The Pentagon is 'not really' worried about China's new H-20 stealth bomber, defense official says

Ella Sherman
·3 min read
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  • A US defense official downplayed the threat of China's new Xi'an H-20 bomber.

  • The official said it's "not really" a concern, per defense media.

  • That said, the US won't really know for sure how good or bad they are until it sees them fight.

China's new bomber, the Xi'an H-20, is intended to rival America's new stealth bomber, but a US defense official told reporters on Monday it's "not really" a concern.

"They want to show that they're a great, you know, military power," the official said during a background briefing, per Breaking Defense and other defense outlets, but "that doesn't necessarily mean it actually delivers them the kind of capability that they would need or at the quantity that they would need."

The official said that looking at the system design, "it's probably nowhere near as good" as US stealth platforms, "particularly more advanced ones that we have coming down."

A B-2 Spirit takes off for Red Flag-Nellis 24-1 training at Nellis Air Force Base on Jan. 16.
A B-2 Spirit takes off for Red Flag-Nellis 24-1 training at Nellis Air Force Base on Jan. 16.William Lewis/US Air Force

There are still a lot of unknowns with the H-20. Still, the Pentagon's 2023 China military power report notes that the H-20 is expected to have a range of around 10,000 km, be able to carry both nuclear and conventional payloads, and be capable of being refueled aerially for prolonged flight. Those aren't insignificant capabilities, but without sufficient stealth, the bomber may not be worth the hype.

A Chinese military official recently told Chinese media that additional information about the bomber would be made public in the near future. "It's coming soon, just wait," People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Deputy Commander Wang Wei told Hong Kong Commercial Daily in March, adding that "it is worth the excitement."

China has been heavily focused on military expansion and modernization, advancing its aviation through its state-owned companies such as China Aviation Industry Corporation, which has previously produced bombers, heavy transport planes, and fighter aircraft.

Among the products this company makes that the US military has also shrugged off is the Chinese fifth-generation J-20 fighter jet. A former US Air Force commander said previously that it wasn't "anything to lose a lot of sleep over."

The B-21 "Raider", the long-range stealth bomber that can be armed with nuclear weapons, rolls onto the runway at Northrop Grumman's site at Air Force Plant 42, during the first flight of the United States Air Force's B-21 "Raider", in Palmdale, California, U.S., November 10, 2023.
The B-21 "Raider", the long-range stealth bomber that can be armed with nuclear weapons, rolls onto the runway at Northrop Grumman's site at Air Force Plant 42, during the first flight of the United States Air Force's B-21 "Raider", in Palmdale, California, U.S., November 10, 2023.REUTERS/David Swanson

Although the US official said that the H-20 bomber likely doesn't match up to American capabilities, they clarified at the press briefing that "we're not going to know they're not good until they're shooting at us, and I don't want to be in a position where I find out, 'Oh, they actually are that good.'"

So the military may not be particularly worried, but they also can't make assumptions and have to be ready to match the threat and maintain overmatch.

The Pentagon unveiled a new stealth bomber in 2022 that is currently in production and will eventually replace B-1 and B-2 fleets.

"As the world's first six-generation aircraft, B-21 forms the backbone of the future for US air power, delivering a new era of capability and flexibility through advanced integration of data, sensors and weapons, and is rapidly upgradable to outpace evolving threats," Northrop Grumman, the aircraft's manufacturer, said in in a statement earlier this year.

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