Why the Designer of B-2 Stealth Bomber is in Supermax Prison
Noshir Gowadia couldn’t stop his hands from trembling. Each passing second, every tick of the clock’s hands made the beating of his heart quicken, so much so that he could feel it thumping against his ribs. The suspense of waiting for the jury to return and issue their verdict made him almost nostalgic for the days when the most that he had to worry about… was getting caught. Gowadia’s life could have taken such a different trajectory. He could have lived and died with a legacy, remembered for his accomplishments and nothing else. Outside of the people who knew the machines he’d designed, the rest of the world would have been none the wiser as to who he was.
But he had fallen victim to his own greed, the human impulse to make money. And that was what had landed him in trouble. Had Gowadia known he’d end up sat in that chair, that he’d spent the last four months in that very courtroom, and that he’d be sat wracked with anxiety over what would happen next… well, maybe he would’ve thought twice about sending those faxes. The door to the courtroom swung open, the tension making it sound like a deafening boom to Gowadia’s ears. The jurors returned to their places, filing in and sitting down. He could feel each of their gazes locked onto him like laser-guided targeting systems. The court was called to rise for the judge, and Gowadia could feel his knees weaken as he stood up, the shuddering concealed by the desk in front of him. He could’ve sworn he heard one of his lawyers mutter two words under his breath:
“Good luck.” At the behest of the judge, the head juror rose. They had reached a verdict. Every second of silence that passed between the judge’s questions and the jury’s response felt like it lasted for several agonizing minutes. Until, one word cut through the terrified fog and rang out like the blast of a bombshell in Gowadia’s ears. When asked, the head juror told the judge that they had found the defendant…
Guilty. On the tenth of August, 2010, a jury returned their verdict for Noshir Gowadia, after a lengthy trial fraught with interruptions, both delays and attempts to stall the inevitable. In reality, there were mountains of evidence stacked against him, with very little chance that he’d manage to get away scot-free. What he’d done was not only a treasonous breach of national defense information, but also could have inadvertently changed the landscape of modern warfare technology across the entire world. So, what exactly was it that led to one of the lead designers of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber landing himself in a supermax prison, with no hope for release until 2032? Well, let’s start at the beginning. Noshir Gowadia was born in Mumbai, India. He would legally
immigrate to the United States, and obtain a US citizenship, before eventually starting work at the Northrop Grumman Corporation in November 1968. Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar, Northrop is a pretty big deal when it comes to aerospace engineering – both when it comes to commercially flown aircraft, as well as those designed and built for military use. And Noshir Gowadia would go on to have a pretty extensive career at the company as a design engineer, up until April 1986. During his time at Northrop, Gowadia would play a pivotal role in one of the company’s most famous pursuits: the designing and creation of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber. Even if you’ve never heard of that particular plane before, we’d wager you’ve almost certainly seen one, especially given the unique design of the B-2. If you’ve ever seen movies like 2008’s Cloverfield or Toho Pictures’ Shin Godzilla from 2016, then you’ll know that sometimes movie militaries will send out big bombers to take down threats, whether they’re a giant monster rampaging through a major city, or an alien invasion descending from above. For moments like this, Hollywood calls on the B-2.
