China’s H-20 Stealth Bomber Simply Summed Up in 4 Words

Key Points – China is developing a new H-20 stealth strategic bomber, a flying-wing design similar to the US B-2 Spirit, intended to give the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) true intercontinental strike capability.

-According to a Pentagon report, the H-20 will have a range of over 10,000 km, be capable of carrying conventional and nuclear weapons, and may debut within the next decade.

-However, significant questions remain about its actual capabilities. US defense intelligence officials suggest China has run into major engineering challenges and that the H-20 is likely not as advanced as US platforms like the B-2 or B-21.

China’s H-20 Stealth Bomber Could Be Formidable

The H-20 stealth bomber is one of China’s more remarkable aircraft. With a swept flying wing design, the bomber is similar to the United States Air Force’s B-2 Spirit bomber, also a stealthy aircraft.

The United States was the first country to put stealth bombers into service, but with China’s entry into the field of stealth aircraft, the United States won’t be the only country.

China has shrouded the aircraft in secrecy, although a Pentagon report sheds some light on the aircraft and when it might enter service with the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.

H-20 Bomber Explained

“The PRC is developing a new generation of long-range bombers, likely named the H-20,” the Department of Defense said in an unclassified report released late last year. “The H-20, which may debut sometime in the next decade,” it added, “will have a range of more than 10,000 km, enabling the PLAAF to cover the Second Island Chain and into the western region of the Pacific. The H-20 bomber’s range could be extended to cover the globe with aerial refueling.It is expected to employ conventional and nuclear weaponry and feature a stealthy design.”

It added that “the PLAAF is seeking to extend its power projection capability with the development of a new H-20 stealth strategic bomber, with official PRC state media stating that this new stealth bomber will have a nuclear mission in addition to filling conventional roles.”

“The PLAAF is developing new medium- and long-range stealth bombers to strike regional and global targets. PLAAF leaders publicly announced the program in 2016; however, it may take more than a decade to develop this type of advanced bomber.”

A video released by Chinese state-owned media in 2016 provided some of the first glimpses of the bomber, seen briefly in a widely circulated video. Other images of wind tunnel test models also circulated online several years ago. However, those pictures show a model that probably never entered production but instead served to gather data on stealthy designs.

The Americans

The United States Air Force is preparing to accept its second stealth bomber into service, the B-21 Raider bomber named after the Doolittle Raiders of Second World War fame. Although outwardly similar to its B-2 predecessor, the U.S. Air Force has touted the B-21’s stealth attributes, which are thought to be significantly more sophisticated than those of the B-2. Despite the similarities, the B-21 is slightly smaller and thought to have a slightly lower range.

Though not yet in service with the U.S. Air Force, images of the new bomber recently made a splash, prompting a raft of speculation about the bomber’s attributes. Despite the relative dearth of knowledge about the Raider, that bomber will become the backbone of the American nuclear triad’s airborne component in addition to its conventional capabilities.

Questions About Experience and Capabilities

China has not fought a war since the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. During that brief conflict, Chinese Communist forces invaded and occupied Vietnamese areas along the China-Vietnam border. Though Beijing withdrew back to the Chinese side of the border, ostensibly as their mission had been accomplished, the conflict failed to induce Vietnamese forces to leave Cambodia and was widely seen as a failure.

Uncertainty about how the People’s Liberation Army would perform in war today is certainly a question worth considering. Another opaque factor is the quality of the equipment used in the Chinese field and the performance of that kit. It is a question that will not be definitively answered until put through the rigors of battle. Still, conventional wisdom holds that China lags behind the United States, particularly in the realm of aerial warfare.

“The thing with the H-20 is when you actually look at the system design, it’s probably nowhere near as good as U.S. [low observable] platforms, particularly more advanced ones that we have coming down,” a Defense Department intelligence official told Defense One. “They’ve run into a lot of engineering design challenges, in terms of how do you actually make that system capability function in a similar way to a B-2 or B-21.”

H-20: What Now?

Basic facts about China’s H-20 remain uninsured for now, as do that platform’s capabilities. However, the utility of that aircraft to China will be enabled — or constrained — not only by an analysis that considers factors such as range, radar cross-section, or stealth coatings but also by the support infrastructure behind the bomber.

Maintenance personnel, logistics support, and pilots will have a significant impact on the H-20’s capabilities during a conflict.

As that conflict has not yet occurred, neither has an answer to the question concerning China’s wartime performance been found. Without a peer conflict involving China, an answer may not be in the offing.

About the Author: Caleb Larson

Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. He also covers the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.

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