The most advanced strategic bomber, B-21, will be released on December 2. Analysts say that this stealth bomber, which has been greatly upgraded based on B-2, will be stationed in the Pacific region, which will significantly shorten China's reaction time and put great pressure on the PLA.
In this regard, " South China Morning Post " quoted Fu Qianshao, the former equipment expert of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA), that China is not worried about the invasion of the B-21 stealth bomber , and has been prepared for a long time. If it dares to come, it will definitely be a suicide mission. How advanced is
B-21, compared with B-2?
On October 20, a short message was posted on Northrop Grumman's official website:
In partnership with the U.S. Air Force, we will unveil the B-21 Raider on December 2, 2022.
cooperates with the US Air Force. We will launch the B-21 Raider Bomber on December 2, 2022
and then there is a huge picture. The classic NEXT series:
US media BreakingDefense has a more detailed introduction. The report stated that Northrop Grumman will hold a press conference at its factory in Parmdale, California. General Pat Ryder, press secretary of the Pentagon, said that Northrop will be responsible for determining the guest list and sending invitations.
"The last time the United States introduced the new bomber more than 30 years ago, "
" B-21 attack aircraft will provide our country with strong combat capabilities and can be used in a series of operations in a fiercely competitive environment in the future."
B-2 So excellent: Why do you need B-21 to replace it?
B-21 Raider is a strategic bomber developed by Northrop Grumman for the US Air Force (USAF). This is part of the US military's LRS-B (Long-range Strike Bomber) plan. In the future, it will replace the B-2 as an advanced, ultra-long-range, large, heavy-load stealth intercontinental strategic bomber of the US Air Force. The weapons it delivers include conventional weapons and nuclear weapons .
, and the B-21's predecessor, B-2, is an excellent stealth strategic bomber. It was the first bomber in 1989. It has a large aircraft with a wingspan of 52.4 meters, a length of 21 meters and a height of 5.18 meters. It has 2 pilots, a maximum take-off weight of 170.6 tons, a bomb load of 23 tons, a maximum speed of 1,010 kilometers per hour, and a maximum range of 11,000 kilometers.
In addition to these visible indicators, there is also an "invisible" indicator. The first stealth bomber of the US military was the F-117. Although the stealth performance is appropriate, the aerodynamic performance of is really poor. By the time of the B-2, it was already an excellent aerodynamic wing body fusion flying wing body. Its radar reflective area (RCS) is as low as 0.1 square meters. Therefore, the opponent's radar was hit before it even discovered it when performing the mission.
Since officially put into service in 1997, B-2 has participated in many combat missions. The first time it participated in the war was during the 1999 Kosovo War . After refueling from the base in Missouri through the air, it spanned half of the earth, flew directly to Yugoslavia and returned. The whole journey took more than 30 hours, accurately destroying the selected target.
After that, in 2001, the strike mission against Afghanistan and the Iraq combat mission in 2003. The deployment locations range from Whiteman Air Force Base in in in in to Diego Garcia Air Force Base, as well as Guam Andersen Air Force Base and RAF Fairford in the UK.
During the 25 years of service, there were no damages in the battle except for three accidents. However, what everyone must know is that B-2 threw 5 JDAM ammunition at the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia on May 7, 1999 (UTC time), causing the death of Chinese journalists Shao Yunhuan, Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying, injured dozens of embassy staff and destroyed the embassy. The Chinese people will always remember this blood debt.
B-2 has been in service for more than 20 years. Although it is still the world's most advanced stealth bomber under the continuous upgrading of the US military, it has several fatal shortcomings that cannot be compensated:
- 1, the unit price is as high as US$2.13 billion, which is too high;
- 2, the operating cost of per hour is as high as US$135,000, which is twice that of B-52;
- 3, underestimate the maintenance of the detection coating is too poor;
- 5. Some problems with defensive electronic equipment; the unit price of
8 74. Insufficient quantity: Only 21 aircraft were produced in total, one of which crashed, and two accidents had been repaired; B-2 was initially designed at US$553.6 million, and the final cost was as high as US$2.1 billion. Even the US military felt that it was too expensive and the cost of use was too high. Base deployment and battlefield intervention needed to be considered at the strategic level. The US military believed that although this type of aircraft was good, it was too little to use and it was too troublesome to approve it layer by layer, so it wanted to develop a new strategic stealth bomber.