The bomber’s distinctive shape has made it one of the most instantly recognized military aircraft in the world, as have its various appearances on screen, including cameos in Independence Day, Armageddon, Rampage, and Captain Marvel, as well as the previously mentioned giant monster movies. Even a few video games have featured appearances from this bomber; you’ll definitely be familiar with the B-2 if you’re a fan of the first-person shooter series Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, where the plane appears as the appropriately named ‘Stealth Bomber’ killstreak. As mentioned, what makes the B-2 so instantly recognizable is its unique silhouette. While not
the only plane to be designed and built in this configuration, the B-2 is what is known as a ‘flying wing.’ Where other planes have a fuselage and a tail at the rear, the B-2 and other similar designs are essentially just a single broad but very short wing; which also gives it the added bonus of looking like something that you’d expect Batman to fly over the skies of Gotham City. But there’s an actual tactical reasoning behind this particular design choice. Around the mid-seventies, designers for military aircraft had developed new methods for building their planes in such a way that meant they could avoid detection from enemy interceptor craft, and in some cases, even missiles. When you hear the word ‘stealth,’ sci-fi might make you think of cloaking devices that reflect light away from a vessel in order to make it invisible to the naked eye. Or perhaps, if you’re a little more knowledgeable when it comes to military engineering, the word might bring to mind vehicles that can avoid being picked up by radar. When people say ‘stealth’ in this context, they really mean what’s called low observable technology, in other words, exactly what a lot of these earlier stealth planes needed in order to become, not invisible, but more unnoticeable. The idea was to build an aircraft with an
airframe – the mechanical structure of the plane – that could absorb radar signals, or deflect them in a different direction, so that less of the signal was bounced back towards the radar unit, leading to the craft being detected. If a plane is able to fly without appearing on radar, it can get pretty close to strategic targets, while avoiding being shot down – at least, by weapons that require radar to guide them to their targets. Of course, this doesn’t mean that stealth planes – or other stealth vehicles, for that matter – are invisible. Observing them with the human eye is still a surefire way to spot them, as well as other detection methods like infrared scanners or acoustic locators. However, most stealth craft were capable of flying without detection or being tracked, especially at night. But, of course, the technology for detecting stealth planes started to improve, so in retaliation, new aircraft would be needed. After all, during the time the B-2 was about to start being designed and created,
the Cold War between the United States and the USSR was very much in full swing. And, of course, the ongoing development of fearsome new weapons by both the Americans and the Soviets brought with it the looming threat of nuclear war. The US had to consider the very real possibility of engaging in a nuclear conflict with their enemies, but if you think dropping a nuclear weapon on someone is something you can do without being detected, then you might have been playing too much Fallout. But what if a stealth bomber could be the one carrying that nuclear payload?
That’d certainly make it easier to get close enough to an enemy target without being spotted, then drop a thermonuclear gravity bomb as opposed to launching a big missile. And thanks to that stealth bomber not showing up on radar, the enemy likely wouldn’t notice until it was too late. That was what the B-2 Spirit was primarily designed for. Developed during the Jimmy Carter administration, the project to create an Advanced Technology Bomber, or ATB, went underway in the eighties. This was around the time that Noshir Gowadia was working for the Northrop Grumman Corporation. Fun fact on Northrop too; in 1979, they had a classified technology demonstration aircraft called the Tacit Blue being developed at Area 51, of all places – yes, that Area 51.
Some of the stealth plane technology that was developed during this time was partially thanks to the work of Noshir Gowadia, and would also later be incorporated into the designs of other operational aircraft, including the B-2 Spirit. The initial goal in creating the B-2 stealth bomber was to give it the necessary characteristics needed to breach the Soviet Union’s air defenses, which by this point had become sophisticated enough to detect and shoot down a number of earlier bombers. So, in order to avoid being caught by Soviet radar signals used in detection, the B-2 would actually redirect the incoming radar energy, effectively sending it away from itself and quite literally flying under the radar. How, exactly? Well, this came down to its overall design. The B-2 bomber incorporates a lot of large and complex curved shapes over its surface in order to allow it to stay undetected. This unique shape and structure meant that the Spirit couldn’t be fitted with the typical vertical fins that stabilize winged aircraft, instead relying on flaps that trail the edge of its notched wing in order to aid its direction in controlled rolls and turns. Northrop’s engineers also developed
