China appears to have tested novel sixth-generation stealth military aircraft as videos of the warplanes went viral on social media.
Mysterious tailless aircraft were seen flying over Chengdu city in southwest Sichuan province, though the defence ministry is yet to confirm the speculation.
Both jets are tailless, meaning they do not have vertical stabilisers to help maintain control. Such aircraft are typically kept stable by computers that interpret the pilot’s control inputs and make it impossible to detect.
The test flight coincided with the birth anniversary of Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China. The aircraft designs are separate from airframers Chengdu and Shenyang and may be among the most sophisticated manned fighters in the world.
The larger of the two designs is roughly diamond-shaped, with three air intakes for its engines, two alongside the fuselage and one on top – an extremely unusual configuration. The smaller one has a more conventional layout, but no tail.
Both have the lack of 90-degree angles typical of stealth shaping for reduced radar detection. “It really looks like a leaf,” Defence Times, a website based in Chengdu, wrote on Weibo.
The new Chinese aircraft 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.
The Chinese military flaunts its new technology at the end of the Western calendar year in late December or January.
In May 2024, the military said its J-20 stealth fighter jet, also known as the Mighty Dragon, can easily reach supercruise. Beijing has reportedly deployed as many as 250 of the stealth aircraft, first introduced into service in 2017, but its capabilities are not publicly known.
At the November Zhuhai air show, China revealed the twin-engine J-35 stealth fighter jet.
As China continues to modernise its military, the designs “show the willingness of China’s aviation industry to experiment and innovate”, said Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
“Whatever the merits or demerits, it appears to be a highly original design,” he told Reuters. “They deserve kudos for that, and should shake off any lingering complacency that the U.S. and its allies always set the pace.”
The US defence department said it was “aware of the reports” but did not have an additional comment beyond what was included in its annual report on the Chinese military this month.
China on Friday also launched a new amphibious assault ship which is designed to strengthen the navy’s combat ability in distant seas.
The Sichuan, the first ship of the 076 type, is China’s largest yet, displacing 40,000 tonnes and equipped with an electromagnetic catapult which will allow fighter jets to launch directly off its deck, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The ship is designed to launch ground troops in landing crafts and provide them air support. It is also equipped with the “arrestor technology” that allows fighter jets to land on its deck.
China’s first amphibious assault ships, the type 075, launched in 2019.
Chinese military expert Song Zhongping compared the Sichuan to a “light aircraft carrier”, according to state media Global Times.
