New Chinese Stealth Tactical Jet Breaks Cover
Recently emerged imagery largely confirms that China is now test-flying another tailless stealthy combat jet, although it isn’t clear if this is a crewed design or one of its new advanced drones.
A high-performance, highly autonomous uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) with collaborative ‘loyal wingman’ capabilities is a major possibility. Still, based on the design, this could very well be yet another sixth-generation crewed jet — one that is similar to, or even would compete more directly with Shenyang’s J-XDS (also nicknamed the J-50 by some) fighter rather than Chengdu’s massive J-36 super-heavy tactical jet.
At least five images of the new design have been noted so far. In each case, it’s not clear where or when the imagery was taken. The quality and angles are historically typical of the first ‘leaks’ showing new advanced Chinese military aircraft, a practice dating back many years.
None of the images provides enough detail of the upper part of the forward fuselage to reveal whether or not a cockpit is present. There are clear attributes to this design that point to the possibility that it is a more substantial aircraft, crewed or otherwise.
Attributes
The aircraft seen in the recently emerged images has a notably pointed forward fuselage and nose section that blends into the mid-set wing midway down the fuselage. The highly swept wing has cropped tips, and the trailing edge features a prominent triangular extension, with a ‘W’-like configuration. There are no vertical stabilizers or other separate tail surfaces. The broad fuselage would appear to offer a fairly significant capacity for internal fuel and stores, although details of a weapons bay are not apparent in the available views.
Evidence for a drone
Meanwhile, there is speculation among some long-term Chinese aerospace observers that the new aircraft is one of multiple Chinese counterparts to the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) ‘loyal wingman’ program. At the same time, it is TWZ’s opinion that a more substantial and advanced unmanned combat air vehicle is perhaps a strong possibility, one that could still incorporate CCA teaming capabilities, but would also be better suited for independent operations.
Andreas Rupprecht, a Chinese aviation expert and contributor to this website, told TWZ that he thinks the new imagery shows one of the country’s CCA designs, although he notes that it’s significantly different from the tailless design that was spotted flying together with a pair of Y-9 turboprop transports, in imagery that emerged last month. This other design, seen in the tweets embedded below, features a modified diamond-like delta planform combined with a much simpler trailing edge.
Source: The War Zone
