China is poised to develop its home-grown, new generation long range strike bomber (LRSB) by the end of the decade.

According to Chinamil, a Japanese scholar last July wrote an article entitled "China to develop new type of long-range strategic bomber," referring to the H-20. The report noted that the repeated occurrence of China's 20 series suggested that the new LRSB will be developed by 2020.

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The report also suggested that China's aviation industry has entered the "Age 20" as its "20 series," ranging from J-20 to Y-20 and to Z-20," has shown the Chinese Air Force's cutting edge discoveries in weapon and equipment development. The number "20" has also been used as a code for the country's new generation aviation equipment.

With China poised to develop the new LRSB and given the "20" connotations, Chinamil noted that the name H-20 would likely suit the new long-range bomber, although the official name is yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, China has already gained first-hand experience from developing the Y-20 military aircraft and has overcome several technical hurdles such as air inlet, engine, material, and stealth technology. That being said, the new generation LRSB is expected to have a better stealth performance, adopting likely the flying wing layout of American and Russian bombers.

The new LRSB is also anticipated to have an intercontinental flying range of over 10,000 kilometers and combat radius of more than 5,000 kilometers. In terms of payloads, the new bomber will have a smaller bomb load than the B-2A but bigger than the H-6K.

The H-20 will also possess both nuclear and regular strike capabilities and could disturb and destroy incoming missiles and other air and ground targets using a range of equipment like electronic confrontation platform, high power microwave, radar, among others. It could also serve as a C4ISR node and could interact with large platforms such as UAV and early warning aircraft.

 "We are developing the new-generation long range strike bomber (LRSB). You will see it in the future,"  PLA Air Force commander Ma Xiaotian was quoted saying last September.

Tagslong range strike bomber, china, China H-20, stealth bomber