a radar absorbent coating known as Alternate High Frequency Material. This wouldn’t be added to the B-2 until quite some time later, but spraying on coatings of this stuff seriously cuts down on maintenance time, and allows B-2s to retain their stealthy, radar-avoiding characteristics. So, where does Noshir Gowadia come into all this? What exactly was his contribution to the design of the B-2? Did he draw up schematics to make the aircraft stealthier, or did he just insist that the cockpit have a cup holder? Unfortunately, we haven’t found any leaked top-secret documents to confirm our cup holder theory. What we do know is that Gowadia was, in part, responsible for making the B-2’s harder to detect. Primarily though, he was the man who got this enormous bomber to actually fly. Armed with clearance to help develop this top-secret technology, the trust
given to Gowadia would inevitably prove misplaced… You see, the B-2s were actually pretty huge; in fact, let’s talk stats! Each of the 20 operational B-2 bombers and the additional experimental one, all produced by Northrop, measure in at almost 70 feet (21.3m) long, standing 17 feet (5.18m) tall, with a wingspan of 172 feet (52.43m). Or, in more patriotic units, that’s around half the length of an average football field (anything but the metric system!). On top of that,
the B-2 had to carry some 40,000 pounds (18,144kg) of ordnance, either up to 80 Mk 82 JDAM GPS-guided bombs – which weighed in at 500 pounds (227kg) each – or a maximum of 16 B83 nuclear bombs, each one a hefty 2,400 pounds (1,089kg). When you add the sheer size and weight of the aircraft itself to the massive amount of boom it was packing, needless to say, the B-2 would be in need of some serious engine power in order to not only get airborne and stay flying, but to also do so without risking detection. You might think some big afterburners would get the job done, but these produce infrared emissions, meaning that any aircraft propelled by them will likely be picked up on infrared scanners… or worse, infrared-guided missiles. If you’re flying a craft with big afterburners and a huge nuclear payload, you’re going to want to avoid having your plane shot down, after all. But afterburners are often prime targets for surface-to-air heat-seeking missiles; come on, afterburners, it’s literally in the name that engines like these produce tons and tons of heat. When it came to finding a way to make the
B-2 avoid the potential drawbacks of afterburners, Noshir Gowadia came up with an out-of-the-box idea for the bomber’s propulsion system. The Spirit would be powered by four turbofan engines as opposed to afterburners; turbofans are a more advanced form of turbojet engines, which function by sucking air inwards and compressing it. This compressed air is then used in a combustion process by combining it with the aircraft’s fuel. Turbofan engines consist of
large fans that work along the same principle, except only part of the air they draw in is used for combustion – the rest is released as exhaust. Overall they’re not as noisy as turbojets, as well as being more powerful, making them ideal for propelling an incredibly heavy bomber that needs to remain hidden. While it wouldn’t be capable of supersonic flight thanks to its lack of afterburners, Gowadia’s work ensured that the B-2 would have a far greater radius for combat, able to fly further and reach enemy targets before using up all the fuel it would need for the return flight back to base. Gowadia also made some additional design contributions to the B-2, including its secret rear section, which featured ports that he specially designed to cool down the exhaust coming from the turbofans. The propulsion system Gowadia conceptualized, designed, and then helped to develop, would be installed within the B-2 itself, rather than being situated on the aircraft’s exterior.
Owing to his contributions to the B-2’s propulsion system, Gowadia credited himself as being the “father of the technology that protects the B-2 stealth bomber from heat-seeking missiles.” That sure is a lot of credit for him to graciously award himself, but it’s perhaps not entirely unwarranted, given the four turbofans would make it next to impossible to detect the B-2, at least solely via the use of infrared detection systems. However, it also likely contributed to the planes being ludicrously expensive. The considerable costs behind developing and operating the B-2 Spirit garnered the Advanced Technology Bomber its own share of controversy among members of the United States Congress at the time. On average, the development, engineering, testing, and eventual production of the B-2 cost around $2.13 billion US dollars. If you factor
in inflation, that would be just over $4 billion today! Building each of the craft cost almost $740 million dollars, along with an average of a little under $930 million per plane in total procurement costs. That’s everything from spare parts, providing onboard equipment and retrofitting each plane. In short, the B-2 is one of the most expensive aircraft in the entire world. Whilst the original plan was to produce 132 B-2 stealth bombers, delays hindered the project, as well as causing things to get even pricier. Add to that the fact that, by the nineties, the Cold War that the B-2s were being built for was already winding down. The need for a stealth aircraft specifically designed to conduct air strikes and even nuclear bombings deep in Soviet-controlled territory was fading, and once the Soviet Union formally dissolved, United States lawmakers saw little need for so many of these expensive planes. Ultimately,
