealth in subsonic speeds.

Military enthusiasts have speculated that the H-20 could use the Russian NK-321 engine, but two independent military sources said it would be equipped with an updated WS-10 engine.

“The WS-10 remains a transition engine for the H-20 because it is not powerful enough. The eligible replacement may take two to three years to develop,” said one source.

The second said that the H-20’s speed would be slower than its original design, and that some of its original combat capability would be reduced.

“That is why the American Air Force does not care about the H-20, because it is not strong and powerful enough to challenge their B-2 and B-21 bombers.”

If the United States decided to deploy more F-35 supersonic fighter jets, which has already sold about 200 to Japan and South Korea, it could push China to introduce the new bomber, the second source said.

“For example, if some decision makers in the United States decide to deploy up to 500 F-35s in Japan, South Korea, and even Singapore, India, and Taiwan, causing almost all of China’s neighbors in the Indo-Pacific region to use F-35 to contain China, that would push Beijing to launch the H-20 as soon as possible. “

The H-20 is believed to have been in development since the early 2000s. The project to develop a strategic bomber was first announced by the People’s Liberation Army in 2016.

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-South China Morning Post