Posted on 04/16/2018 8:57:33 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
China’s most prestigious aviation magazine has published an artist’s depictions of the Chinese Air Force’s next-generation heavy strategic bomber.
The stealth bomber, known as JH-XX to aviation watchers, is a sleek, twin-engine aircraft quite different from U.S. stealth bomber designs. The Pentagon believes the plane will be capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Artist images of the the JH-XX appeared on the cover of the May 2018 issue of Aviation Knowledge magazine. Aviation Knowledge is the oldest and most popular aviation magazine in China. Founded in 1958, it is published by the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics and has ties to the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Both have links to the Chinese government, including the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (Chinese Air Force.)
The images were brought to public attention by China Defense Blog and the Facebook group Modern Chinese Warplanes, run by Chinese military aviation authority Andreas Rupprecht.
JH-XX. CHINA DEFENSE BLOG According to Modern Chinese Warplanes, two design philosophies are competing to go into China’s next-gen strategic bomber. One, the H-20, is a stealthy, subsonic flying wing design similar to the American B-2 and B-21 bombers. Another, the JH-XX, is a more conventionally shaped supersonic design. The H-20 is designed with maximum stealth to infiltrate enemy airspace. The JH-XX is less stealthy but capable of supersonic dashes around enemy defenses.
The JH-XX pictures depict a bomber with a fairly conventional airplane layout, including fuselage and horizontal stabilizers. The aircraft also appears built for speed, with an aerodynamic swept-wing configuration. The wings are “clean” without fuel tanks or weapons, with both stored internally to preserve the bomber’s stealthy profile.
CHINA DEFENSE BLOG
While it is no B-2-style flying wing, the JH-XX has plenty of stealth features. The airplane has a flattened appearance, with built-in angles that make the aircraft less susceptible to radar. The air intakes are jagged to reduce their radar signature and placed on top of the aircraft to keep them out of sight to radars operating below the bomber. This suggests the JH-XX is primarily designed as a high-altitude penetrator.
The two engine nozzles are buried inside the tail of the aircraft, reducing its rearward radar aspect, and are shielded horizontally by the large horizontal stabilizers. This lowers the bomber’s odds of being detected by infrared search-and-track sensors and infrared-guided missiles.
The question is, does the JH-XX’s appearance on the cover of Aviation Knowledge mean that the “less stealthy” philosophy has won? If so, why? The flying wing is pretty much the gold standard for stealth warplanes that don’t have to dogfight, providing maximum stealth for penetrating enemy airspace at the expense of maneuverability. It’s possible that despite China’s great strides in military aviation, it still lags behind the United States in so-called “fly by wire” technology, where planes that are, shall we say "less than aerodynamically ideal," are flyable because of computers capable of making continuous adjustments to the airplane’s control systems.
Another possibility is that China is less confident in stealth as a primary means of aircraft survival and is hedging its bets by picking a bomber with supersonic capability. In 2017, The South China Morning Post reported that Chinese scientists were working on detection systems that used quantum entanglement to locate and track stealthy aircraft, bypassing traditional radars.
Xian H-6K heavy bomber.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The JH-XX would replace the Xian H-6 bomber in Chinese service. The H-6 has been in production since the 1950s and is roughly comparable to the USAF’s B-52H heavy strategic bomber. Like the B-52, the H-6 is not at all stealthy and attacks targets at a distance with long-range cruise missiles. According to the U.S. government, the JH-XX would carry nuclear weapons, something the H-6 does not do. China lacks an active inventory of aircraft-launched nuclear weapons. That is apparently about to change.
Of course, we in the West might be reading too much into things. Aviation Knowledge may have simply shared the images to spur magazine newsstand sales. But the magazine is a prestigious one and running pictures of a plane that will never enter production seems unlikely.
According to the Pentagon, China’s stealth bomber should break cover around 2025.
Looks like a swing wing.
If Japan had not had their Constitution re-written to be pacifist by us after WW II do you think they would have been “China” during the 80’s and early 90’s at the height of their financial might?
Would they have filled the Asian power vacuum and perhaps gone expansionist like the Chinese are going to do eventually?
Extrapolated copy of the F23... which I always thought should be a replacement for the F111 and better for bombing than the F35
In the future, instead of trying to track a plane with radar, we shall have to track the condensed air trail or the air pressure envelope.
Hate to say it, but that is a mean looking plane. I hope we are never on the business end of it.
If the shtf, I wonder how much fuel reserves the Chinese have?
Looks like a swing wing...without the hinges.
Looks like a low-poly cgi render, complete with artist’s signature in the upper right.
They’ve got to be in there somewhere otherwise it won’t be able to fly supersonic?
A stealth bomber is of little importance unless used against an adversary of great anti aircraft ability with most very sophisticated radar.
One must note that in the attack on Syria we also used the B1 bomber along with seaborne cruise missiles. Syria does have a very good air defense system from the Russians. The B1 which is not stealth launched their missiles far out of range of this very good air defense system. They hit their targets and went home and had a beer.
In a real nuclear exchange it will be missiles and most will get to target, theirs and ours. Hell, the B52 bomb truck would launch cruise missiles over the arctic in a a nuclear exchange with Russia. The vast majority of those cruise missiles would reach target. The B52 has a radar signature like a barn door. It would launch its cruise missiles far away and its radar signature would be of no importance.
That has always been my problem with this technology. Don’t you just develop different sensors and then the plane shows up like a big radar blip again?
Stealthy? Lol.
Wings not swept enough for efficient supercruise. With enough thrust it would go fast, but not that fast. It would be a fuel burner.
Exactly.
We have a 3 year old Boxer that’s Deaf and has been using almost the very same to know when the refrigerator door is opened but in reverse order, Pressure Wave 1st and Flavor Trail 2nd. She can do it from any room in the house.🐾🐶
No.
Unless you read Popular mechaniz..
Northrop F-23 Black Widow II
I wonder how devastating loss of a single dam would be to their country.
Perhaps we could convince"Little Fat Boy" to reselect his intended target towards China. Would be a lot more territory than a flood or two.
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