SIXTH-GENERATION FIGHTER JETS
The United States is years into its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme, which is developing a sixth-generation fighter aircraft, but it is not clear what form the effort will take under President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
Europe and Asia are collaborating on a separate next-generation aircraft under the Global Combat Air Programme, and recently announced a joint British-Japanese company.
Reuters confirmed a video showing the larger of the two new Chinese aircraft flying over Chengdu by matching nearby buildings, signage, logos and trees to satellite imagery and file images. The date could not be verified independently.
The Chinese aircraft in the online images are not the first modern tailless designs. The Northrop Grumman B-2 and B-21 stealth bombers are both flying wings, and several uncrewed aircraft, such as the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 and China’s CH-7, lack tails.
Neither Chinese jet has an official designation that has been made public. Although the designs are novel relative to the rest of China’s fleet, it is not possible to tell how stealthy they are, how manoeuvrable or fast they are, or what sort of “under the hood” avionics they carry – the sorts of detail needed to determine whether they are truly “next-generation” designs, five defence experts said.
Peter Layton, a defence and aviation expert at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia, noted it was difficult in general to apply labels such as fifth-generation – which includes current stealth jets such as the F-22 and F-35 – to Chinese aircraft, which often include unique design features that never appear again.
China’s J-20 and J-35 also have stealthy characteristics but their capabilities are not publicly known and only the J-20 is in service.
Source: CNA