The US Air Force proposed the development plan for B-21 in July 2014, and put forward a series of requirements:
- low detectability (stealth performance)
- can choose "manned" and "unmanned" driving modes (can use unmanned mode)
- subsonic is the maximum speed (no supersonic performance)
- According to the 2010 estimate, each aircraft cost limit is In the $550 million
- long-range strike capability (extra-large range)
- can throw hydrogen bomb (strategic nuclear strike capability)
There is another requirement that is not listed, which is the "loyal wingman" control requirement that was not yet planned. The B-21 has greatly improved the stealth and maintainability, the cost of unit time use, and the onboard electronic equipment, especially the number will be more than the B-2. The US military plans to purchase 175 to 200 aircraft, which means ten times more than the B-2!
However, B-21 is smaller than B-2. For example, the wingspan of B-2 stealth bomber is about 2/3 to 1/2 of 172 feet (52.4 meters), which means that the B-21 is a big circle smaller than the B-2, but the speed is similar, and the bomb load and range are much lower than the B-2, but the US military has not disclosed the specific parameters of the bomb load and range.
Obviously, the US military will make up for these differences in quantity. Moreover, due to the relatively small fuselage, the requirements for the hangar are not very high, so there will be more airports around the world that can deploy B-21s. The US military is very much looking forward to the service of this stealth bomber.
Chinese Air Force can kill B-21: What are the methods?
Although the flight parameters of B-2 are not excellent, it is still a large subsonic bomber. Once it is targeted by fighter , there is basically no chance of escape. The most terrifying thing about B-2 is its stealth performance, 0.1 square meters of RCS (radar scattering cross-sectional area), and the discovery distance of airborne phased array radar is about 60 kilometers. If you fly at a low altitude, the discovery distance will be closer.
B-21 is an upgrade of B-2. RCS is likely to have an increase of orders of magnitude. If it is as low as 0.01 square meters, the discovery distance may be less than 30 kilometers. However, the search radar for the S-300PMU2 is more than 70 kilometers for the target of 0.01 square meters. Once discovered at this distance, B-21 is also difficult to escape, and its RCS will increase exponentially at the moment of dropping the bomb. However, due to the short time, it is difficult to lock the target by the radar in such a short time.
However, the projection distance of weapons outside the defense zone attacks is far more than 70 kilometers. For example, the projection distance of the US military's joint combat zone weapon AGM154 is projected at a low altitude of about 20 kilometers, and the high altitude can reach more than 130 kilometers. This kind of off-domain weapon without tail flame and partial stealth plus the stealth characteristics of the B-21 are like entering a no-man for the small country air force. If the missile is deployed, the distance will be farther and the concealment will only be higher.
Chinese Air Force: What exactly can counter B-21?
The South China Morning Post on October 26 discussed this topic very seriously, believing that due to the current tension between China and the United States and the range factors, B-21 is likely to be deployed at airports between the first island chain and the second island chain , such as bases such as Guam. This forward deployment will bring huge pressure to China.
and it is very likely to have the ability to carry a "loyal wingman". Even its unmanned state can become a "loyal wingman" of other fighter jets or bombers. This will make the B-21 combat system very penetrating in the enemy's air defense system , and the system to defend against B-21 bomber becomes very difficult. In the future, in the wars that may occur in the Taiwan Strait, B-21 will become a very difficult strike weapon for the People's Liberation Army to deal with.
