(26.12.2024, 14:24)Nightwatch schrieb: Der Lufteinlass auf dem Rücken sieht nicht nach 6th Gen aus. Dürfte eher ein FB-22 Äquivalent sein.

Interessant aber das quasi parallel ein Bild des NGAD Demo geleakt ist.

Zitat:China Stuns With Heavy Stealth Tactical Jet’s Sudden Appearance
This is the most advanced flying machine we have seen out of China, lacking any tails and packing stealth and long range.
Thomas Newdick and Tyler Rogoway

Posted 7 Hours Ago

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6th gen flying wing aircraft china

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In something of a stunning development, China appears to already be flying a stealthy, high-performance sixth-generation crewed combat aircraft, imagery of which began to emerge today. At this early stage, we have very little idea about the precise identity of the new aircraft, but many elements of its design are very much in line with what we already knew about Chinese sixth-generation airpower aspirations.

Video and photos that began to circulate today on social media show the previously unseen aircraft conducting a daytime test flight, alongside a two-seat Chengdu J-20S fighter, serving as a chase plane. The locations and dates of the various imagery cannot be verified at this stage, although the presence of the J-20 suggests that the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) factory airfield is a likely candidate.

Zitat: In late December 2024, the PRC showed off two in a single day - one of which doesn't appear to have a direct, active equivalent in the US or any allied air force.

Today, I discuss these new aircraft with guest contributor Justin Bronk of the The Royal United Services Institute and ask what they might mean both for the modernisation of the PLAAF and the wider military balance.

Zitat:Experts: New Chinese Combat Aircraft Likely a Medium-Range Bomber

The larger aircraft could be analogous to the FB-22 medium stealth bomber considered but not adopted by the U.S. Air Force in the early 2000s.

The “JH-36” seen in the video and still imagery—which was not censored or commented on by the Chinese government—is a large aircraft, about 30 percent larger than the 70-foot J-20S two-seat “Mighty Dragon” apparently flying chase in the images. The new flying wing delta airplane has no vertical control surfaces but has five flaperons on each side of the trailing edge of the wing, heavily deflected to near-vertical in some of the images, and moving independently. A tailless aircraft is inherently stealthier than one with vertical control surfaces, offering less of a target for radar, and would typically be lighter, allowing for extended range.

Zitat:The aircraft has three inlets: one dorsal inlet at mid-fuselage, and two ventral inlets near the nose, in a parallelogram-shape reminiscent of the F-22, and three apparent above-wing exhausts, suggesting three engines.

Three engines would make the aircraft very heavy—or at least reduce its range and payload—and experts speculated that the reason for three may have to do with generating power for intense electronic warfare applications or to mix bypass air with the exhaust air to cool it and reduce the aircraft’s heat signature.

Zitat:One industry expert said the JH-36 reminds him of the Lockheed FB-22 because of its size, and because some of its forward-fuselage features reflect the heritage of the J-20. He noted that the FB-22—an adaptation of the stealth fighter to hold more weapons and fuel—was offered when the Air Force’s Next-Generation Bomber was canceled, creating a potential gap in penetrating bomber capacity.

“The FB-22 would have been a pretty straightforward stopgap,” he said, “re-using the fuselage and systems of the F-22 with an extension and bigger wings to hold more weapons and fuel.” The Air Force considered the concept but dropped it when it was approved to undertake a new long-range bomber program.

“Given the likely first steps in a Taiwan scenario, a medium-range bomber makes sense for the PLAAF,” an industry technologist said. However, the aircraft could also be “a technology demonstrator, or even a fighter. We just can’t tell at this point,” an industry expert said.

The other aircraft revealed, in images with diminished detail, is also a tailless aircraft with a lambda-style wing planform and an overall arrowhead-like design.

Zitat:Clearest view of China's second 6th gen fighter design, this one is designed by SAC.

It's smaller with a 2 engine set up, it's also a tailless flying wing design, albeit more conventional compared to the CAC's 3 engine design.

From the looks of it, this SAC design is more agile, may very well be better suited for carrier operation.

Zitat:As for how to classify the J-36, too many people have rushed to call it a ‘sixth-generation fighter’.

But this ‘generation’ taxonomy misleads more than it informs, because combat aircraft designs need not and do not fall into discrete sequential groups of characteristics.

And ‘fighter’, ‘bomber’ and ‘strike’ definitions are getting less clear. .......Designed against air and land threats, the J-36 is even larger than the Su-34. Its size and flight performance put it into its own category, for which there is no name. Maybe ‘airborne cruiser’ will catch on.

Zitat:Und nun, hier ist es. Alles was ich seit 20 Jahren so dazu gedacht und geschrieben habe.