over the late eighties and early nineties, the purchase of B-2s by the United States Air Force from the Northrop Grumman Corporation was shrunk, dropping from the planned 132 to only 21, one experimental unit, and twenty operational bombers. Their chief role was also changed; the B-2s would still be capable of nuclear strikes, but would be used for more conventional weapons delivery. Despite no longer being needed for the purpose they’d originally been designed for, the US had a handful of these bombers now – and in true American fashion, having them also meant they flaunted them. After all, the capabilities of the B-2 Spirit bombers certainly weren’t anything to be sniffed at. They could perform attack runs from altitudes as high as 50,000 feet (15,240m); for
comparison, commercial airlines tend to only fly on average between 30,000 feet (9,144m) to 40,000 feet (12,192m) in the air. B-2s can travel more than 6,000 nautical miles at a time, even reaching up to 10,000 if they are refueled mid-flight. That’s right, these bad boys can not only carry enough explosives to wipe a small country off the map, but can also have their fuel tanks topped up while they are still flying! This allows these bombers to reach practically anywhere in the world within a matter of mere hours. The B-2 Spirit stealth bombers entered into active service in a year, 1997, around a decade after Northrop Grumman had begun producing the newly designed aircraft. As recent as 2015, the twenty operational B-2s were still in active service within the United States Air Force, with plans to continue operating them until as late as the year 2032, when they’re set to be replaced by the more advanced B-21 Raider, also designed and built by our old pals at the Northrop Grumman Corporation. As for the B-2’s effectiveness in combat,
the stealth bomber would get a chance to show off exactly what it could do not long after being entered into service. From 1989 onwards, the then President of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic, was enacting a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Albanians from Kosovo, a small, landlocked country in Southeast Europe, right in the centre of the Balkans. By the time of 1995, the violence between Serbian forces and Kosovar Albanians had resulted in the loss of a quarter of a million innocent lives. Warnings from the United Nations Security Council suggested that this was leading to an impending humanitarian crisis, and when a UN team travelled to Kosovo to observe the situation directly, they witnessed Serbian forces attacking unarmed civilians. Peace negotiations held in 1999 saw more of their forces, loyal to Slobodan Milosevic, amassing on the border between Serbia and Kosovo, and when the Serbian president ultimately rejected all proposals for a peaceful solution, he sent forty thousand troops into Kosovo, leading to a refugee crisis. In response, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation, better known as NATO, launched what it had called Operation Allied Force. The goal was to force Milosevic to withdraw his troops from Kosovo, but NATO leaders had opposed the use of ground troops to achieve their goal – instead, this was all about air superiority. Six B-2 stealth bombers were among the massive number of planes that were ordered to launch attacks against various targets. The three phase plan of Operation Allied Force was to first strike at Serbian air defence systems, then their military installations that lay on both the north and south of the Kosovo border, including air strikes that would target the Serbian capital city of Belgrade. This was the first ever combat deployment of the B-2 stealth bomber, and it certainly wasn’t a slouch. They were flown non stop for thirty one hours, all the way from Whiteman Air
Force Base in Missouri over to Kosovo, only to fly all the way back after carrying out their attacks. Despite only being involved in one per cent of the strikes that took place within the first eight weeks of Operation Allied Force, B-2 bombers were responsible for destroying thirty three per cent of all Serbian ground targets. That would be far from the list of accolades that the B-2 has achieved during the course of its operational history. It also holds the record for the longest aerial combat mission of all time. In 2001, six B-2 Spirits were sent to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom, the name given to the first stage of the War in Afghanistan, part of the United States government’s larger War on Terror. B-2 stealth bombers were among the first American aircraft to enter Afghanistan airspace, breaking a world record in the process.
Once again setting off from Whiteman Air Force Base, the bombers flew for forty four hours, making it all the way to Afghanistan with only a forty five minute pit stop in between, during which the planes were serviced and the active crews were switched out. Apparently, the entire time this was happening, their engines didn’t even stop running. Once that had successfully carried out air strikes on their targets in Afghanistan, the B-2s would once again make the round trip all the way back to Missouri, taking thirty hours. This meant that the entire mission lasted for almost seventy consecutive hours, with the Spirits staying airborne for almost the entire time! The B-2’s record, while impressive, has hardly been a perfect one. In 2008,
one of the Spirit bombers, referred to as the Spirit of Kansas, crashed on a runway only a few moments after taking off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. This was the first operational loss of a B-2 bomber, but as of 2024, it remains the only time that one has ever been lost. Still, that’s not all that bad, right? One crash since the nineties. Wait, that one crash cost how much? Estimated to have run up a bill of almost one and a half billion US dollars, the Andersen Base B-2 Accident is considered the most expensive aircraft crash in history.
