Pentagon Dismisses China's B-21 Stealth Bomber Rival: Reports

A Pentagon official has shrugged off China's answer to the U.S.' new B-21 Raider stealth bomber.

"The thing with the H-20 is when you actually look at the system design, it's probably nowhere near as good as U.S. [low observable] platforms, particularly more advanced ones that we have coming down," the official told the press Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Equipped with stealth technology and capable of bearing both nuclear and conventional weapons, the H-20 could potentially alter the balance of power in the Pacific. People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force Deputy Commander Wang Wei last month said the strategic bomber would be unveiled "soon."

The U.S. Department of Defense official expressed skepticism the H-20 would live up to the hype.

"You may choose to unveil it just because they want to show that they're a great, you know, military power. 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.

China is known to have "run into a lot of engineering design challenges" during efforts to develop systems that are on par with the B-21 or the older B-2 Spirit, the official said. However, they added that the bigger challenge facing China is having competent personnel to leverage these systems "at speed and at scale."

Beijing has kept details about the Xi'an H-20, which analysts have dubbed "Storm," tightly under wraps since the project was first announced in 2016.

It is said to have a payload capacity of 45 tons—greater than the B-2's 20 tons and the B-52 Stratofortress' 35 tons. Its range has been estimated to be between 5,280 miles, posing a threat to U.S. forces in Guam, to 7,450 miles—which would put Hawaii within reach.

Beijing has been steadily modernizing the PLA in line with President Xi Jinping's designs to build a "world class" military that can challenge U.S. supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region.

This military expansion has spurred the U.S. to increase security cooperation with regional allies, including Japan, the Philippines and Australia, which are investing heavily in their defense capabilities.

Though American military leadership has stressed war with China is not inevitable, the Pentagon official stressed Monday that Xi and the Chinese Communist Party "almost certainly does" believe a conflict is coming and that Washington would be the party to start it.

Newsweek reached out to the Chinese foreign ministry with a written request for comment.

Developed by Northrop Grumman, the nuclear-capable B-21 was designed for deep-strike missions, featuring enhanced electronic warfare capabilities and next-generation stealth technology that make it hard to detect on radar.

Defense News reported at least six test B-21s have been or are being built, and the Air Force is expected to purchase at least 100 to eventually replace its B-1 and B-2 bomber fleets.

In November, footage surfaced of the aircraft over Palmdale, California, on its first reported test flight.