When Canada eventually signs its deal with Lockheed Martin this fall for 88 F-35 stealth fighters, Canadian pilots will soon enjoy a big advantage against future rivals..During Operation Desert Storm — the invasion of Iraq in 1991 — stealth air attacks were used for the first time in history..According to The National Interest, these attacks involved GPS for combat navigation, missile warning systems, unprecedented applications of force-tracking technology, advanced surveillance plane radars, and large amounts of precision-focused laser-guided bombs..While beginning with Apache and Pave Low helicopters, the Gulf War air attack involved F-117 Night Hawk stealth bombers, B-52s, F-15 Eagles and low-flying A-10 Warthog aircraft..“We saw the first glimpses in Desert Storm of what would become the transformation of air power,” retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Paul Johnson, director of requirements for the deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, told the Pentagon in 2016..The Coalition lost a total of 75 aircraft — 52 fixed-wing aircraft and 23 helicopters — during Desert Storm, with 39 fixed-wing aircraft and 5 helicopters lost in combat..But not a single F-117 Nighthawk was shot down — they flew across Baghdad with total impunity, displaying a capability and lethality never really seen before..However, all stealth fighters — F-35, F-22, J-20, or Su-57 — are all limited by the physical requirements for aerobatic fighter performance, forcing the inclusion of design elements like vertical tail surfaces that can render them detectable against low-frequency radar arrays..These arrays lack the image fidelity necessary for actual targeting. In other words, when a stealth fighter is in the neighbourhood, you know it’s there, but lack the ability to reliably shoot it down..But when a stealth bomber, such as the Northrop Grumman B2 Spirit, is flying high overhead … you may not even realize it..As a result, the somewhat dated B-2 is often more difficult to detect and track than even America’s most modern stealth fighter, the F-35 Lightning II..Unlike any other operational stealth platform in the world today, the B-2’s flying wing design is effective at limiting detection from both high and low-frequency radar bands..But with America’s own next-generation stealth bomber, the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider, now in the later stages of development, there is a challenger in the wings — China's Xian H-20..As reported by Sandboxx News, earlier this month, China’s Global Times reported on an impending test flight of this strategically important aircraft..This prompted a slew of predictions that the nation’s first stealth bomber may soon be unveiled..If true, the H-20 would be the world’s first publicly disclosed non-American stealth bomber ever to fly, and could usher in a new era of strategic air power competition..Will it be America's next-generation peer, or is it just another page ripped from America's low-observable past?.There is some evidence of Chinese espionage..Rumours of China working to develop a stealth bomber began emerging in the early 2000s..These were often tied to reports of Chinese officials gaining access to the wreckage of an American F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Yugoslavia in 1999..In 2005, Noshir Gowadia, a Northrop Grumman design engineer who had helped to develop the B-2 Spirit’s propulsion system, was arrested and charged with selling information regarding the bomber program to the Chinese government..Gowadia would ultimately be convicted and sentenced to 32 years in prison for his violation of the Arms Export Control Act..Those rumours got a bit more credible in 2013 when German author and Chinese aviation expert Andreas Rupprecht published renders and pictures of models that appeared to show the basic design of a forthcoming Chinese stealth bomber..The twin-engine aircraft appears to blur the lines a bit between stealth fighter and bomber. This suggests the design shown is not for a heavy payload platform like the B-2, but rather that of a medium-range fighter-bomber.. B-2 Spirit aircraftB-2 Spirit aircraft .By July of 2014, the veil was beginning to lift with a full-page feature published in the state-run China Daily newspaper highlighting China’s modernizing military..Among these efforts was the development of an “intercontinental strategic bomber capable of penetrating an enemy’s air defences.”.The article outlined the need for a bomber that could carry 10 tons of ordnance for a minimum of 8,000 km (4,970 miles) without refuelling..Most alarmingly, this would place America’s military installations on Guam well within its reach — a fact that didn't fall lightly at the Pentagon..In 2016, China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) commander General Ma Xiaotian formally announced the nation’s efforts to develop a next-gen long-range bomber..This was further backed by a video released in 2018 by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which showed an aircraft that looked like a flying wing sat under a drop cloth in a strikingly similar presentation to Northrop Grumman’s own Super Bowl commercial featuring the forthcoming B-21 Raider..What exactly do we know about the H-20?.First and foremost, it will almost certainly be a flying wing design similar to that of America’s B-2 Spirit, Sandboxx News reported..This approach to stealth design limits the aircraft’s return not only against targeting radars that leverage X band or similarly high-frequency bands, but also against early warning low-frequency radar bands as well..The H-20 is also expected to be nuclear-capable, firmly establishing China’s own nuclear triad of land-based missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and a long-range nuclear strategic bomber, ensuring Mutually Assured Destruction..The new bomber would likely employ 5th-generation technologies, boasting a range of “at least 8,500 km” (5,281 miles), a payload capacity of “at least 10 metric tons," compared to the B-2’s 11,265 km (nearly 7,000 miles)..In a well-researched analysis penned by Thomas Newdick for The Warzone, he highlighted the H-20 might carry an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and specialize in deploying long-range munitions like subsonic cruise missiles..The mainland US is more than 7,200 miles from Chinese shores and the presence of refuelling tankers over the Pacific could potentially tip American defences off about an attack..Yet, long-range, low-observable nuclear cruise missiles could play a role in China’s plans for a reliable means of nuclear weapon delivery..Some Chinese publications also argue that the H-20 will do double-duty as a networked reconnaissance and command and control platform similar to US F-35 stealth fighters, National Interest reported..This would make sense, as China has developed a diverse arsenal of long-range air-, ground-, and sea-launched missiles, but doesn’t necessarily have a robust reconnaissance network to form a kill-chain cueing these missiles to distant targets..Theoretically, an H-20 could rove ahead, spying the position of opposing sea-based assets using a low-probability-of-intercept AESA radar, and fuse that information to a firing platform hundreds or even thousands of miles away. The H-20 could also be used for electronic warfare or to deploy specialized directed energy..The crescendo of publicity surrounding the H-20 indicates the PLAAF believes the plane will soon be ready enough to show to the public — and international audiences..Once revealed, analysts will pour over the aircraft’s geometry to estimate just how the stealthy it really is, looking for radar-reflective Achilles’ heels such as exposed engine inlets and indiscrete tail stabilizers..The publicity that the often-secretive Chinese government is according the H-20 (production possibly beginning around 2025) also indicates Beijing’s hope the bomber will serve as a strategic deterrent to foreign adversaries — even before its first flight.