As for the cause of the incident? The plane was wet. No, seriously. An investigation launched into the crash determined that heavy rains had led to moisture making its way into the plane’s air data sensors. These provide the pilot and crew with crucial info while they’re in the air, including helping them to calculate airspeed and altitude. Condensation within the plane's instruments meant
the on board computers miscalculated the correct airspeed and angle of attack, causing the flight control system to essentially switch to a different setting the moment the wheels left the runway. The result? One big crash, and a lot of mess to clear up. Luckily though, there were no fatalities. Only two crew members were aboard the Spirit of Kansas B-2 when it crashed, and while they were injured, they managed to survive far more intact than the bomber itself. Of course, an examination into the cause of an accidental crash isn’t the only investigation that would occur linked to the B-2 bomber. More specifically, into the activities of one of its core designers: Noshir Gowadia. While his work for the Northrop Grumman Corporation had quite
literally put the B-2 in the air, and kept it from drawing the attention of heat seeking missiles, by the time the planes were complete, Gowadia had already departed from the company. After spending twenty years working for one of the United States’ top defence contractors, Gowadia left in the late eighties. He would set up his own consultancy company, N.S. Gowadia Incorporated, in 1999, but for the most part, he was free to relax in his multi million dollar house in Hawaii. His time designing stealth aircraft was at an end… or was it?
In October of 2005, Gowadia received quite the unexpected house call. Answering the knocks on his door, he no doubt would’ve been shocked to see federal agents standing on his porch, demanding to search the premises. Overall, they searched his residence twice, before Noshir Gowadia was arrested on the twenty sixth of October, and charged with providing top secret defence information to unauthorised parties. And a lot of that secret information was related to
the B-2 stealth bomber. If he hadn’t already been feeling anxious before, Gowadia certainly was now. After all, he hadn’t been expecting to get caught… You see, when Gowadia left his position at Northrop and started up his own consulting company, he did so with the intention of making a lot of money. His reasoning was, while working at Northrop Grumman, he had been working for a salary, but by selling his expertise to the highest bidder. He’d be able
to pocket any profits he garnered consulting, especially by doing business as N.S. Gowadia Inc, a company literally named after himself. And one that he could use to market himself as the “father of the technology that protects the B-2 stealth bomber from heat-seeking missiles''. Remember that one? Oh, it wasn’t just Gowadia patting himself on the back; that was how he marketed himself. Working as a consultant, he began teaching classes and providing what he referred to as “research and development, engineering services, technical consulting and any business related thereto.”
What that actually meant was he was travelling abroad to share the secret information he’d picked up from his time with the Northrop Grumman Corporation and, in return, receiving a nice chunk of change. Although, not quite enough. His company only brought in gross receipts of around seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars – oh, to be able to call a sum like that ‘not enough’. But, in actuality, it wasn’t; remember that multi million dollar mansion in Hawaii that Gowadia lived at? Well, during the early years of his consultancy company, he was trying to buy the land on the island of Maui needed to build the almost seven thousand square foot house… a house later valued at just over one point six million US dollars. Add a mortgage on top, and that luxury home was starting to look pretty pricey. Then, in 2002, Gowadia sent a fax – hey, remember those? – to representatives of at least three foreign governments. The fax in question contained
a top secret United States Air Force document detailing the technology that he’d developed for the B-2 bomber. Specifically, it disclosed how the Spirit was able to prevent detection by infrared. But those weren’t the only secrets he decided to spill – there were plenty more, some that had a direct impact on the military technology of other countries.
Between the years of 2003 and 2005, Noshir Gowadia would make a number of trips to Chengdu, in China, six in total. Why there? Well, how about two reasons: for one, Chengdu was home to the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, as well as being the location of the company that developed China’s very own stealth plane: the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter. It is widely believed that, during his time in China, Gowadia used his expertise, as well as top secret information, to directly contribute to the design and development of a Chinese cruise missile. He was thought to have provided details that would have made the weapons more effective against other American air to air missiles. Gowadia even went as far as to try and cover his tracks by asking border agents not to put immigration stamps in his passport when he visited China.
During this same time frame, he was also thought to have sold classified stealth technology information to the government of Switzerland, and to various businesses based in Israel and Germany. Gowadia also provided even more classified information that he’d had access to while he was working for Northrop, to individuals attending a course he was teaching. The course focused on low observable technology – and remember, that’s military engineering lingo for ‘stealth’. All that is known about the people present is that they were from another unspecified
country; this country and the identity of the individuals that attended Gowadia’s course have never been publicly revealed. Also, back in 2002, Gowadia send another fax – he should really have stopped using that fax machine of his – containing a proposal for another unspecified foreign country. This contained plans for infrared suppression technology to be installed in military aircraft, similarly to the stealth technology Gowadia had helped develop for the B-2 bomber. This fax was also said to have included a classified document that specifically mentioned some of the United States’ own defence systems. Upon his arrest, Noshir Gowadia was charged with a single count of wilfully communicating national defence information to a party that wasn’t permitted to receive it. Under federal law, that’s considered an act of espionage; more than just being illegal, it’s treasonous.
