Uno "Stealth Bomber" anche per la Cina?

[TT-1 Pinto]

Altro che uno ..... qui si stanno preparando a sfornarne addirittura due ... 

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A new report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) (*) offers the first official acknowledgment of the existence of two stealth bomber development programs by China’s air force.
A previously-confirmed Chinese strategic bomber and a newly acknowledged stealth “fighter-bomber” are both now under development, the DIA says in a China Military Power report released Jan. 15.
The Pentagon first acknowledged a strategic bomber program exists in a 2017 report to Congress. 
The admission came a year after a senior Chinese air force official publicly confirmed the effort to develop a new strategic comber variously called H-X and H-20.
For several years, Chinese and foreign media have speculated about the existence of a separate stealth bomber development project sometimes called the JH-XX, a replacement for the Mach 1.8-class Xian JH-7 fighter-bomber.
The new DIA report also describes the second project as a “medium”-range stealth bomber.

Fonte (criptata): aviationweek.com ... Intelligence Report Confirms Two Chinese Stealth Bombers ...

(*) ... dia.mil ... 2019 China Military Power Report ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Intanto ... continua la proliferazione di ipotesi ...

... nationalinterest.org ... Could This Fuzzy Picture Be a First Glimpse of China's H-20 Stealth Bomber? ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

FlightGlobal analizza il recente rapporto USA sulla potenza militare cinese ...

... https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-us-intelligence-highlights-chinese-airpow-455083/ ...

[Flaggy]

 

Il 17/1/2019 in 09:54 , TT-1 Pinto ha scritto:

Intanto ... continua la proliferazione di ipotesi ...

... nationalinterest.org ... Could This Fuzzy Picture Be a First Glimpse of China's H-20 Stealth Bomber? ...

Potevano risparmiarsi l'immagine Fuzzy che da quando è apparsa mesi fa è ritenuta fake: è ricavata taroccando quella di un H-6.

  

A quel punto per decenza è meglio il telo...

Il 16/1/2019 in 14:56 , TT-1 Pinto ha scritto:

Altro che uno ..... qui si stanno preparando a sfornarne addirittura due ... 

Fonte (criptata): aviationweek.com ... Intelligence Report Confirms Two Chinese Stealth Bombers ...

(*) ... dia.mil ... 2019 China Military Power Report ...

 

Il bombardiere medio portebbe anche essere una variante biposto del J-20.

https://www.janes.com/article/85813/china-may-be-developing-first-two-seat-stealth-combat-aircraft

Ovviamente anche l'immagine del J-20 biposto è un tarocco...

Quando si parla di cineserie c'è troppa gente che si diverte con Photoshop e quindi il rischio è più che altro quello far proliferare...aria fritta.

[TT-1 Pinto]

Hai ragione.

Sarebbe bello poter leggere l'intero articolo di Jane's ... ma ci si deve accontentare di quello che ci passano ... cioè la metà.

Qui c'è comunque il link al citato articolo del Global Times ... http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1135957.shtml ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Un commento ... dagli USA ...

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Pentagon Confirms China Will Have A New Tactical Bomber ... 

Bradley Perrett and Steve Trimble - Aviation Week & Space Technology (Jan. 21, 2019)

 

In World War II, a fighter-bomber was a fighter that could bomb. 

They can all bomb now, so the term has fallen out of use -except in China, where it is used for strike aircraft with high flight performance but no serious air-to-air capability.

That is a good clue to the nature of a forthcoming Chinese tactical bomber. 

Emergence of this type, a smaller companion to the Xian H-20 strategic bomber, has long been rumored but is only now discussed by the Pentagon - which variously calls it a medium-range bomber, a tactical bomber and, tellingly, a fighter-bomber. 

The terminology, a few scant details and the likely choice of engines suggest that the aircraft will be conceptually similar to the retired U.S. F-111, but maybe a lot bigger and perhaps presenting a serious threat to air targets.

This new Chinese aircraft and the H-20 will “probably” not be initially operational before 2025, says the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in its annual China Military Power report, released on Jan. 15. 

They will both be stealthy, it adds, though that feature almost goes without saying these days and is in any case imprecisely defined.

In a chart setting out characteristics of Chinese military aircraft, the DIA credits the tactical bomber with an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, long-range air-to-air missiles and precision-guided munitions. 

The “long-range bomber” - meaning the H-20 - will have an AESA and precision-guided munitions, but not long-range air-to-air missiles, the DIA says.

“These new bombers will have additional capabilities, with full-spectrum upgrades compared with current operational bomber fleets, and will employ many fifth-generation fighter technologies in their design,” the DIA says.

Whether the Chinese can make the bombers highly stealthy must be a matter of speculation. 

