For the JH-7 retirement I agree, however even in China J-16 don't grown on trees and are surely not cheap. As such to replace all JH-7As still some years will come ... and the H-20 is anyway a different beast, which is no replacement for the JH-7.
Agree, of course that H-20 is not replacement of JH-7, JH-7 is tactic bomber, while H-20 is strategic bomber, they are in different category, such as range, payload.
What I mean is flying wing design,
not the size of B-2.
The true replacement of JH-7 will be a
40-50 ton B-2 alike bomber, single engine. Max takeoff weight/trust ratio is around 5. Double the combat range of JH-7, bigger or similar payload.
The west pacific theater is much larger than Central Europe, China need longer range fighter, and bomber. 40-50 ton flying wing bomber can provide maximum 2000 km combat range, or 1000 km combat range with maximum payload, which is awesome for the first island chain.
Besides, there are other smaller unmanned flying wing bomber available now, like
Hongdu GJ-11.
en.wikipedia.org
JH-7 is still a good war machine, as long as maintenance cost is lower, PLA will keep this toy for a few more years until replacement is ready.
In comparison, B-2 Max takeoff weight/trust ratio is around 5.3
Better retire all JH-7 when the service life expires
As such to replace all JH-7As still some years will come
Sure