When his Hawaii mansion was searched, federal officers uncovered numerous classified documents, illegal keepsakes from Gowadia’s days working for the Northrop Grumman Corporation. When put on the spot, Gowadia admitted to his crimes, confessing that he had knowingly shared classified information, not only verbally and by sharing documents, but also through presentations at the courses he’d taught, as well as sending secret information in letters and through any other methods you can imagine. Arguably even worse was his reasoning: it was all so he could establish a sense of credibility with the potential customers of his consultancy company, so he could secure for future business and, as a result, net himself more money. On top of the dissemination of classified defence information, Gowadia was also slapped with charges relating to his assistance in designing stealth technology for those Chinese cruise missiles, as well as money laundering and tax evasion also added to the pile.
Much like the development of the B-2 that had granted him access to the secrets he stole and sold, Gowadia’s trial was subject to numerous delays. While it was initially scheduled for July of 2007, it had to be postponed until February of the following year. Initially, this was so that Gowadia’s legal counsel could be subjected to a rigorous background check. Given the highly sensitive nature of the classified secrets he’d been sharing, in order for them to be submitted as evidence, the Department of Justice had to scrupulously investigate everyone who’d be partaking in the trial. Then, the trial was delayed even further, in large part
thanks to Gowadia proving uncooperative when it came to actually working with his lawyers, causing assessments to be made into his mental wellbeing and fitness to stand trial. In 2009, his defence tried to argue that Gowadia suffered from narcissistic personality disorder, however, this was dismissed by US Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang, who said that Gowadia’s unwillingness to work with his defence lawyers didn’t mean he was incapable of doing so. If anything, Gowadia was just trying to delay the inevitable. The trial eventually took place in 2010, with
opening statements given on the twelfth of April, followed by nearly four whole months of testimony, concluding on the twenty ninth of July. Then, the jury spent five days deliberating, before eventually reaching a guilty verdict on the tenth of August that year. In January 2011, Gowadia received his sentence. While he could have landed in prison for the rest of his life, he instead faced thirty two years behind bars. Noshir Gowadia is scheduled for release in
February of 2032; in an ironic twist of fate, that also happens to be the exact same year that the B-2 stealth bomber is set to be replaced and retired from active service. The plane that he helped get in the air will be flying no more by the time Gowadia is released. But the story doesn’t quite end there. Thanks to the secret information that Gowadia sold to
foreign governments, and his involvement with China, it has long been suspected that he either directly contributed to, or at least indirectly helped start, the development of three other stealth plane projects that are currently being worked on by the Chinese military. The first of these is a heavily modified variant of the J-11B, an advanced, twin engine, multi purpose fighter jet built by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. This newer, modified stealth version, the Shenyang J-16 Silent Flanker, not only features stealth capabilities like those Gowadia helped develop for the B-2, but also comes equipped with internal weapons bays, engine intakes that are optimised for undetected flight, as well as canted vertical fins. Then, there’s the Mighty Dragon – and no, not the ones from legends and folklore. The Chengdu J-20,
as mentioned earlier, happened to emerge from the same city Gowadia was reported to have made several trips to. Developed by the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation, the J-20 is intended for use by the People's Liberation Army Air Force. It is capable of carrying out precision strikes using long range air to air missiles. The J-20 lacks any kind of internal auto cannons or rotary cannons, but this is because it was designed to be an air superiority fighter, making precise, devastating attacks without getting into short range dogfights with other aircraft. When the Chengdu J-20 entered active service in March 2017, it made China the second country in the world, and the first in all of Asia, to have a stealth aircraft in operation. As for bombers, China was developing the Xian H-8,
a prototype stealth bomber. Said to house between four and six large engines under its wings, the H-8 would have served as a tactical, stealth and heavy bomber all rolled into one aircraft. However, this project was said to have been abandoned back in the seventies. So far, there seems to have been no attempt by China to replicate the stealth technology of the B-2 that was responsible for developing, and selling to fuel his own greed. For now, at least.
2024-05-24 09:00