However, Fu Qianshao, former equipment expert of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), said that the B-21 is not as powerful as imagined. At least from the current point of view, PLA can counter B-21 in multiple dimensions in multiple dimensions. PLA's land-based anti-large stealth radar can detect B-21 at a long distance;
There are many opinions on anti-stealth radar , such as the legendary Vera radar, of course, that is already behind. At present, PLA's anti-stealth radar has been updated long ago. For example, the fourth-generation land-based JY-27A meter wave three-coordinate phased array anti-stealth radar developed by China Electronics Technology on the basis of JY-27 was unique in the world!
VHF frequency band maneuverable long-range air-to-air monitoring system adopts a two-dimensional digital phased array system, integrating -meter wave and active phased control and terrain adaptive measurement technology, making it have extremely strong detection capabilities for stealth targets. The detection distance of stealth fighters such as F35 and F22 is more than 350 kilometers, and the maximum can reach 500 kilometers. JY-27A radar has detected the F22 fighter echo signal for military exercises in South Korea's waters many times and accurately identified it.
In March 2022, Kenneth Wilsbach, commander of the US Pacific Air Force and general of the Air Force, said that F-35 received a warning when it was active in East China Sea and approaching Chinese airspace:
"This is the Chinese Air Force. You are approaching Chinese airspace, leave immediately!
According to Kenneth Wellsbach Kenneth Kenneth Wilsbach said that the fighter jets from Wuhu's Ninth Air Brigade were warned by the fighter jets from the Ninth Air Brigade of Wuhu, but what surprised the US pilot was that the F-35 received its warning before seeing J-20, which indicated that the F-35 was already one-way transparent by J-20.
At present, it is not certain whether the J-20 radar discovered the F-35 or the land-based anti-stealth radar discovered the F-35, but no matter which method, at least China has accumulated considerable advantages in dealing with radar stealth fighter jets, and the F-35 cannot even meet in the East China Sea.
Photoelectric infrared perception: 285 kilometers away target
"South China Morning Post" once 8 On the 23rd, a team of defense industrial engineers from the southwest part of in China has developed an infrared search and perception system that can detect and track -type targets of the -type size at 285 kilometers away. What's more magical is that it can clearly identify the outline, rotor, tail and number of engines from the infrared spectral image, which is simply to observe the world from the perspective of God.
In addition, the team also stated that the system can use the fast search mode and can also shoot a laser to the target of interest. By receiving the returned photon , it can learn more detailed information. This is definitely a shocking bolt for radar stealth aircraft, because the bomber of radar stealth almost runs naked in the infrared band.
The party with this kind of battlefield reconnaissance technology basically realizes one-way transparency to the battlefield. Such combat is like commanding in the sand table of God, but the opponent is like a blind man. In this state, the radar stealth B-21 leading the "loyal wingman" to kick the door may be as ridiculous as stealing the bell.
direct attack on the airport: Is it effective?
Whether it is Guam or Diego Garcia, or Ryukyu Islands , Philippines and Singapore bases, Chinese missiles are easy to attack these targets. For example, the range of DF-17 is as high as more than 2,500 kilometers, and the Diego Garcia Air Base on Indian Ocean is also within range, and hypersonic gliding weapons are difficult to intercept, which is self-evident.
is relatively expensive, because attacks on the base indicate that the war has escalated, but in the early stage, they have to accept the losses caused by B-21. Therefore, attacks on the base are a means that must be possessed, but there must be a denial strategy. Anti-stealth radar, long-range infrared and search perception systems are powerful weapons in our hands. As the upgraded version of B-21, there will never be any brilliant achievements of B-2.
#Telebrity Creation Challenge#
Reference:
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/10/the-air-force-has-finally-set-a-date-to-reveal-the-enigmatic-b-21-bomber/
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3197223/b-21-bomber- will-cut-us-response-time-against-china-cant-hide-pla-military-experts?module=lead_hero_story&pgtype=homepage
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3189835/chinas-heat-seeking-radar-300km-range-boosts-anti-stealth-tech