“Stealth is far more than the shape of an outer moldline and material coatings,” says Mark Gunzinger, a senior fellow at the U.S. Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, discussing the prospective Chinese aircraft. 

It is also necessary to integrate “pretty advanced technologies to detect and avoid threats,” he says.

China’s moves to build up a powerful bomber force over the past decade or so has been a strategic surprise; it revives the old Soviet approach of warding off U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups by threatening them with massed standoff missile attack. 

The first step in this strategy was improvement and further production of China’s version of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 medium bomber—t - e H-6, built by Avic’s Xian Aircraft. 

Like the Boeing B-52, this subsonic and easily detected aircraft must rely on long-range cruise missiles to safely attack well-defended targets.

The H-20 will bring low detectability and greater range to the strike force, but probably not much improvement in flight performance. 

A senior Chinese air force official confirmed its long-rumored development program in 2016; the Pentagon acknowledged its existence the following year. 

In 2018 there was official Chinese confirmation of the H-20 name, a semiofficial statement that flight testing was imminent, and an obviously deliberate revelation of a crude picture showing a long-span, subsonic design.

For several years, Chinese and foreign media have speculated about the existence of a separate project to develop a replacement for the Avic Xian JH-7, a supersonic, fighter-size strike aircraft. 

In line with China’s former, less ambitious defense policy, JH-7s threaten enemy ships close to the country’s coast, not far out in the Pacific.

The forthcoming tactical bomber need not be a replacement for either the H-6 or JH-7, says Gunzinger, formerly deputy assistant secretary of defense for forces transformation and resources. 

“They have a different mindset than [the U.S.] do when it comes to military systems. We seem to develop a bomber fairly infrequently and only one model because it’s fairly expensive.” 

China is more open to developing new bombers and upgrading older ones at the same time, he says.

The missions for Chinese bombers are widening. 

As the H-20 enters service next decade, the DIA expects China’s bomber force to be assigned to nuclear strike, creating a U.S.-style nuclear triad by augmenting the capabilities of Chinese submarines and ground-based rockets. 

“As of 2017, the air force had been reassigned a nuclear mission, probably with a developmental strategic bomber,” the DIA says. 

This does not mean the bombers will cease to be nonnuclear threats to U.S. and Japanese ships and ground installations.

The expected Chinese tactical bomber has commonly been called the JH-XX. 

J stands for jian and H for hong - abbreviations for the Chinese words for fighter and bomber. 

So JH means fighter-bomber. 

In Chinese terms, the F-111 would have been a fighter-bomber, even though it could hardly fight.

Two low-bypass turbofans of likely size for the tactical bomber are known: the WS-10 Taihang, which powers the J-10 fighter and generates a reported 132 kN (30,000 lb.-thrust); and the new WS-15, which the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong has reported is the engine of the J-20 fighter and is almost ready for volume production.

In a promotional flyer, Shanghai conference organizer Galleon said in 2012 that the WS-15, then under development, would produce a thrust of 180 kN (40,000 lb.), no doubt with afterburning. 

Since Galleon was working with the Chinese engine industry on the promoted conference, the data almost certainly came from an official source that wanted it disclosed. 

The WS-15 was probably unable to generate 180 kN at first - as suggested by details of a derivative high-bypass engine, the SF-A - but that rating should at least have been the final target and could have been accepted for a 2020s tactical bomber.

A twin-engine configuration for the aircraft is highly likely, so the available engine sizes suggest it will have something like 264 kN or 360 kN of thrust, the exact figure depending on whether designers have needed more output from the chosen engine or preferred to derate it.

If a WS-15 installation is combined with the F-111F’s thrust loading (mass compared with thrust, strongly affecting flight performance), the Chinese tactical bomber would have a gross weight of 72 metric tons (160,000 lb.), making it 60% larger than the old U.S. type. 

At the lower end of the scale, a WS-10 engine  set combined with the JH-7’s relatively low thrust loading (and therefore high performance) results in a gross weight of 41 metric tons; in that case the tactical bomber would be a little smaller than the F-111. 

Other combinations of thrust loading and engine type give intermediate sizes.

The smallest size seems unlikely, because of the DIA’s reference to the aircraft as having medium range, in comparison with a strategic bomber’s long range. 

A highly powered 41-metric-ton aircraft is not likely to achieve anything like the “medium” range of the H-6K. 

The medium-range description also probably rules out the possibility of the tactical bomber having a new and relatively small engine.

The “fighter-bomber” designation sets an upper limit on the possible size of the aircraft. 

Conceivably, a twin WS-15 installation could be combined with a high thrust loading, like that of the Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic medium bomber. 

In that case the aircraft would have a gross weight of 90 metric tons - but neither the Chinese nor the Pentagon could call that a fighter-bomber.

