The Chinese Air Force has released its latest propaganda film, featuring the J-20 fighter jet and the Y-20 transport aircraft. At the same time, the H-20 bomber model is suspected to appear in the propaganda film.
In one of the stories in the video, the daughter of a PLA Air Force pilot puts a scale model of an aircraft into a delivery box as a gift for her father, who is on a mission in the field, as released by the official microblogging account of the Chinese Air Force, “Air Force Online” on Nov. 9.
The aircraft model is painted in gray primer and has the PLA Air Force logo on the back of the fuselage.
The model has a unique aerodynamic design with no tail or vertical stabilizing surfaces, and the main wings appear to be integrated into the rear of the fuselage, giving the aircraft a hybrid airfoil design that is close to a flying wing design.
There are no visible air intakes on the upper side of the fuselage, and the two angles in the video do not allow identification of the engine nozzles. And it also has no transparent cockpit canopy.
Observers say that from this it appears that it may not have excellent maneuverability and is therefore more likely to be a bomber rather than a fighter. As for the absence of the cockpit canopy, it is impossible to determine whether it is a manned aircraft or an unmanned aircraft. Also, since it is a model, the dimensions are not visible.
After the gift was delivered, the father used a paintbrush to color the model. When the father and daughter talked through the cell phone, the father asked if the model plane was from his daughter, but the daughter replied, “No, the colors are not right,” while the father said, “That’s because the room is not well lit.
Many military fans speculated that this could be the long-rumored H-20 stealth bomber, but a Chinese military aviation expert, who requested anonymity, stressed that there was “no need to over-interpret it.”
Regarding the H-20 performance, one military expert previously pointed out that the H-20 is a four-engine stealth bomber that can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads, meaning that it can conduct both nuclear and conventional strikes. If it carries the CJ-10K air-launched cruise missiles, it could have a total range of several thousand kilometers.
According to Jon Grevatt, a warplane expert and Asia-Pacific analyst for Jane’s Defence Weekly, the H-20 puts stealth and long-range over speed, which means it has the strategic advantage of being able to strike as far away as any strategic bomber, up to the second island chain and beyond.