After the two sessions in March 2024, the relevant news of H-20 began to be exposed one after another.
Among them, the most discussed is a satellite photo released by Google Earth at the end of March, which was taken at the Gaobeidian UAV test site in Hebei Province, and a flying wing drone model that had never been unveiled in the past appeared on the tarmac.
【Gaobeidian UAV Test Site】
Because the aerodynamic layout of this drone is highly similar to the rumored H-20, this makes many netizens who are concerned about the development of China's stealth technology feel extremely excited.
Mysterious drone model
In recent years, the Chinese Air Force's UAVs have been developing rapidly, including the Attack 11 with a flying wing stealth layout, but the drone recently exposed in Hebei is significantly different from all the flying wing drones that have appeared on the mainland in the past.
【Attack 11 drone】
Although the satellite photos provided by Google Earth are not of high resolution, we can still find quite a few details about the design of the aircraft.
First of all, compared to the Attack 11, the size of the new drone is quite amazing, calculated with reference to the surrounding buildings, the length of the aircraft has reached an astonishing 28 meters, and the wingspan is more than 40 meters, which is completely beyond the size of a normal drone.
You must know that even the American B-2A stealth bomber is only 21 meters long, and only the wingspan reaches 52.4 meters, not to mention the smaller B-21.
[B-2A Bomber]
In other words, the take-off weight of this UAV is at least at the same level as the B-21, and no country in the world has ever developed such a large stealth winged UAV.
It is also because of the unusual size of the aircraft that quite some netizens believe that this is not a new type of UAV, but a full-scale model of the H-20 for ground testing.
This is not unbelievable, in the development of new military aircraft, there are indeed precedents for manufacturing full-scale models to carry out some project verification, such as Chengfei during the development of the J-20, a full-scale model of the J-20 was manufactured, which is currently listed in Chengfei Park for public display.
【J-20 model】
As a major aviation project that has been going on for several years, it is not surprising that the H-20 has its own full-scale model.
Of course, some netizens disagree with this statement, because it is obvious that the back of this new aircraft only has a middle part of the bulge, if this is the position of the cockpit, then how to arrange the engine intake?
Both the B-2A and the B-21 choose to arrange the air intake on the back of the aircraft to ensure the smooth lines of the belly, which is to pursue the most extreme stealth effect and the optimal solution for the stealth design of the flying wing.
[B-21 belly]
So this part of the bulge should be the air intake, and the design of its extension to the engine nozzle also confirms this, which means that the aircraft does not have a cockpit, and it is indeed a serious drone.
Moreover, the location where Google Earth photographed the aircraft is indeed the UAV stealth technology test site of our army in Hebei, and in the past, Attack 11 and Wuzhen 8 were captured at the same location.
The development of a UAV with a take-off weight of the level of a strategic bomber is definitely an attempt by the PLA to change the form of air strikes on the battlefield in the future.
【PLA New UAV】
This UAV has a considerable degree of breakthrough in design and any flying wing bomber model that has appeared so far.
The ambitions of the Chinese Air Force
The wingspan ratio of the new UAV has reached 0.7, which is much higher than that of the American-made B-2A and B-21, which are only 0.4 and 0.37 for the two typical flying-wing stealth aircraft, which means that the pursuit of high-speed performance is much higher than that of its American counterparts.
This is also evidenced by the extremely unique vertical tail design, although the flying wing design has a good stealth effect, but due to the lack of traditional vertical tail and flat tail design, the aircraft is not stable enough, and it must rely on extremely complex flight control to ensure flight quality.
[The flying wing design can ensure the stealth effect, but there are obvious flaws]
This is also why the B-2A and B-21 are both subsonic models, which is to take into account the stability of the flying wing layout in high-speed flight conditions.
But the PLA's design thinking is obviously different, and the vertical tail design means that the aircraft has the ability to fly at high speeds, and is likely to have transonic performance.
This means that the penetration performance of this new PLA aircraft will be significantly better than that of American-made stealth bombers, which can not only ensure that the lower RCS penetrates the enemy's air defense system, but also has the ability to penetrate at high speed and low altitude.
[H-20 also has the same design]
What is even more curious is that the tail design of the aircraft is not the double W and single W shape of the B-2A or B-21, but leaves two small notches, and the shape is extremely similar to the vertical tail.
This means that the aircraft is very likely to adopt an advanced technology that has been widely circulated in the market, that is, the butterfly wing, which can be freely converted between flat tail and vertical tail roles according to different flight environments.
When the aircraft needs to fly at high speed, the butterfly wing is deflected upwards to the vertical tail to ensure the stability and maneuverability of the aircraft, and when the RCS needs to be reduced and the aerodynamic drag is reduced to ensure the range, the butterfly wing is retracted and converted to the traditional flying wing shape.
【H-20 Wind Tunnel Model】
Although this design can take into account different flight needs, but the requirements for flight control are very high, but this is not a problem for China's aviation industry, Chengfei is famous for his love of pursuing complex flight control.
The emergence of new UAVs of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has posed a huge threat to the dominance of the United States in the field of stealth bombers.
On the one hand, many of the aircraft's technologies are highly similar to those of the H-20, which means that the H-20 is indeed the same as Deputy Commander Wang Wei said at the two sessions, there is no technical bottleneck in the development of the aircraft, and it will soon officially meet with the outside world.
On the other hand, the aircraft may be the H-20, in today's rapid development of UAV technology, who said that strategic bombing missions cannot be handed over to UAVs?
【H-20 pneumatic layout】
And judging from the current size of the aircraft, its internal load and combat radius are at least at the same level as the B-21.
After eliminating the necessary equipment required for personnel control, the weight of the aircraft may be greatly reduced, and the fuel load, bomb load, and range will inevitably be further increased, which can completely fill the gap in the strategic bombing needs of the Chinese Air Force.
In contrast, the B-21, which was first flown by the US military, is a bit conservative and backward no matter how you look at it, which also makes the United States very depressed: less than 5 months after the first launch of the B21, how can China come up with a new bomber that looks more advanced?
Sources:
[1] The United States announced the official code name of the LRS-B stealth bomber: B-21.observer.2016-02-27 [cited 2021-07-07]
[2] Li Shuli. Research on Flight Simulation and Intelligent Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Dalian Maritime University, 2004