The ability to carry long-range air-to-air missiles suggests a secondary role in attacking aircraft: purely self-defense missiles on strike aircraft have short or medium range. 

A large and costly aircraft such as the new tactical bomber could not normally be risked in air combat, but in 2016 China revealed a huge air-to-air missile with a range that should greatly exceed 200 km (120 mi.) - enough to create firing opportunities at safe distances from enemy fighters. 

Likely targets for the weapon are sluggish support aircraft, such as those engaged in surveillance (AW&ST Dec. 5-25, 2016, p. 31 and Oct. 29-Nov. 11, 2018, p. 58).

As a stealthy medium-range strike aircraft, the tactical bomber should be unique. 

The U.S. Air Force has analyzed such a concept in the form of the FB-22, based on the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, and the initial design of the Long-Range Strike–Bomber, but did not launch development. 

Since the retirement of the F-111, Western air forces have depended on comparatively short-range, adapted fighters with little passive ability to avoid radar detection, such as the Boeing F-15E. 

Russia still operates the Sukhoi Su-24, similar to the F-111, but its main tactical strike aircraft is the fighter-based Su-34.

Although a Pentagon report to Congress in August 2018 said the Chinese fighter fleet had about 2,000 combat aircraft, the new report by the DIA lowers the estimate by 15% to around 1,700 aircraft. 

Modernizing its forces, China is retiring many old fighters of doubtful value.

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

"... il nuovo bombardiere strategico cinese H-20 potrebbe essere pronto e presto presentato ufficialmente al pubblico." ...

Fonte ... RID ... https://www.portaledifesa.it/index~phppag,3_id,3572.html ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Da fonte cinese ...

... scmp.com ... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3082465/chinas-long-range-xian-h-20-stealth-bomber-could-make-its-debut ...

[Flaggy]

Vedremo se e cosa salterà fuori.

In molti probabilmente si augurano una lacunosa reinterpretazione in chiave cinese del B-2, come il J-20 lo è dell'F-22.

A prescindere da questo, i cinesi non hanno paura di sbagliare e stanno correndo. Noi no.

 

[Flaggy]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/amp34908283/china-new-h-20-stealth-bomber-powerful/

Fonti cinesi le sparano grosse sull'H-20. Si azzardano 45 tonnellate di carico bellico e oltre 7000 miglia di autonomia, ma secondo un report del Pentagono ci sarebbero 30 tonnellate e 2000 km di troppo... 45 tonnellate probabilmente sono esagerate, ma 10 mi sembrano troppo poche per un aereo che comunque tanto piccolo non sarà, anche se deve far star tutto nell'ala.

[TT-1 Pinto]

Sotto un lenzuolo bianco ... ovvero ... a proposito del futuro bombardiere furtivo cinese ...

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The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force for the first time gave a hint on the design of its next-generation, long-range strategic stealth bomber by including it in a scene in the service's 2021 recruitment video released on Tuesday, leading analysts to say that the new bomber, allegedly designated the H-20, could make its public debut soon.
In the closing minute of the video, an unknown aircraft rendered in computer-generated imagery enters the stage. 
It is covered in a white blanket and only the front outline can be seen, which suggests that the aircraft boasts a flying wing design with two intakes on the back of the plane. 
It has no visible tail wings and no winglets on the tips of the wings.
In the video, the blanket is then removed, giving a view of the aircraft from its left reflected in the goggles of a pilot's helmet. 
From this side view, the aircraft seems to be bulky, observers said.

globaltimes.cn ... https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1211986.shtml ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il futuro bombardiere furtivo cinese ... considerazioni e ipotesi ... in salsa australiana ... 

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What will we see when it appears? 
Almost certainly an all-wing or blended-wing-body aircraft, maybe without stealth-degrading vertical surfaces. 
It should remind us much of the US Northrop Grumman B-2 bomber, though Trevithick sensibly points out that the H-20’s planform could be simpler (and better) than the B-2’s. 
The PLAAF’s rendering of an H-20 under wraps shows no sign of the winglets that appeared in another apparently official hint at the configuration in 2018; that depiction may have been intended to confuse us (but, then again, so could the latest). 
The image in the video does, however, show curious pairs of bumps near the tips of each side of the upper wing surface. 
Whatever they are, they will degrade stealth - if the H-20 really has them.

... aspistrategist.org.au ... https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/chinas-new-bomber-should-be-cause-for-concern-for-australia/ ...

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[maxiss]

 

Imminente il primo volo dello stealth strategico cinese concorrente del b21

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/first-flight-for-chinas-h-20-stealth-bomber-could-be-imminent-report

Modificato 9 Luglio 2022 da maxiss