The first successful flight of the U.S. military's new-generation stealth bomber B-21 has attracted global attention. This flying-wing bomber was developed by "Northrop Grumman" and is another stealth bomber after the B-2. On Nov. 10, the first prototype of the B-21 took off from the Air Force Factory 42 runway in Palmdale, California, completing its first mission. This is an important development almost a year after the B-21's public debut, after the aircraft was also tested for a glide.
The first flight of the B-21 bomber sparked heated discussions among domestic netizens, and some people were worried that this means that our H-20 is going to lag behind again? The B-21 bomber's first public appearance was during last year's live broadcast of the press conference, when nearly one-fifth of netizens were from China. What are the goals of this bomber? The answer is obvious.
Last year, the B-21 bomber made its first public appearance.
Even before the B-21 made its first flight, they couldn't wait to show their ambitions:
Let's take a look at how well the B-21 performs.
The first flight of the B-21 was accompanied by an F-16 two-seater, and the wingspan of the B-21 is clearly visible from this **:
According to simple measurements, the wingspan of the B-21 is 16 times that of the F-48 times, about 48 meters, while the wingspan of the B-2 bomber was 5242 meters.
The length of the B-21 is estimated to be about 17 meters, which is 4 meters shorter than the B-2.
The size of the B-21 is smaller than that of the B-2 bomber, so the range is also reduced, and the maximum range of the aircraft is between 8,000 km and 9,000 km, which is comparable to that of the H-6N bomber.
Some people always urge our R&D team to innovate, but the B-21 once again proves that innovation is not based on utopian dreams, but on the basis of inheritance, and is a process of quantitative change leading to qualitative change.
The B-21 follows the design concept of the B-2 bomber, first of all, the flying wing structural scheme, and the B-21 has developed a new shape on the basis of inheritance, canceling the movable beaver tail used by the B-2 bomber to control pitching, and also changing the double-W shape of the tail of the B-2 bomber to a "single W", which is more conducive to reducing the reflection of the backward radar.
The change in the tail also affected the design of the control surfaces, the B-21 adopted a configuration of one inside and three outside, with a total of 8 control surfaces on both wings, which is less than the 9 control surfaces of the B-2 bomber, and at the same time, the outermost control surface of the B-21 wing did not use the cracked rudder of the B-2 bomber. The reduction in the number of control surfaces reflects the advancement of flight control technology, which allows for a safe flight with fewer control surfaces.
The B-21's wing is a highlight, which adopts the design of the leading edge of the wing to bend downwards on the basis of the upward bend of the trailing edge of the B-2 wing, in order to generate a head-up moment and improve flight efficiency, and this design is also conducive to improving forward stealth.
Looking at the bomb magazine, due to the limitation of the size of the aircraft, the belly magazine of the B-21 has been changed from two to one of the B-2 bomber, and the bomb load has been reduced by half, about 10 tons. It is believed that it also has two smaller magazines on either side of the belly centerline, but considering that the B-21's air intake requires greater curvature, the engine is installed in a very low position, and the space for the magazine is already small, and the openings on both sides of the main magazine are more likely to be the mounting hatches of the engine.
The significant reduction in the bomb load of the B-21 can also be seen in the wheel configuration, the main landing gear of the aircraft is a two-wheel configuration, while the B-2 bomber is a four-wheeled trolley configuration, which means that the B-21 has a smaller fuselage and take-off weight.
In addition, it can be seen that the B-21 nose is equipped with an "airspeed tube" on the left side, and the tail is dragged with a long "tow cone", the former is used to measure speed, and the latter is a "towed static pressure cone", and the data measured by it can be used to calibrate the speed data measured by the airspeed tube, making the flight safer.
Normally, there will be additional airspeed tubes and tow cones installed only during the test flight phase, and not in the later stages of the test flight and in the finalized mass production phase. For example, the J-20 2001 demonstrator also has an airspeed tube, and the C919 passenger aircraft is also equipped with a tow cone during the test flight stage.
The B-21's air intake, cockpit, and tail vents are flatter than those of the B-2 bomber, which is designed for stealth on the one hand, and reduced flight resistance on the other.
In terms of power, the B-21 is likely to use two non-afterburner versions of the F-135 engines, which are halved in number compared to the B-2 bomber, and although the F-135 engine has a significant thrust advantage, the B-21 bomber's total thrust is still nearly 30% less than that of the B-2.
Judging by the design details, the B-21 had some technological advances, but on the whole, the mechanical properties of the platform were a noticeable regression compared to the B-2 bomber. This is similar to the relationship between the F-35 and the F-22, the mechanical performance of the former platform is also regressive, such as supersonic cruise and super-maneuverability, and the F-35 is inferior to the F-22.
The weakening of the mechanical properties of the platform is mainly to strengthen in other aspects, first of all, to reduce costs in order to facilitate mass production, after all, no matter how advanced it is, if it cannot be equipped in large quantities, it will not be able to form an effective combat capability For our new generation of bombers, what kind of bombers do we need, how to use bombers, these two questions have a clear answer. Many years ago, He Shengqiang, the person in charge of the bomber project, once said that the future bomber must go hand in hand with the requirements of the first-class army and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which is a kind of support and guarantee.
The main innovation of the US B-21 is in stealth performance and information equipment, while the mechanical performance of the platform has regressed, which is to reduce costs and increase the number of production, in order to form an effective combat capability. However, this approach is not necessarily appropriate to our national circumstances and strategic needs.
Our new generation bomber, which we call a "long-range bomber", means that it has a range of at least the same level as the H-6N and B-21, or even higher, because we do not have overseas bases and we need to be able to carry out strike missions far from home. At the same time, we also need a larger bomb load, because we need to be able to carry various types, both conventional and strategic, to deal with different threats and targets.
Therefore, the size of our H-20 fuselage will be much larger than that of the B-21, and such a new bomber can be compared with the "long-range strike bomber NGB" that the US military once planned to develop, but eventually abandoned because of the high cost.
At such a fuselage scale, the mechanical performance of our H-20 platform will not regress like the B-21, but will be improved, such as flight speed, flight altitude, flight stability, etc., which are important factors affecting the survivability and strike effect of the bomber.
Of course, our H-20 will not lag behind in stealth performance and information equipment, we have accumulated rich experience and data in the flying wing layout, and we have also successfully developed the most advanced metamaterial stealth film, which is a three-dimensional honeycomb structure material with omnidirectional absorption function, which can be used on the surface of the whole machine to achieve high stealth performance.
Our H-20 will also have a breakthrough in information equipment, we will use advanced airborne radar, electronic warfare system, data link system, artificial intelligence system, etc., so that the H-20 can achieve information sharing with other combat platforms, improve combat efficiency and flexibility, and at the same time be able to independently judge and respond to complex battlefield environments, improve combat safety and success rate.
Our H-20 is a strategic platform, it is not only developed to meet the national strategic needs, but also to demonstrate our technical strength and innovation capabilities, we will not blindly follow the pace of others, nor will we be affected by the progress of others, we will follow our own rhythm and standards, to create a bomber that meets our own needs, we will be the leader, not the follower.
When will our H-20 be unveiled? We believe that our R&D team has mastered all the necessary technologies, we believe that our H-20 is already in full swing for testing, we believe that our H-20 will show our strength to the world at the right time and in the right way, and we believe that our H-20 will make our country stronger and our people more proud.