Shenyang Aircraft Corporation’s tailless stealth fighter has appeared in new photos that offer additional insights into its exotic design. The aircraft, unofficially dubbed the ‘J-50,’ is one of two Chinese tailless heavy next-generation fighter designs that emerged on Dec. 26, 2024. The other larger three-engined type, colloquially referred to as the ‘J-36,’ is built by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation. You can read our very in-depth previous analysis of both these aircraft here.
It isn’t clear if the new image comes from a recent test flight or is from the Dec. 26 sortie. While we have seen proof of the larger J-36 making additional test flights since its first publicly known one, the J-50 has not been spotted in the air for over three months.
Imagery from the J-50’s first and only known test flight. (Chinese Internet)
The new image shows a clearer side-on view of the advanced jet than any we have seen before. Notable are what could very well be the presence of side weapons bays, broadly similar to those found on the F-22A Raptor and the J-20. We also see an angular bulge under the nose, which could be an opaque placeholder for a faceted electro-optical system, similar to what is found on the F-35 and the J-20.
The canopy on this aircraft is just visible in the image, but we still don’t have a clear understanding of its shape and how it is blended into the fuselage. Some originally questioned if this aircraft was manned because of the lack of clarity regarding its cockpit area, but all indications point to it being a crewed fighter.
The aircraft’s pronounced lambda wing planform is also readily apparent here, and one of the jet’s strangest features — articulating wingtips — can also be seen, with the right wing’s tip deflected. Two-dimensional engine exhausts, possibly featuring thrust vectoring, are also visible. A two-wheeled nose landing gear is confirmed, with single wheels for the mains. This is not new, but it underscores the weight class difference between this design and Chengdu’s very heavy design, which features twin wheels for its main gear arranged in tandem. The nose gear door also gives us new evidence of the ventral centerline ‘tunnel’ that exists below the fuselage on this aircraft.
The inlets are arguably the most elegant-looking structure on this aircraft. Diverterless Supersonic Inlet (DSI) types that blend directly from the nose, with the trapezoidal inlet structures surrounding the DSI ‘hump,’ are really apparent here. This arrangement is more impressive than the F-22-like fenced intakes on the J-36, although that aircraft also features a DSI arrangement for its dorsal intake.
Image of the larger three-engined J-36. (Chinese Internet)
In some ways, this aircraft looks more advanced than its Chendgu counterpart, although they are really in different classes just in terms of size and weight. It remains unclear if these designs are tied to a single program and its defined objectives, or are for two separate programs focused on different capability sets with some overlap.
You can read all about this and the features described above in our in-depth initial analysis, which everything we are seeing today supports.
China’s big next-generation stealth fighter developments come as the U.S. Air Force is now formally pursuing a 6th generation fighter design as part of its wide-ranging Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program under the new F-47 designation. Boeing won that contract and has so far put forward just two renderings of its aircraft, both of which show a low-observable design with canard foreplanes — a feature that is traditionally antithetical to stealth that is missing on both Chinese designs, but does exist on the operational J-20. The Navy is about to announce its own F/A-XX 6th generation fighter selection, as well.
F-47 (USAF)
While many have taken to the internet to declare China has overtaken the U.S. in fighter design as they have two tailless stealth fighter aircraft flying and the U.S. has none, this is incorrect. The DoD has been flying at least two NGAD demonstrators, one from Boeing and one from Lockheed Martin, for years now, and those are just the ones so far disclosed. Those demonstrators flew as part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-led program that also involved the Navy. Other U.S. testing of tailless stealth fighter design concepts date back decades. Still, as we laid out in great detail in our original analysis, China has made incredible progress in their combat aircraft design and manufacturing capabilities in a relatively short amount of time, and that progress is only set to accelerate.
In other words, the gap is closing.
As is always the case with imagery of new high-tech weaponry coming out of China, we should see increasingly detailed offerings of both aircraft as the weeks go on. So, we should be able to glean more from their designs in the near future.
Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com
