Since the beginning of April, and coinciding with the announcement of the Boeing F-47 for the United States Air Force (USAF), there has been an increase in the number of sightings of what appears to be the new generation of sixth-generation stealth fighters being developed for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). In addition to the recorded flights of the Chengdu “J-36,” there has recently been a greater number of reports of flights by the “J-XDS,” also unofficially referred to as the “J-50,” developed by the Shenyang company, the other giant of the Asian Giant’s aerospace industry.
Both aircraft were revealed through a series of images and videos captured at the end of last December, highlighting the progress being made by China’s aerospace industry, which seeks to close the technological gap with the United States.
Currently, with no official announcement from either company — let alone from China’s Ministry of Defense — both the J-36 and the J-XDS have sparked a wave of speculation regarding their development. Some arguments suggest that these are experimental aircraft and technology demonstrators, while others point to the possibility that they represent the new core duo of Chinese combat aviation.
What is becoming clear is that, since the announcement of the contract awarded to Boeing for the development and production of the USAF’s future sixth-generation F-47 fighter, both Chinese models have been intensifying their flights and testing activities by Chengdu and Shenyang.
Earlier this month, the most detailed landing sequence to date of the J-36 was captured at Chengdu’s test facilities. Following this event, an increasing number of test flights of the J-XDS — with its characteristic lambda-shaped wing — have gone viral.
Although there are no exact dates for when these sequences were taken, they have been recorded from various angles and locations in broad daylight. It seems that, in addition to advancing their development, China may also be aiming to send a clear message to international public opinion, implying that its aerospace industry is gaining the upper hand over the United States in the race to field the world’s first operational sixth-generation fighter.
Currently, in the absence of official images of the Boeing F-47 — known only through conceptual designs — and with confirmation that the “X” aircraft of the NGAD program began their test flights in 2019 and 2020, it appears that China’s strategy is paying off for now.
However, each new test flight of both the J-36 and the J-XDS also brings a fair share of uncertainty, given the secrecy maintained by the Chinese companies and government agencies involved in these developments.
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