Key Points and Summary: China has unveiled a new, highly advanced fighter jet, showcasing its growing military prowess. Images of the triangular, stealth-focused aircraft, likely developed by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, emerged on social media, sparking speculation about its capabilities.
-The design suggests a focus on long-range missions and a significant payload capacity, potentially surpassing even the J-20.
6th Generation Fighter from China mockup via social media.
-The unusual three-engine configuration hints at limitations in China’s domestic engine technology.
-This new fighter, possibly a tactical bomber, could significantly alter the military balance in the South China Sea and around Taiwan, highlighting the need for the West to recognize China’s rapidly advancing military technology.
Stealth Bomber or Fighter? Decoding the Secrets of China’s New Warplane
This afternoon, video and images of a brand-new Chinese fighter jet hit social media. While details are still sketchy, the Dorito-shaped aircraft is China’s most advanced manned aircraft design. Thanks to the netizens who posted images and clips to social media, we can infer a few things about its role and capabilities.
Still, other details will likely remain a mystery for months, if not years.
What We Know About China’s New 6th-Generation Fighter (Or Bomber?)
In a characteristically low-key release, China revealed a new, previously undisclosed fighter jet design to the world by flying it over an urban area, allowing citizens below to record video and feed clips into the never-ending social media stream.
For example, the 2010 reveal of the J-20 “Mighty Dragon” fighter involved flying it over a Chengdu airfield, whereupon aviation enthusiasts promptly photographed it.
Once again, Chinese authorities have revealed themselves as masters of generating buzz, allowing sudden revelations, crude videos, and lack of official statements to build mystery and excitement.
The new aircraft was photographed earlier today in China over the central city of Chengdu. The aircraft was filmed accompanied by what appears to be the two-seat version of the J-20 Mighty Dragon, the J-20S, acting in the capacity of a chase plane.
The sighting location and the use of a J-20 strongly suggest Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, CAC developed the fighter for short. CAC was responsible for the development of none other than the J-20 itself.
A New Design
The aircraft has a large, triangular-shaped design. Like the B-2 Spirit or B-21 Raider bombers, it blends wing and fuselage into a single structure, reducing the number of vertical surfaces to produce a radar return.
Although images are fuzzy, it appear to have a reasonably conventional nose, with horizontal splines where the upper and lower halves of the aircraft meet.
The aircraft utilizes a cranked arrow configuration, in which narrow leading edges broaden sharply mid-fuselage, creating a large, triangular wing.
A complete lack of horizontal and vertical stabilizers also increases the plane’s stealthy profile, and this is the first Chinese aircraft to do away with both. Unlike a B-2 bomber with its boomerang shape, the new Chinese fighter fills in the area between the wings, resulting in a triangular-shaped airplane. In that respect, the aircraft resembles a stealth bomber concept released by Boeing in the 1970s that never went into production.
J-20 Fighter from PLAAF China
The fighter’s triangular design results in a large internal volume area. Unlike non-stealthy aircraft, which can carry additional fuel, weapons, and sensors externally on the fuselage or wingtips, stealth aircraft stow payloads internally to eliminate their appearance on radar.
This often results in a reduced payload for stealthy aircraft, like the F-35, or physically larger aircraft to accommodate increased internal stowage. The new fighter can almost certainly carry a vast and broad mix of air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and, thanks to greater fuel capacity can carry them farther than even the J-20.
Three Engine Stealth Fighter for China?
One of the most unusual features of the jet is the presence of three air intakes, two flanking the cockpit and one behind it. This indicates the aircraft has not one or two but three turbofan engines. This is likely the first fighter-type aircraft in history to utilize three separate engines. However, there is no clear advantage to this.
Another 6th-generation stealth aircraft from China🇨🇳
Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) has also unveiled its 6th-generation stealth demonstrator, which has successfully completed its maiden flight last week further solidifying China’s position in next-generation fighter… pic.twitter.com/EbrVvz57kt
— Global Defense Agency (@Defense_GDA) December 26, 2024
Indeed, it likely points to a disadvantage in China’s aviation industry: the lack of powerful engines to make the fighter a two-engine aircraft.
China has been pushing hard to catch up in the world of high performance aircraft engines, but the explicit design of a three-engine aircraft suggests even China’s aerospace designers don’t think domestic engines will equal Western designs any time soon.
🇨🇳China reveals world’s first 6th Gen Stealth Fighter.
▪️The plane seen in Chinese airspace is said to include sophisticated technologies like high-altitude functioning abilities, extensive-range super-cruise, and may be developed as a ‘space-capable’ fighter jet. pic.twitter.com/gdIaCzjPcs— Still🏝️Roaming (@roaming_rn) December 26, 2024
Why Does China Need This New Fighter Jet?
One obvious question about the new aircraft is what its intended purpose is. The two most likely conflicts China could find itself in are a war with regional allies and the United States in the South China Sea and over Taiwan.
China must project firepower from the First Island Chain in both cases. This imaginary line runs through Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, and Taiwan and encompasses the South China Sea.
Ideally, it should do so from bases deep enough inside China to be out of the range of American cruise missiles while still threatening U.S. bases and aircraft carriers prosecuting the war. With its strong emphasis on stealth, range, and payload, this new aircraft is tailor-made for this mission. The aircraft may even emphasize the bomber mission over a fighter mission, making it a tactical bomber like the U.S. Air Force’s F-111 Aardvark.
China demonstrating a prototype tailless next generation stealth fighter feels very much like a ‘Sputnik Moment’ because the US could have built something like this a long time ago but has chose other procurement strategies.
Without a tail it has some pretty complicated trailing… pic.twitter.com/ezYfABWuBi— Scott Manley (@DJSnM) December 26, 2024
In the years after the Cold War, aircraft-producing countries often slow-walked their development while hyping them as much as possible, building political and economic support in a time of lean defense budgets. With today’s flight, China has shot down that practice.
While China’s aircraft have generally proven inferior to Western designs, perhaps even in this case, it can develop and field them more quickly. China’s technological inferiority won’t last forever. The West should sit up and take notice.
About the Author: Kyle Mizokami
Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he’s generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News, and others. Kyle is also a Contributing Editor for 19FortyFive. He lives in San Francisco.
