JH-20 - New Chinese Theater Bomber

Although derided by many Western analysts as antiquated and not much better than a F-4 Phantom, the JH-7 program continues apace. The JH-7 originated in a requirement issued in 1973 by the PLAAF for a new aircraft to replace the Harbin H-5 (Ilyushin Il-28 copy). Operational analysis showed that the new aircraft needed to possess long range and be able to fly at low altitudes at near sonic speeds in all weathers and at night, and would need a dedicated Weapons System Operator on-board to handle the final attack phase of the mission. Hence the requirement called for a fast two-seater fighter-bomber similar in concept to the Su-24 'Fencer' and F-111 or the British "Tornado".

In early 2018 a new type of bomber disclosed in the official Chinese magazine Aviation Knowledge may confirm this view. On the cover of the magazine, a new bomber was published. The magazine was marked "China is heading for the 20th Army", but the analysis said that the bomber is not a bomber-20, but a JH-20 sniper bomber. Because of the stealth performance and supersonic flight capability, the bomber was designed to show that the bomber could not achieve the long-range combat capability of the long-range bomber claimed by Commander Ma Xiaotian.

At the beginning of April 2018, the latest issue of "Aviation Knowledge" magazine, one of China's most prestigious "three major knowledges", exposed the "China's new bomber" conjecture with the theme of "China's marching toward the 20th Corps", which immediately attracted global attention! This seems to indicate that China's new generation of stealth bombers, which are called "H-20" by foreign media, will be born, and there are many speculations about military and political affairs at home and abroad.

All along, the speculation and prediction of "H-20" will always be the focus of military enthusiasts, but limited to strict confidentiality system, any details of China's future long-range bombers have never been disclosed. However, this fantasy work by Chinese netizens published on the cover of Aviation Knowledge magazine once again triggered a series of conjectures on the future long-range bombers of China and the domestic media. "Russian competition" - Russian media, US media, etc. Many well-known media around the world are competing to report this "sudden material": The foreign media forwarded the pictures in the magazine "Aviation Knowledge", which is a model of the long-range bomber of Bai Yu (net name Rainbow Bear).

In recent years, China's strategic rocket army and naval submarine-launched ballistic missile technology have made great progress, and the firepower delivery capability has been significantly improved. However, the lack of a new generation of long-range strategic bombers has made China's "triad" nuclear deterrent force have some shortcomings.

Therefore, the legendary China's future long-range bomber, the "H-20" code, is the codename used by many anxious Western media "self-assertion", while other media refer to it as X-bomber, so slightly related information disclosure has attracted much attention. In 2016, Commander Ma Xiaotian, the commander of the Chinese Air Force, expressed his "one sentence" statement about China's development of a new generation of long-range bombers. It also confirmed China's determination to win this strategic strategy.

Compared to the artistic fantasies from netizens, knowledgeable military enthusiasts and military experts believed that the series of theme reports in this issue of "Aviation Knowledge" magazine "China's marching to the Bomber 20" is the real "prediction". On 04 April 2018, the latest issue of Aviation Knowledge was just on the street newsstand in Beijing. On the same day, the US "Defense News" had a report "China may be making its fighters more stealthy", guessing China's J-20 has it been modified with a domestic vector nozzle engine.

This new stealth bomber may be a medium-sized stealth sniper fighter, a replacement for the JH7. The fighter bomber ["sniper bomber"] can perform both precise bombing missions and the maneuverable and flexible air combat performance of the fighters. As a multi-purpose fighter with strong comprehensive performance, it is the key development target for the pursuit of economy and practicability in the big countries. Russia has Su-34, the US military once The plan to improve the F-22A is called the FB-22 sniper bomber. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the plan was terminated in 2000.